Sample Reader’s Theater Script for
Social Studies
Note: This example is based on my experience with students’
real-life Reader’s Theater scripts. Script-writing is an appropriate technique for all students in grades 4–12. The script contained here was adapted from McGann, T. F. (1971). The ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca. In R. G. Athearn (Ed.), The American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States, Vol. 1: The New World (pp. 83–88). Uncasville, CT: Fawcett Publishers.
“The Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca”
Narrator:The year was 1528. Forty Spanish sailors, tired and weary, drifted in the ocean. They were all that was left of the great Navaez expedition, which had set out from Spain in June of 1527 with five ships and 600 men to explore the new world.
Sailor 1:Look! The shore at last. Come and let us make our way to the beach!
Narrator:They crawled onto the sandy beach to find food, water, and dry land. On the shore, they finished what little corn they had and drank from rotting water carriers. It was November.
Sailor 2:At least the land stands still and does not rock and toss us about, as we have suffered for weeks on end.
Sailor 1: But it seems our comrades who went ashore to search for the gold we were told about are lost, and we will never see them again.
Sailor 2:I agree, my friend. It was unwise of the Captain to send them ashore. Our supplies are low and little remains of our corn. I fear for our lives as well.
Captain de Vaca:Lope, go scout this area and report back to me at once!
Lope:Aye, Captain. (Lope leaves the beach area.)
Narrator: And so the men rested while Lope searched the area where they had landed.
Lope: Captain, Captain! We seem to be on a small island.
There is water all around. See off in the trees, three men with bows and arrows follow and hide in the shadows.
Captain de Vaca:You did well, Lope. Hopefully, we can make friends with the savage men. Our provisions are low. Perhaps they can help us to find food and fresh water.
Narrator:The Indian natives brought fresh fish and roots to the starving men. The Spaniards gave them trinkets in return.
The Indians took pity on the men and took them to their huts and warmed them.
Sailor 3:Look how the natives dance and howl. Do you think they mean to cook us and eat us?
Sailor 4:My fear continues to grow. I don’t know what all of this means. I can only hope they intend to spare our lives.
Sailor 3:Me too.
Narrator: The next day, 50 more Spaniards wandered into camp. This crew had landed a few miles further up the beach.
The ranks of Spaniards now neared 90. Winter came and life was hard on the small island. There was little food, and many of the Spaniards and the Indians died.
Sailor 5:This place is bad luck. I will name it “Malhado”—Bad Luck Island.
Sailor 6:Yes, this place must have great bad luck—see how the natives survive even though they wear little or no clothes.
Sailor 5:Did you see how they tried to cure Vasquez by blow- ing on him with a stick?
Sailor 6:Yes, I laughed at them for that. That is why we will get no food tonight. They said we will not eat until we do as they tell us.
Sailor 5:Well, I for one will continue to say my prayers over Vasquez.
Narrator:In the spring of 1529, only 12 Spaniards remained.
One additional man had appeared, so the group of 13 set off for Mexico.
Lope:I am sorry my friends, I cannot go with you. I am too weak to travel. Alaniz and I will remain on Malhado.
All sailors:Goodbye, old friend. We will try to send for you when the weather warms and you are better. De Vaca will also watch over you and keep you safe.
Narrator: Although life was harsh and food was scarce, Cabeza eventually recovered from his illness and set himself up as a trader in the new world. He traveled among the Indian tribes to gather shells, sea beans, and other goods to trade for skins, ocher, and flints. Each year, he would return to Malhado to see Lope.
Captain de Vaca:Lope, you must not remain in this horrible place. Come with me to the mainland and work with me.
Lope:I cannot swim, so how can I cross to the mainland?
Narrator:The Indians treated the sailors badly and life was harsh on the island. In September of 1534, the four remaining Spaniards managed to slip away from their Indian captives. They stayed with a new group of Indians for eight months and learned some skills as medicine men.
Captain de Vaca:We will travel to Mexico to meet our friends, but we must go inland. The inland Indians are kinder and less savage than the coastal Indians.
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Lope:Perhaps we can find the cities of riches and gold on our journey.
Captain de Vaca:Yes, maybe we will.
Narrator:The four travelers wandered around the countryside laden with gifts and exercising authority over the superstitious Indians. They received gifs of flour and corn, roasted quail, and ven- ison in abundance. They crossed the Rio Grande and continued west across the passes of the Sierra Madre, toward the coast.
Sailor 4: Captain, the Indians tell me that they have seen others like us in this area. They say that they come on horseback.
Sailor 3:The Indians call themselves “Christians.”
Captain de Vaca:I will ask the Indians to take me to their cap- tain. I will ask him for the year, to certify the day on which we arrived in this new world.
Narrator:And so, the Indians took the small group of Span- iards to the other Spanish explorers. The meeting did not go well, and the group was met with suspicion and hostility. They pushed on to Mexico City where they were greeted by the viceroy, Mendoza, and the explorer and conqueror, Cortez.
Mendoza:Captain de Vaca, you and your men are brave and bring honor to Spain.
Captain de Vaca:Thank you, Viceroy, but I have lived among the Indians for so long that it is difficult to wear clothes upon my body or sleep anywhere but on the ground.
Sailor 1:Yes, I too find it difficult to live among civilized men again.
Sailor 2:We will miss you as you return to Spain, Captain. We have learned well how to live under your guidance these past eight years.
Narrator: De Vaca returned to Spain for a few years, but returned to the Americas in 1540 as governor of Paraguay.
Political difficulties led to his recall and imprisonment. He returned to Spain and remained there until his death in the 1590s. The remaining sailors settled in the new world until their deaths. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca’s travels paved the way for later explorers such as Marcos de Niza and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in the great Southwest.
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