Old Dry Frye Play Guide

What to know – before the show!

Play Synopsis

Everybody in the small Appalachian town knows Old Dry Frye, the Preacher Man with a giant appetite! Whenever he’s preachin’ through the valley, he just can’t resist stopping by the townspeople’s homes for a big ol’ meal. But the townsfolk aren’t too thrilled about sharing their food, so they try to hide their dinners from Old Dry Frye—because everybody knows Old Dry Frye!

One day, after sneaking a bite of his all-time favorite, fried chicken, Old Dry Frye bites off more than he can chew. He chokes on a chicken bone and drops dead right at Ma and Pa’s dinner table. Not wanting to be blamed, they sneak him out and hide him in Widow Rose’s hen house. When the chickens spot Old Dry Frye, they squawk like crazy, making Widow Rose think there’s a chicken thief on the loose. She clobbers him with her frying pan, only to realize it’s the Preacher Man—because everybody knows Old Dry Frye! In a panic, she dumps him in a wheelbarrow and tries to roll him away, but things go hilariously wrong when she loses control down a steep hill, sending Old Dry Frye flying into the treetops!

Tim and Jim, who are out hunting, spot what they think is the biggest possum they’ve ever seen. They take a shot, but when they realize it’s Old Dry Frye, they freak out and stuff him in a sack to hide the evidence. But their plan goes haywire when they mix up their sack with a Little Old Feller’s bag of ham. The Little Old Feller and his wife, the Little Old Lady, are shocked to find Old Dry Frye instead of bacon!

Now, not wanting any trouble, they decide to let their meanest horse loose with Old Dry Frye on its back. The horse goes bucking wild, sending the Preacher Man bouncing all over the valley, causing a mix of confusion, chaos, and a whole lot of laughs!

Play Before the Play

EVERYBODY KNOWS OLD DRY FRYE!

Now let’s see if you do! This game is played like Marco Polo. Clear enough space in your classroom to play safely then have your students spread out around the room. Pick one student to be Old Dry Frye. Blindfold or ask the designated student to close their eyes. They’ll then call out “Preacher Man!” to which the class, the townsfolk, will respond, “Everybody knows Old Dry Frye!” The student acting as Old Dry Frye must then attempt to “tag” the rest of class. Once tagged, a player is out and should stand along the perimeter of the room and can help keep all remaining players, including Old Dry Frye, safe by steering them away from any walls or furniture. The game ends when only one player is left untagged, and they’ll become the next Old Dry Frye.

Extend the Experience: For some added fun, have everyone move in specific ways. You can have students move in slow motion, backwards, like they’re crabs, and more. Every few minutes, change how everyone moves to present more challenges for both Old Dry Frye and the townsfolk.

KAS: 3.1.L1; 3.2.ST1

PASS IT DOWN: ORAL TRADITIONS AND FOLK TALES

Folk tales are stories about a specific place and culture that have been passed down for many years. Sometimes there wasn’t something to write the stories down with, so they became what are called oral traditions. An oral tradition is a type of story passed down by someone saying it out loud to someone else then that person tells someone else the story and so on until one day someone might decide to write the story down. As you can imagine, the stories can change depending on who is telling it.

Now it’s time to start your own oral tradition!

To see how much an oral tradition can change over time, break your class into small groups. Have each group send one representative up to you. Tell the representatives a short story about your day, childhood, pet, etc. Make sure to include a variety of details to help engage your students. The representatives should listen as closely as they can to the story. Then send them back to their small groups to relay the story that they heard. Once everyone has relayed the story, have a DIFFERENT student from each group present the story they heard to the class. Discuss how the stories changed from the first telling and how they are the same or different from one another. You can then allow others to be the initial storytellers and see how their stories change the more they’re retold.

KAS: C.3.3.b; L.3.1

PANTOMIME SEARCH

Pantomime is acting without words or sounds. The game charades is a good example of pantomime. Use this activity to prepare your class for LCT’s production of Old Dry Frye and introduce them to one of the fundamental skills of acting.

Old Dry Frye’s favorite food is fried chicken. Ask your class to quietly think of their favorite foods. Without telling the rest of the class, provide them with small slips of paper and have them secretly draw pictures of their favorite food being careful not to show their classmates. After everyone is finished, ask your class to close their eyes. Shuffle the pictures around so that no one has their own drawing. Then, without revealing the drawing they’ve been given to anyone else, ask your students to pantomime eating the food you’ve given them. One student at a time, allow them to find the person who is eating their favorite food and see how many get it right!

You can also make this activity like the game charades where one person pantomimes eating their favorite food and the rest of the class guesses what food they love!

KAS: TH:Cr3.1.3.b; TH:Pr4.1.3.b

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Click the link below and print the activity sheet for your students to learn about the importance of story settings!

