Story: Forrest Gump retells tales from his life, revealing his life’s philosophy
Cast: Amy, a grade schooler (Sunday dress) and Forrest Gump (dressed to travel), of course!
Setting: Park bench at center of stage with bus stop sign beside, Forrest seated at one end w/ box of chocolates and children’s book in lap, small suitcase on ground beside him, hands on box, legs & feet together, looking straight ahead.
Props: park bench, child’s book, chocolate box, feather, small old suitcase

Music: starts in darkness
Lights up: 10 seconds with only music, then slow to medium fade up (count to 5 for fade) white spot on bench
(Forrest sits as if in a trance for a few moments, then notices a feather on the ground. He pauses, then picks it up, returning to seat sitting rigidly as before. He looks at feather, smiles and very carefully place it in book and gently close the book...return to looking straight ahead)
(Music fades out as Amy enters)
(Amy sits at opposite end and looks around, then looks at Forrest. Forrest cautiously glances at Amy, who smiles at Forrest.)
Amy: Hi.
Forrest: (Cautiously) Hi.
Amy: My name’s Amy.  What’s your name?
Forrest: My momma told me to never talk to strangers, but you don’t look like a stranger, so I guess it’s alright...My name is Forrest, Forrest Gump.
Amy: (sincerely) What kind of name is Forrest Gump?
Forrest: My daddy’s name was Forrest Gump, and my momma told me he gave me his name.... I never saw my daddy...my momma told me he died when I was little.
Amy: Your daddy died? Were you sad?
Forrest: I don’t remember being sad...mamma always took good care of me, told me to comb my hair and brush my teeth, and she read to me every night! Why I remember momma coming to school with me on my first ever day, and stayed all day to make sure I was OK...momma is a real nice la-dy.
(Pause; Forrest and Amy look straight ahead, then Forrest offers some chocolate to Amy)
Forrest: (Holds box out at arm’s length to Amy) Do you want a piece of chocolate? (Amy takes a piece) I like chocolate.  Momma always said, “Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’ll get.” My friend Bubba told me that he was going to buy a shrimp boat when he got home from Viet Nam. He said he knew more about about shrimp than anybody! Bubba told me at least a million ways to cook shrimp! He said he would be the captain and he would teach me how to catch shrimp.
Amy: Did he teach you to catch shrimp?
Forrest: No...Bubba got hurt real bad in Viet Nam. He died....I was real sad for a long time. But I got Bubba a shrimp boat with some money I got playing ping-pong. Did you know they will pay you for playing ping-pong?  They told me I was really fast and people would pay money to see me play. People from ping-pong companies even paid me to hold their paddle and take a picture!
(pause)
Forrest: The people at Bubba’s town were nice to me, but they thought I was stupid because I didn’t know how to catch shrimp. Momma always said “Stupid is as stupid does” so I just kept trying. One day a storm made all the other shrimp boats sink, and I started catching a whole bunch of shrimp! I didn’t know what to do with all those shrimp, so I got some people to help me. We bought some more boats, and got a big warehouse. They told me I needed to put my money someplace safe, so I gave it to a man who was starting a fruit company in California called Apple. Soon they told me I had enough money to take care of Bubba’s family, Bubba’s church and especially momma. (pause) Momma was always right.
(awkward pause, then Forrest holds out the box again)
Forrest: Do you want another piece of chocolate?
Amy (shakes her head “no”)
Forrest: That’s okay. Jenny knows I like chocolate and I always eat some before I give them to her...(he takes a piece out and eats it). she always shares with me.
Amy: who is Jenny?
Forrest: Jenny is my friend! (Smiles: a little chocolate on the teeth is OK) Jenny has been my friend all my life. When I was little, we played together and talked about everything. she’s a grown-up lady now, and I’m going to see her! She’s always been nice to me (pause) I love Jenny...and I just want to be sure that she is okay.
Amy: Here comes my bus...(gets up and steps away, pauses and turns to Forrest) good bye Forrest!
Forrest: Good bye, Amy.
(Amy turns and walks up aisle)
(Forrest closes chocolate box carefully and places it on his lap with the book and returns to staring straight ahead. )

Lights slowly fade out.