VOLCANO | Volcano

A MUSICAL

Logline

A headstrong basketball hopeful journeys to the big city to find a powerful witch and stop a volcanic eruption from ruining the high school championship.

Music

Characters

Concept Art by Robyn Haley

Mitzi

She longs for a more glamorous life as a basketball star, away from Roseyville. Her parents died a few years ago and she lives with her Aunt Rae and cousin Merryn, working in Aunt Rae’s general store on weekends. She wants to overcome her life in Roseyville.

Merryn

She has recently been awarded an internship in Sunset City to study journalism. She is more likely than Mitzi to follow the rules. She feels like her mother has neglected her ever since Mitzi came to live with them. She wants validation and approval from her mother and from Mitzi.

Tarantella

She has devoted herself to serving Roseyville by casting spells from the town’s waterfall that protect it from the volcano. She always thought that someone would eventually replace her as the town witch, but these days Roseyville is not a place people want to serve. Although they respect her, the townsfolk are afraid of her and so she lives as an outcast.

Belanos

Calculating and avaricious. He is the antagonist of the story. He is mayor of Sunset City and up for reelection during an economic downturn. Charismatic and bold, he knows how to gain favor with people and use them to his own advantage. He wants to maintain his power and wealth.

Aunt Rae

When her sister and brother-in-law died, she adopted her niece, Mitzi, and has struggled to raise two girls in a depressed town. She owns a small general store in Roseyville, but she knows she can’t keep the business afloat for long. She wants her daughter and niece to be happy despite their circumstances.

Synopsis

Roseyville is a small town in a forested valley in the shadow of a volcano—the nearby waterfall is a source of magical power for those who can wield it and keep the destructive forces at bay and protect this economically depressed community from further catastrophe. MITZI (17) has dreams of leaving Roseyville for Sunset City and becoming a pro basketball player but is also training to be the town witch, learning from her elder, TARANTELLA (35), so that she can take over one day to keep the volcano at bay with her magic. Mitzi doesn’t want to sacrifice her basketball dreams to become the witch, but she is intrigued by magic for reasons related to the upcoming championship game. Meanwhile, the head of the town council and former lover of Tarantella’s, JAGGER (mid-30s), has been hooked on sugar as a hard drug, embezzling money and fleeing town.

Mitzi is consistently late for work at the General Store, owned by her AUNT RAE (mid-40s), who is also her guardian. Her cousin MERRYN (17) is annoyed by this and lets her cousin hear an earful, as they both seem concerned she spends so much time with Tarantella the witch. Aunt Rae threatens her with being grounded and unable to play in the championship basketball game if caught with Tarantella again. A scornful Mitzi wishes someone would bulldoze Roseyville and start over. This remark offends Merryn, who has journalism dreams that she’s pursuing with an upcoming summer internship but respects her hometown too. Against her family’s wishes, Mitzi continues training with Tarantella, but it’s clear the student witch still has much to learn. After Mitzi leaves for the night, Tarantella privately recalls her feelings for Jagger, admitting she is still in love with him—and deciding to leave town to find him, risking the volcano’s eruption.

Tremors are felt almost immediately in Roseyville after Tarantella’s departure, canceling basketball practice for the day and piquing Mitzi’s curiosity about why this is occurring. Mitzi arrives at the witch’s cabin by the magical waterfall, only to find Tarantella missing—and Merryn has followed Mitzi there. They discover a note from Jagger that mentions he went to Sunset City to meet with the mayor and “old pal,” BELANOS (late-30s). Mitzi realizes she has to go to the city, find Tarantella, and talk some sense into her—but Merryn won’t let her go alone—so they ‘borrow’ Aunt Rae’s car and head to Sunset City. Belanos is the controlling figure behind the sugar epidemic that’s not only affecting Roseyville but tearing Sunset City apart as well. He intentionally hooked Jagger on sugar, knowing he would eventually come to him and Tarantella would follow—causing an eruption that would wipe out Roseyville. When an addicted Jagger arrives at the mayor’s office at Sunset Tower, he is kept locked away, with just enough of the narcotic sugar to keep him compliant. Tarantella arrives at Sunset Tower not long after but is stonewalled by the Belanos’ ASSISTANT (early 20s). Mitzi and Merryn are on their way to Sunset City when Aunt Rae figures out they took the car without asking—but they ignore the call and continue on their journey.

Mitzi and Merryn enter Sunset City, realizing it’s just as rundown as Roseyville, before devising a plan to attend a gala at Sunset Tower to get closer to the mayor’s office and locate Tarantella. Tickets are hard to come by, but Merryn’s journalism contact in the city, LAMAR (17), has one. He’s a basketball player and a gambler, and they challenge him and a friend to a game of two-on-two—Merryn staking her internship against a ticket to the gala. The girls win in a hard-fought match that comes down to Mitzi using her magic on the final play—essentially cheating. Meanwhile, Tarantella wanders through the Underworld and sees the black market sugar operation firsthand while trying to find a way into Sunset Tower, using her magic to pose as Belanos’ Assistant and gain access to the mayor—learning of Jagger’s whereabouts. She finds him and attempts to convince Jagger to return to Roseyville and make everything right with the money he stole. Belanos knows Tarantella has made her way to Jagger, and it’s all going according to plan. Merryn forces Mitzi to admit she’s only learning magic to cheat in the big game before they get alerted to the volcano’s impending eruption and decide to part ways—Merryn heads home to tell the police what they know about Tarantella’s disappearance. At the same time, Mitzi goes to the gala to search for her.

After learning all about Belanos’ involvement in the black market sugar trade, Jagger promises to give it up for the sake of Tarantella’s love. They agree to escape together, so Tarantella goes downstairs to scout out an escape plan amid the crowded gala. Mitzi enters the gala, still in search of Tarantella, and runs into her idol pro basketball players—who make condescending remarks about both Sunset City and Roseyville—leaving her stunned and disappointed. Tarantella spots Mitzi and comes over to tell her she found Jagger, and they head back upstairs to make their final escape together. Merryn tracks down Lamar and apologizes for cheating during the basketball game, tipping him off to the mayor’s involvement with the sugar problem. Belanos’ Assistant hurries Jagger out of the building and into the Underworld for more sugar—taking him away from Tarantella. Jagger’s not thinking clearly and breaks his promise to Tarantella, feeding his addiction as the Assistant amply supplies him. Tarantella and Mitzi confront Belanos, who tries to convince her to follow Jagger and be with him—but instead, she chooses to summon her magic and begins destroying the city, leaving Belanos and Mitzi to flee. Meanwhile, in Roseyville, the volcano is in full eruption, and evacuation is in progress. Merryn finds Aunt Rae stuck under some rubble in her store. Mitzi confronts Tarantella, preventing further destruction by releasing the witch of her duties and agreeing to take them over so Tarantella can be with Jagger in the Underworld. Mitzi transforms and flies home on a broom, rescuing Aunt Rae before rushing to the magical waterfall. From there, Mitzi struggles to keep the lava from reaching the town and eventually gains the upper hand—saving the town as Merryn and Aunt Rae look on proudly.

Email

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