Location, Location, Location Setting Activity

KAS: C.3.3.c; VA:Cr2.1.3

Contextual Article

IN HONOR OF A KENTUCKY NATIVE: A SPOTLIGHT ON AUTHOR PAUL BRETT JOHNSON

Author/Illustrator Paul Brett Johnson was a native of Kentucky’s Appalachian mountains. He published over twenty books for children. His work garnered numerous honors including two Kentucky Bluegrass Awards and a California Young Readers’ Medal. Many of his books have been selected to noteworthy lists in School Library Journal, American Bookseller, Bulletin, Smithsonian magazine, the New York Public Library’s “100”, and the IRA/CBC children’s choices. He was profiled in CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET as well as Writers’ Digest. Larry and Vivian Snipes, Lexington Children’s Theatre former Producing and Artistic Directors, adapted four of Mr. Johnson’s books for the stage (Cows Don’t Fly and Other Known facts, a compilation of three of Johnson’s books, and Old Dry Frye).

Unfortunately, Paul Brett Johnson passed away in 2011 at the age of 64. Still, his stories and legacy live on for readers of all ages to enjoy. Check out the following interview from Lexington Children’s Theatre’s archives to learn a little bit more about Kentucky’s own Paul Brett Johnson!

QUESTIONS KIDS ASK:

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a small, Kentucky town with a funny name: “Mousie.” It’s in the heart of Appalachian coal country. It wasn’t called Mousie because it was so small, though. It was named after a real person, Miss Mousie Martin. She was the first postmaster’s daughter. I might have come from “Kitty,” Kentucky, however. Mousie had an older sister who’s name was…you guessed it.

What did you like to do as a kid?
What I liked to do and what I wanted to do were two different things. I wanted very much to play basketball. My father had been an award-winning basketball player and everyone sort of expected the same from me. Unfortunately, no matter how many hours I spent practicing, I wasn’t very good at it. During my entire elementary basketball career, I only scored two points during official play, and I made those at the wrong end of the court!

What I really liked was drawing. I was pretty good at that. When I wasn’t trying to be a basketball player, I was usually doing some kind of artwork. My parents were very supportive. They were able to get private lessons for me from the art instructors at nearby Alice Lloyd College.

When did you start writing?
Believe it or not, I wrote my first story before I could write! How did I do such a thing? With pictures, of course. Even before I started school, I kept a sketchbook. Sometimes I would make up stories using pictures. I always knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, but I didn’t think much about writing until I went to college at the University of Kentucky. There I took a course in children’s literature and became very excited about picture books. Perhaps I could illustrate picture books, I thought. Even better, perhaps I could write them as well! A seed had been planted, but many years passed before I was able to make that seed grow.

How did you get started as an artist?
When I first got out of college I tried several different jobs. I taught elementary school art for a year. I took photographs for a theater company. I even made fifty-foot hot dogs for grocery store displays. But none of those seemed right for me. So one day I decided to open an art studio/gallery. I rented an abandoned garage (really cheap) where I painted pictures and hung them on the walls for sale. Amazingly, I was able to make enough money to get by.

How did you get your first book published?
My first book was published in 1993. By then I had been making my living as an artist for nearly twenty years. During that time I would occasionally write stories and send them to publishers. They were always rejected, so I would forget the whole thing for a while. But finally the desire to make my dream a reality took over. I read every how-to article and book on writing for children that I could find. I wrote to publishing houses for their catalogs. I spent many hours at the library just reading picture books. Armed with my new knowledge, I remembered a story I had first written about ten years earlier. It seemed to have all the raw ingredients for a successful book, so I rewrote it and sent it out again. Within six months, The Cow Who Wouldn’t Come Down had found a publisher.

Do you have a real job?
I don’t have to get up at a certain time every morning or drive across town in the rain or snow. I only have to walk up a flight of stairs to my attic studio to get to work. Lucky me! But I do put in a lot of hours, and I am very serious about what I do. I call that a real job.

Do you have a family?
I’m not married, and I don’t have children. Fortunately, all families are not made from the same pattern. There are people in my life who are very special to me, who make up my family. There’s also my cat, Carly, who thinks she’s the most important family member of all.

Are you rich?
I certainly don’t have loads of money. (In fact, I don’t know of many authors or illustrators who do.) What I have is the great satisfaction of doing something I truly love, of creating stories and pictures that seem to make a difference to others. I think that’s a pretty fat paycheck all by itself!

Do you like peanut butter and jelly?
Well, my initials are PBJ, aren’t they?

How to grow – after the show!

Extend the Experience

BREAKING NEWS!

Bring Old Dry Frye into the modern era by creating a series of social media posts showing the chaos he’s causing in town. Have your students imagine that Old Dry Frye has just come to town and everyone is talking about him online. Ask your students to think about what would people would say or what pictures they’d post. Then have students create three different social media posts using the prompts below:

What’s Old Dry Frye doing that’s so shocking? Maybe he’s haunting the local diner or stealing everyone’s fried chicken.
How are the townspeople reacting? Is there panic in the streets or are people trying to get rid of him?
What’s the breaking news update? Is there a way to stop him, or is he still on the loose?

Students should draw the profile picture for the account posting and the post itself. Have them add captions, hashtags, likes, and comments.

