The American Girls Premier
Sold Out		(Win95/31/Mac) (Jewel Case) (AMERG2NDDJ)

Pleasant Company / The Learning Company

Children / Girls

Ages: 8 to 12

Includes 2 CDs

Experience American History

Create your own live-action play and bring your favorite characters from The American Girls Collection to life! With The American Girls Premiere 2nd Edition, you'll learn about history as you write and print your scripts, direct, and produce an entire show - from script to premiere performance.

1. Choose an American Girl to star in your play.

Choose any one of the six popular American Girls for your leading role:

Felicity - 1774. A spunky, spritely colonial girl, full of energy and independence.

Josefina - 1824. An Hispanic girl whose heart and hopes are as big as the New Mexico sky.

Kirsten - 1854. A pioneer girl of strength and spirit who settles on the frontier.

Addy - 1864. A courageous girl determined to be free in the midst of the Civil War.

Samantha - 1904. A bright Victorian beauty, an orphan raised by her wealthy grandmother.

Molly - 1944. A lovable schemer and dreamer on the home front during World War Two.

2. Research and Prepare.

Director's Guide. Gather background information on each of the American Girls, their family and friends, and their historical era. Learn interesting facts about each time period, what it was like to be a girl growing up during that time, and how accessories and items were used in everyday life.

Director Tips and Glossary. Get tips on how to get actors into character, block the action, and keep your play moving. Familiarize yourself with the parts of a stage and theatrical terminology.

3. Set the Stage.

Scenes. Choose a beautiful backdrop from a selection of finely detailed scenes - 12 for each American Girl including her home, school, and other favorite places. You can stage your play inside or outside.

Props. Decorate your stage with furniture, toys, and other historically accurate treasures - more than 20 different props for each American Girl.

4. Cast the play.

Costumes. Choose from nine fun and historically detailed costumes for each American Girl to wear.

Co-Stars. Play the casting director and select co-stars, characters from the American Girls stories - 11 friends and family members for each American Girl.

5. Bring your play to life.

Write and Print the Script. Be the playwright and dream up the story line and dialogue. Sample plays and play starters help spark your imagination to get you going.

Record the voices. Get together with your friends and record your own voices for each of the characters. Or, type in the text and hear computer-generated voices recite the lines.

Direct the Action. Direct characters to laugh, act sad, excited or surprised. You decide what each character will do and when they will do it! - 16 possible actions and emotions for each American Girl and her family and friends.

6. Create mood and ambiance.

Music. Choose from over 300 lively musical selections - 50 from each historical time period.

Lighting. Dim the lights, shine the spotlights and experiment with other special lighting effects to add drama to your scenes.

Sound effects. Add the realistic sounds of birds singing, doors slamming, dogs barking, and more - 90 different sound effects for each time period.

6. Perform the premiere.

Once all planning and rehearsing is done, prepare and print your playbill. Invite your family and friends to the premier performance. Draw back the curtains for your multimedia play, then sit back and enjoy the show!. Take your bows to a chorus of "Bravos!"

The American Girls Collection brings history alive with beautiful books, dolls, and accessories that celebrate timeless traditions of the past.

Requirements:

Windows: IBM and compatibles, 486 or higher, Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, 8 MB RAM, hard drive, 256 color SVGA display, Windows compatible sound card, mouse, printer recommended, microphone recommended, double speed CD-ROM drive.

Macintosh: 68030 (LCIII) or higher, System 7.1 or higher, 8 MB RAM, hard drive, 256 color display (13" or larger monitor), Macintosh compatible printer recommended, microphone recommended, double speed CD-ROM drive.

Reviews:

Computer Shopper, December 1997 (Original Version Review)

"Meet Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, and Molly: five American Girls who have already won the hearts of millions of young girls. This popular series of books and dolls from Pleasant Co., which teaches about various different times in American history, comes to life in The American Girls Premiere CD-ROM from The Learning Co. With this software, a junior playwright can direct and record plays featuring her favorite characters from the American Girls series.

"Graphical buttons and pictures make it easy to choose one of the five American Girls as the star. The director can also choose from 12 different background sets for each girl, numerous props, costars from each girl's family and friends, sound effects, and background music, all appropriate to the girl's period in history.

"A set of VCR-like buttons (play, stop, record, fast-forward, and rewind) control the flow of the play. You can select record and use the mouse to position your character on the stage. The program then records actions such as walking, dancing, sitting, or whispering; a total of 16 actions are available for each character. Finally, you can add dialogue for each character by typing it in, recording it with your own voice or a combination of the two. Our 12-year-old tester learned how to use the program in no time and enjoyed playing the part of storyteller/playwright."

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