Found a Peanut

THE STORY: The setting is the backyard of a Brooklyn tenement on the last day of summer vacation, where a group of children aged five to fourteen (portrayed by adult actors) are at play. Finding a dying bird they decide to have a ritual burial, which leads to the discovery of a bag of money, probably buried by a reclusive miser who had recently died in the adjacent building. This discovery, in turn, results in squabbles and bitterness among the children, as the microcosm of their games gradually yields an awareness of greed, betrayal and violence-elements of life heretofore unknown to them but, regrettably, so much a part of the grownup world that they are approaching. In a sense the play, with deft irony and lively humor, marks the coming of age of the children, as the carefree innocence of youth is sobered by the emergence of emotions that, while not yet fully comprehended, will have a profound effect on their lives in the years to come.Margulies, Donald is the author of 'Found a Peanut', published 1984 under ISBN 9780822204176 and ISBN 0822204177.