From Princess Academy

By: Shannon Hale

Adapted for Readers Theatre by: Brooke Jackson, Mikayla

Mickelsen and Natalia Howard

Characters: Miri Larendaughter, Gerti Osdaughter, Tutor Olana,

Narrator 1

Narrator: Our readers theatre performance is

representing the young adult novel Princess
Academy by Shannon Hale. This novel follows the
a young girl named Miri, as she and a dozen
other girls from Mount Eskel, a far off mountain
town, attend a princess academy in another city
for a chance to marry the prince. Mount Eskel is
known for its abundance of the precious stone,
Linder. As well as quarry speech, which is an
unspoken communication that is used by the
quarry workers when they’re cutting Linder.
However, the academy requires these grubby
mountain girls to be reformed by a harsh Tutor
 named Olana who has been sent by the king
himself. Throughout the weeks of instruction, Miri
has secretly been reading Tutor Olana’s books,
and one day during free time Tutor Olana walks
in just as Miri is attempting to put the books
back...

Tutor Olana: What are you doing?

Miri: Sorry, (said Miri, picking up the fallen book and

dusting it off) I was just...

Tutor Olana: Just dropping my books on the floor? You weren't

planning on stealing one were you? Of course
you were. I would have allowed you to borrow a
book , Miri, but I won’t tolerate stealing. In the
closet with you.

Miri: The closet? But I wasn’t…

Olana: Go!

Miri: (She looked back before stepping inside) “For

how long?”
Narrator: Olana shut the door on Miri and clicked the lock
Miri had never been any place so dark. She lay
on the floor and could hear faint shouts and
happy screeches drifted in from the girls playing
in the snow. A sound of scurrying brought her
upright. She heard it again a noise like
fingernails rickling a smooth surface...Some small
animal must be in the dark with her. She tried to
see past the past the shadows...but there was not
enough light. At last she lay down, and watched
the slit under the door for a sign of Olana
coming to free her. She fell asleep.

Miri: (Miri awakens)

Narrator: Miri woke up to a horrible feeling...and the

throbbing in her body told her it was hours later.
She felt it again, a tugging on her scalp. She
wanted to scream , but terror clamped down on
her breath...It felt strong, too big to be a mouse.
The tip of a tail licked her cheek. A rat. Miri
sobbed, remembering the rat bite that had killed
a village baby before. She did not scream, for
fear of spooking the beast...she could not move.
 Her thoughts lunged and rolled, seeking some
way out, some comfort.

Miri: (She whispered) “Plumb line is singing, sprink

hawk is singing, eskel is swinging.”

Narrator: She was singing a song of celebration, of

springtime, used by quarry workers when they’re
using a weighted cord to square stone... As she
was singing she tapped a linder floorstone with
the pads of her fingers, as though she were
working in the quarry and using quarry speech
to a friend nearby.

Miri: Mount eskel is singing (she whispered) but Miri is

crying. A rat she is fighting...(another snarl)

Narrator: Afraid now to even whisper, she sang in her

head, still tapping her finger in time and with her
silent song pleading with darkness for someone
to remember her...The door opened and the
candlelight pierced her eyes!

Miri: I’ve been locked up for hours ( her voice

croaking) You forgot about me!
Olana: I suppose I did.. It’s well that Gerti remembered
you, or I might not have come till morning. Now
get on to bed.”

Narrator: Miri now saw Gerti.

Gerti: That was a rat!

Miri: Yes it was ...thanks for remembering me Gerti.

Gerti: “It was strange how I thought of you actually .

When we came back from break this afternoon ,
you were just gone...Then when we’re getting
ready for bed , I had this horrible memory of
when I was locked up and I’d heard scratching
noises in there, and I was so sure you were locked
up in the closet, and I...I don’t know, but I knew
there was rat. It was almost like...Oh, never mind.”

Miri: Like what? (feeling excited)

Gerti: I’m sure I guessed you were in the closet because

where else could you be?.. But the way my vision
kind of shivered when I thought about it, the way
 the idea of you and the rat was so clear, it
reminded me of quarry speech.

Narrator: Miri felt chills.

Miri: “Quarry speech? But..

Gerti: I know that’s silly. It couldn't have been quarry

speech because we’re not in the quarry. I’m just
glad we didn't get into trouble, Tutor Olana
threatened all kinds of punishments when I
begged her to come get you.

Narrator: Miri did not say anything else. New

possibilities were painting themselves before her
in the dark. Would these possibilities continue to
change the course of Miri’s life and those around
her, continue on with her on this journey to find
out…

Reference:
Hale, S. (2005) Princess Academy. New York:
Bloomsburg.