Adaption of the Chocopocalypse 1

From The Chocopocalypse

By: Chris Callaghan

Adapted for Readers Theater by Hannah

Gookstetter and Kelli Anderson

Characters: Narrator (Inside Jelly’s head)

Jelly
Jelly’s Dad
Jelly’s Mom
Martin (a TV reporter)
Alice (TV show host)
Professor Fizziwicks
 Adaption of the Chocopocalypse 2

Narrator: Our readers theater script is an adaption of

The Chocopocalypse by Chris Challaghan.
The characters are Jelly Wellington, played
by Hannah, a middle school-aged girl who
lives with her family in the city of Chompton,
which is located in the United Kingdom.
Chompton is the chocolate capital of the
world and Jelly and her family’s lives depend
on the existence of chocolate. Jelly’s
thoughts are being read by Kelli.

Narrator: We open on Jelly and her family, her mom

played by Kelli and her dad played by
Hannah, watching a television show called
The Seven Show, hosted by a TV reporter
named Martin, played by Hannah, and a
news anchor named Alice, played by Kelli.
The television show is about to feature a
news report featuring Professor Fizziwicks,
played by Kelli, that will rock the Wellington
family’s world.
 Adaption of the Chocopocalypse 3

Dad: Chocolate’s always disappearing in this house!

I’m sure there was a Chunky Choc-Chip Crispie in
the cupboard yesterday, but today it has
vanished!

Mom: I don’t know why you’re looking at me

Dad: Oh that’s right, blame me.

Mom: I do.

Dad: Good!

Mom: Good!

(Jelly shushes her parents)

Jelly: I’m trying to listen!

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Alice: And now over to our man in the jungle and

the scary chocolate prophecy!

Narrator: The screen cut to a lush green tropical

paradise, like I had seen on documentaries
about endangered species, or advertising a
vacation her parents could never afford. The
caption below the image on the screen read
EASTER EGG ISLAND, and the reported was
man called Martin. He had a wonky, fake-
looking smile that always made me lick my
front teeth and wonder if mine were as white
and shiny as his. Martin stood in front of
what looked like a huge stone egg, which
appeared to be twice the height of Dad and
was covered in jungle vines.

Martin: Thank you, Alice. I’m here on Easter Egg

Island. This is the island in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean not Easter Island in the
Pacific Ocean.
 Adaption of the Chocopocalypse 5

(Martin laughs)

Martin: Here with me is chocolate expert Professor

Fizziwicks from the University of
Shambridge. He is convinced that he has
discovered a prophecy by the ancient
civilization that once lived here and, if you
can believe it, worshipped chocolate!

Professor: Yes indeed!

Fizziwicks

Narrator: He spoke like his tongue was too big for his
mouth. I watched it lolling around like a
thirsty dog’s tongue.
 Adaption of the Chocopocalypse 6

Professor: The ancient Chocolati tribe who lived on this

island over a thousand years ago
created this egg, and others like it scattered
throughout, as part of their worship, and it is
believed that if you break one open, you’ll
find a tiny bag of chocolate buttons inside!
However, more importantly, these markings
here and here
(he points at the egg) clearly indicate that
during the sixty-sixth cycle of Cacao-Cacao,
which refers to the movement of the stars on
the summer solstice, there will be a…

(Professor Fizziwicks pauses in suspense)

Martin: A what?

Professor: A cataclysmic cacao catastrophe! A

Chocopocalypse!
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Martin: A choco-what?

Professor: A Chocopocalypse! This amazing stone

predicts the total and complete
disintegration of cocoa products at a precise
predetermined point in time.

Martin: It what?

(Professor sighs)

Professor: On the summer solstice – the twenty-first of

June, this very Sunday – chocolate will
simply cease to exist. It’s the end of
chocolate!

Narrator: My parents looked at me with their mouths

wide open.

Jelly: That’s mad!

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Professor: It also predicts that during the countdown to

the catastrophe, a shower of chocolate shall
rain down upon Easter Egg Island!

Martin: A shower of chocolate? I’d like to see that.

Anyway, there you have it. The
Chocopocalypse is coming!

(Dad turns off the TV)

Dad: Well, it wouldn’t affect us here in Chompton

anyway. There’s more chocolate shops here
than there are people.

Narrator: This is true: my town of Chompton-on-de-

Lyte was famous for being the world’s
biggest chocolate center. We have more
chocolate shops, factories and warehouses
than any other country.
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Jelly: But how could chocolate just run out? I

mean, chocolate comes from plants doesn’t
it?

(Jelly pulls out her tablet and looks it up)

Jelly: Chocolate is derived from cacao beans, more

commonly known as cocoa beans, from pods
on the cacao tree.

Mom: So even if the cacao tree did die out there

would still be tons of chocolate left in the
world.

Dad: Yeah, and let’s remember that was The Seven

Show we were watching, not the evening
news.
 Adaption of the Chocopocalypse 10

Narrator: I was always being told by my mom to stop

worrying, but it wasn’t that simple. You can’t
just stop worrying about something because
someone tells you to. Could the world really
run out of chocolate? Find out by reading the
Chocopocalypse by Chris Callaghan.
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Reference List
Callaghan, Chris. (2016). The Chocopocalypse. New York: Delacorte Press.