Buried Treasure

by Tom Ballmer

by Tom Ballmer

7 males, one interior set, one hour, ages 10 and up.. $ 6.50

by Tom Ballmer
7 males, one interior set, one hour, ages 10 and up. $6.50

Five young teenagers have formed an Inventors Club, complete with a clubhouse full of gear and elaborate initiation practices. But in Buried Treasure their fun and comradeship breaks down when one of them digs up a box of drugs and money and they encounter the young dealer who buried it. They are faced with tough questions. How do you deal with the loss of trust among buddies? How much do you tell parents, especially if one of those parents is a cop?

It’s a truism in youth theatre–there are more girls than boys. And so, pragmatically, more and more plays come out with predominantly feminine casts and themes. Yet directors tell me that when they offer a play with rousingly masculine casts and action, an amazing numbe of boys show up. Tom Ballmer’s Buried Treasure is a play to reward those boys with satisfying roles and their audiences with compelling action. School drama clubs and youth theatres, as well as community plays, can now offer a different kind of diversity, a “boy” play with action and thought appeal to the whole school population.

Tom Ballmer’s Buried Treasure is fun. It’s funny. I like these kids; I want to join their club and hang out with them. They make me laugh. I like their innocence, I understand their temptations, I applaud their struggles to do the right things, and I want to go with them on their grand adventure. Ballmer wries knowingly about a difficult age group, giving his characters charm, energy, and humanity.
Max Bush, Playwright