Earth Theater Pirates! Story and Character

Characters

	Captain Merry Nellie is an old pirate who wishes to retire. He is comically quirky and gruff at the same time. One of the more distinguishing thing about him is that he constantly say "Aaarrrrghh" a lot. Despite being gruffy, however, he is actually very tender and caring but tries to hide it as much as possible. In the show, he will basically act as the guide and narrator of what's happening so that the audience will know what to do at the different parts of the show.
	Keel Haul, on the other hand, is there as a foil to the captain. Basically, he is the comical sidekick of the captain who is always up to some kind of mischief. One thing that one will notice is that
Keel Haul actually looks more like a pirate than Captain Merry Nellie because of his eye patch and wooden peg leg. An intersting thing that we've learned during our user testing among children is that Keel Haul is more popular among than Captain Merry Nellie even if Keel Haul didn't do much during our user testing. We learned afterwards that this was because animals are very popular among children.

Summary of the Story

When the audience enters the theater, they will see Captain Merry Nellie waiting on board for them for they are the new ship crew that he has enlisted to help him get his treasure on an island in order for him to retire. Since the audience crew are new to being pirates, Captain Merry Nellie starts them off with a couple of essential lessons about being a pirate. The first lesson involved teaching the crew to say "Aaarrrgggh" properly. The second lesson taught the crew the difference between the port and starboard of the ship.Once done with the lesson, the audience crew helps the captain set sail by raising the mast. After the mast is raised, they head off to the island with the captain's treasure in it.	Welcome aboard mateys!
Enemy pirate ship is approaching!	When they were nearing the island, however, an enemy pirate ship who wishes to take Captain Merry Nellie's treasure appeared from behind the island. To regain their treasure, Captain Merry Nellie and his crew must fight the enemy's ship. After a few instructions on how to operate the cannon, a ship battle ensued between the two ships. Whether Captain Nellie and his crew will win or not is determined by the crew's (audience) teamwork and participation. Captain Nellie and his crew wins: When the audience is successful in sinking the enemy ship, Captain Merry Nellie commends his new crew for being
such good pirates and everyone gets a share of the treasure! Captain Nellie and his crew loses: As the battle continued, Captain Nellie and his crew ran out of cannon balls. This prompted Keel Haul to volunteer himself to be shot to the enemy ship. Nevertheless, the battle has been decided as Captain Nellie's ship starts to sink. All is not lost, however, as Keel Haul was shot back from the enemy pirate ship escaping with some of the treasure. The Captain, angry with his crew, reprimands them and jumps overboard leaving the crew stuck in the sinking ship.	Good job mateys! We got the treasure!
Aaaarrrggh!!	Interaction Throughout the story, there audience was asked to interact time and again with what's happening on the screen. The first interaction is the "Aaarrrggghhh" lesson wherein the show will deteremine the volume of the audience's "Aaarrggh." Depending on the audience's response or participation, the captain on the screen will react accordingly by either scolding or praising them. The second interaction involved having the audience stand up and move a few seats to the left and to the right as the
captain teaches them where the port and starboard is. This is an important interaction because this is where the cameras are calibrated by taking a picture of the audience at the different locations they are standing (i.e. left, center and right). The images taken here will be used for determining the positions of the audience during the battle scene. The most unique interaction in the Pirates! show is when the audience is asked to raise the mast of the ship. Audience members are asked to physically get out of their seats and into the aisles, and grab a rope to pull. As the audience	Raise the mast!
FIRE!!!	members pull the rope, a virtual mast on the screen is raised. Once the masts are raised, the ship finally start to set sail. Lastly, the audience members are asked to interact by battling against the enemy pirate ship. The audience are taught by Captain Nellie to move left, right and center in order to move and aim the cannon at the moving enemy ship. Then, to fire the cannon, the audience must shout "FIRE!" as loud as they can right after each time the captain prompts them with "Ready, Aim..."
Bullseye!	We sank the bootless scoudrel!