Once students have finished their posts, hang them up in your classroom and pretend it’s a social media feed. Have a discussion with your students about what’s trending. Encourage students to think about how people use social media to communicate in today’s world. How does the quick, short, and easy to consume snippets found on social media impact the spread of information. Discuss how the story of Old Dry Frye might change if it were happening today and unfolding in near-real time on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

KAS: W.3-5.6; RI.3-5.7; SL.3-5.5

FRIGHT NIGHTS: SCARY MOVIE TRAILER

Lexington Children’s Theatre’s production of Old Dry Frye is a comedy even though the characters think Old Dry Frye is terrorizing the town. Ghosts and hauntings are typically associated with scary movies, so it’s time to have your students reimagine Old Dry Frye as a horror story. For this activity, have your students create a spooky movie trailer for a horror version of Old Dry Frye. They can work one trailer as a whole class or be split into smaller groups to make multiple trailers. Start by having your students imagine Old Dry Frye as the main character of a scary movie. Ask students to think of how this version can tell the story in a scary way that is still appropriate for school. Have your class make a list of what scenes would be in the trailer. What’s the scariest moment when Old Dry Frye terrorizes the town? Does he haunt a shopping mall or lurk in a spooky forest?

As students come up with ideas, write them down. Plan out the movie trailer(s) by determining characters, scenes, dialogue, and more. Students should be sure to consider how to summarize the events of their scary movie without giving away everything in the story. Once everyone knows the order of their scenes, it’s time to put it together. If you have the time, have students film their trailers. If time and technology is unavailable, have groups practice then act out their trailers for the class. You can use props from the classroom or pantomime them. If time allows, have the class design a movie poster for their film to display while they share their trailers.

Extend the Experience: For added fun, choose other genres for your students to use as they reimagine Old Dry Frye. What happens if the story is a science-fiction fantasy or a spy film? How does the story change as the genre changes?

KAS: W.3-5.3; SL.3-5.6; VA.C.5.1

THE FRIED CHICKEN CHALLENGE

It’s time to get ready to move! Set up your classroom as an obstacle course where Old Dry Frye tries to reach the fried chicken and your students must stop him. Below are a few obstacle ideas:

A “river” of desks and chairs that Old Dry Frye has to cross without touching the floor.
A “haunted forest” where students have to crawl under tables without making a sound.
The final challenge—Old Dry Frye must reach the fried chicken, but the other students will set up obstacles (like rolling a ball or tossing bean bags) to stop him.

Once the obstacles are set, choose a student or two to start as Old Dry Frye and make their way through the obstacle course while the rest of the class tries to stop them. Once Old Dry Frye reaches the end of the course, choose the next student(s) to be Old Dry Frye and try their hand at reaching the end of the course without being caught.

KAS: PE.3-5.2; H.3-5.1; S.3-5.1

FOLK BAND BONANZA

Inform your students that you’ll be forming a class folk band to tell the story of Old Dry Frye through music. Let students know you’ll be making simple instruments, writing songs, and designing cover art for your single. Start by having students make their instruments:

Shoebox Guitar: Decorate a shoebox, add rubber bands for strings, and use a pencil as the bridge.
Paper Plate Tambourine: Staple two paper plates together and fill them with dried beans or rice. Decorate it with markers and stickers.
Bottle Shakers: Fill empty water bottles with beads, rice, or pasta. Seal the top and decorate the bottle.

Now that the band has their instruments, it’s time to get those creative juices flowing by writing your very own folk song about your town, just like the stories told in Old Dry Frye. Use the prompts below to help guide the process:

Step 1: Pick a Tune

To get everyone on the same page, use a familiar tune. For this example, try using “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain.”

Step 2: Fill in the Blanks

Now have students make the song their own by adding in their own words about their town. Ask students to fill in the blanks to create verses for their song:

She’ll be coming around (the name of your street) when she comes,
She’ll be coming around (the name of your street) when she comes,
She’ll be coming around (the name of your street), she’ll be coming around (the name
of your street), she’ll be coming around (the name of your street) when she comes.

Step 3: Add a Few More Verses

She’ll be driving (the type of vehicle or ride you like, e.g., a skateboard, a bike, or a sports car) when she comes.
She’ll be wearing (your favorite type of clothes, e.g., a superhero cape, a hoodie, or a fancy dress) when she comes.
We’ll be singing (your favorite song or a funny song title you make up) when she comes.
We will all have (your favorite food, e.g., pizza, ice cream, or spaghetti) when she comes.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your verses. Encourage your students to think about what’s special or funny about our town and how they can include that in their song. Once everyone has filled in their blanks, combine the ideas into one super cool folk song. Then practice singing it together before performing the whole song as a class. Remember, folk songs are all about telling a story, so sing it loud and proud!

After successfully completing the performance, it’s time to design the cover art for your new hit song! Think about the theme of the song and create a cover that shows off its spirit. What would be the title of the song? What should be the name of your class band? Have students draw pictures of the band members and their instruments.

Extend the Experience: Break the class into smaller groups and have each group choose an aspect of their class, school, or town that they want to sing about. Allow time for each group to write and practice their song before performing it for the class. With multiple songs, you’ll have a full album. For added fun, record each song and put them together to form a playlist for your students. Now you’ll have a full folk album created by your class folk band!