Gillian’s Island (The Play)

It starts out with Carrie Ann and Pepper taking a short cruise with Skippie and during a stop for gas, the boat drifts out to sea because it didn’t get tied down good.  The two girls find themselves lost at sea and don’t know what to do.  They pray and end up near an island and just when they would have crashed on the rocks, they put down the anchor.  Pepper learns the lesson that Christ is OUR ANCHOR in life.  They meet other castaways on the island and try to get along with them and work together to find a way off the island.  (their boat never got gas)  In the final scene, Skippie arrives to rescue them and they end up in a big storm and the gospel is shared and Carrie Ann prays and all is well.  Humor is scattered throughout with most of the comic lines going to Pepper.  The parts of the actress and the billionaire should be played over the top like the ones on the TV show and that should come across funnier.  I have changed all the names because these are not those characters and should only reflect their memory, for those who would recognize the old show.  A big obvious difference is that Gillian is a girl’s name.  This play is also divided up into three skits and can be purchased separately under the skits category on this site.

8 actors (written as 3 male and 5 female)  The part of Skippie could also be a male.   About 40 mins.

WRITTEN BY WARREN SAGER

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
CARRIE ANN:  Speaks 2144 words.  A Christian and a sweet, country girl.  She starts out a bit quiet about her faith, but becomes increasingly more bold and then a strong witness at the end.
PEPPER GRANT:  Speaks 1757 words.  A ditzy actress and self-centered city girl who slowly starts to develop faith. (Played over the top like Marilyn Monroe or Ginger Grant)
GILLIAN:  Speaks 635 words.  A tom-boyish gal who crashed her boat on the island.  She has a more open heart to the gospel message than the others.
THE DUDE:  Speaks 620 words.   Single macho guy happy to see two girls show up.  He later ends up being sea sick.
SKIPPIE:  Speaks 570 words.  Captain of the boat who lets the boat drift out to sea, comes to rescue the castaways.  Written as a female, but wouldn’t have to be.
MR. POWELL:  Speaks 544 words.  A very wealthy, disagreeable man. (Played over the top like Thurston Howell)
MRS. POWELL:  Speaks 338 words.  The doting wife who later becomes less doting and more independent of her husband’s silliness and a seeker.
CAPTAIN:  Speaks 206 words.   This is Skippie’s father, who brought his small boat.

Excerpt:

CARRIE ANN
What kind of food do you have?
GILLIAN
I can catch some fish and you could cook that.  Plus we have a lot of mangos and papayas.
CARRIE ANN
I could definitely do something with that combination… fish and fruit.  All we need is a fire.
GILLIAN
Well here they come now… you can try out your idea and see what they say.  I’ll go and get my fishing pole!
Mr. and Mrs. Powell enter and Gillian runs off
MR. POWELL
Oh!  They’re still here!  It wasn’t just a bad dream!
MRS. POWELL
I’m sorry darling.  Would you like me to get out your bank statement?  That always seems to cheer you up.
THE DUDE
Mr. Powell, don’t you think you are being rather rude and unkind to our visitors?  They can’t help what happened to them.  They’re just like us.
MR. POWELL
Oh… I beg to differ.  I’m sure I have more money than all of you put together times ten.
THE DUDE
That’s not what I meant.  Right here on this island… we’re all the same.  Your money can’t do anything for you here.  But maybe if we all pull together we can survive this.
MRS. POWELL
Oh, Teddy darling… don’t pull too hard on anything, you know how your back is.
THE DUDE
It just so happens that Carrie Ann here is a good cook, and she has offered to cook dinner for us.  Gillian is going fishing and she says she can make something good with fish and the fruit we have on this island.
MRS. POWELL
Oh!  That sounds marvelous!  Give her a good tip, Dear!
MR. POWELL
Well… we’ll have to see how the service is first.  We never tip till they’ve earned it Sweetikins.
By now, Gillian has re-entered with a fishing pole, either a made up one from a tree branch, or perhaps they salvaged a pole from the boat crash.   She casts her line (mimed) out into the audience as if she were standing on the beach casting into the water.
CARRIE ANN
I know you are not happy about two extra mouths to feed, but I thought if I could do my part, that might help.
THE DUDE
And Pepper has a suit case full of clothes that she is willing to share with the ladies.
PEPPER
I have the perfect dinner dress that will go great with your eyes.
MRS. POWELL
Oh my!
MR. POWELL
Why are you doing this after the things I said and the way I have treated you?
CARRIE ANN
I’m a Christian, Mr. Powell.  I believe that God has a reason for all of us being here.  I trust in Him to help us and save us.  After we prayed on the boat, we safely stopped off-shore without running into those big rocks.  So, I am grateful to Him and by showing kindness to others, I show His love.
MR. POWELL
I see.
PEPPER
What she said!  Ditto!   Wow, Carrie Ann.  That was so beautiful!  I even got a little tear.
THE DUDE
I think it is very commendable that you are going out of your way to be nice to a man who has been rude and unkind to you… but I don’t know about all this religious stuff.
PEPPER
Oh!  But it works!  I didn’t think so either… but when we were on that boat… it was amazing how fast God answered our prayer.
CARRIE ANN
It’s more than that Pepper.
MRS. POWELL
We don’t have to worry about all of that stuff.  All of our problems are solved with the credit card or a call to the bank.  Right, Dear?
MR. POWELL
That’s right, my little Poopsie.  Or a call to my broker.  Which reminds me, did you tell him we were going on this boat ride?  He might come looking for us.
She shakes her head.
CARRIE ANN
Like The Dude said, your money is doing you no good here.   You can’t buy your way through life.
MR. POWELL
Oh… I think you can!  I’ve been doing it for many, many years!
CARRIE ANN
You just wait.  I’m going to pray and trust that God will hear my prayer and we will be rescued and be able to go back to our normal lives.
THE DUDE
That may happen… but it might happen without the prayer, too.   There would be no way that you could prove that God really did anything.
PEPPER
What about our boat stopping?
THE DUDE
You threw an anchor overboard.   That’s what they’re for.   How do you know that God did anything?
CARRIE ANN
Because I have faith, Dude.   You see, knowing Christ is more than just something to believe in.  He comes and lives inside of you and there are things in your life that change because of that.  I now have faith to believe that we will be rescued and I also have love in my heart for all of you and especially for the Powell’s, who have not shown us loving kindness.  I think if I did not have the love of Christ in me, that I would just react to their attitude and say mean things back to them.
PEPPER
Wow… if you did that, Carrie Ann, I would think that YOU were the actress instead of me!  Because it wouldn’t seem like you.  Not the Carrie Ann I know!
GILLIAN
How long have you two known each other?
CARRIE ANN
We’re basically strangers.  We met at the boat dock… earlier today.
GILLIAN
So you really think that God will hear your prayers and get us rescued?
CARRIE ANN
I do.  But that isn’t the most important thing in life, is it?
GILLIAN
What’s more important than living?   Oh, wait… I know… “living a good life as a good person.”
CARRIE ANN
That sounds nice, but there are no good people.  Not really.  That’s why God’s grace is so important.  We are all shipwrecked in our lives and we’re doomed… but the good news is that God sent His Son to earth to die on the cross in our place and because of that sacrifice, we have the opportunity to live an abundant life here on earth and eternally with Him in Heaven.
GILLIAN
I think there is a reason why you girls ended up here on this island with us… and it’s not just so that we can eat your cooking and wear your fancy clothes.
PEPPER
Really?  What is it?  The suspense is killing me!
GILLIAN
So that we can learn how to live an abundant life!  It sounds really cool to me.  I can’t wait till we eat so we can sit around the fire and hear more about this.
MR. POWELL
But after dinner is usually when we talk about your stock options and your portfolios.
THE DUDE
I think the change in topics will be refreshing.  Gillian, what say you and I head out to that boat and see what we can find and maybe bring back to the beach?  There could be some really useful things on that boat.
CARRIE ANN
Do you think we’ll have good weather for fishing and cooking?
PEPPER
Too bad we don’t have a radio so we can listen to the weather report.
MR. POWELL
Or the stock market report.  I don’t even know if I’m making money or losing money.
THE DUDE
There’s probably a radio on the boat.  Maybe we can find that information out.  At least the weather part.
PEPPER
Oh!  I know there is!  Skippie was playing it on our cruise.
THE DUDE
As long as it runs on a battery… since we don’t have the key.  That could really be helpful.
MR. POWELL
If you hear any stock reports… could you take notes?
CARRIE ANN
Wait!  The radio!  That’s it!  The boat has a radio!
PEPPER
Carrie Ann!  Where have you been?  We already talked about that!  And people say I’m dumb.
CARRIE ANN
No… I’m talking about the two-way radio!   I heard Skippie calling in to someone to report the trip and to schedule the gas stop on the other side of the island.  If it works… we can send out an S.O.S. call!
PEPPER
Not that S.O.S. thing again!
THE DUDE
Brilliant!  I should have thought of that!  All commercial boats probably have them.
PEPPER
Oh!  I didn’t do my commercial on THAT boat!  There weren’t even any cameras on board.
THE DUDE
Not that kind of commercial.  Hey everybody… this could be our ticket out of here!
Everyone starts to get excited.
PEPPER
You better buy more than one ticket!