The Cold Equations Play Summary

Our group selected our play presentation on “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin. This play is about a girl named Marilyn who was ejected from the Stardust aircraft. Our group selected this play so we could create an exciting, interesting, and suspenseful alternative ending. We titled our alternative ending, The Slightly Warmer Equation because of the happier and lighter storyline that our play has in comparison to “The Cold Equations” dark and dreadful storyline. The reason we did this was so that we could convey to the audience that Marilyn was getting closer to solving her own life equation and living happily ever after. The main conflict in the play is that Marilyn has floated onto the Octagon spacecraft belonging to aliens. She is then discovered

by an alien named Malron, her life is put in jeopardy, and to her surprise she begins to have feelings for him. By the end of the play Marilyn accepts her feelings for Malron and they live happily ever after. Our play’s context follows the elements of drama’s pyramidal pattern, a protagonist and antagonist, elements of setting, and the accomplishment of delivering an entertaining and positive storyline to our audience.
Within our play’s pyramidal pattern, it contains a rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The rising action is in the beginning of the play when Marilyn realizes she is alive, but unknown that she is aboard an alien spacecraft called the Octagon. She is unknown of her surroundings and it sets a pathway for the climax of the story. The climax occurs at the moment when Marilyn’s life is put in danger when the aliens are about to kill her. However, Malron the alien has a moment of sympathy and allows her to stay aboard the Octagon. As the storyline proceeds, it transfers into he falling action of the play. This occurs when Marilyn comes to the realization that she has romantic feelings toward Malron. Finally, the resolution occurs at the end of the play when Marilyn decides that she wants to further her relationship with Malron and they live happily ever after.
By following the pyramidal pattern, this allowed us to develop Malron as the Protagonist and Malron’s parents as the antagonist to entertain the audience.

It is easily identifiable that Malron is the protagonist through his actions within the play. An example being when Malron stops himself from killing Marilyn. Rather than shooting her in the head, he pulls away the gun and begs his parents to allow Marilyn to stay aboard the Octagon. The reason that this shows he is the protagonist is because He states specifically to his parents, “Wait! I mean, she isn't really doing any harm, we could always just let her work on our spacecraft. You said we needed a new cook anyway! And…And…What if she was meant to come here for a reason?” (1.4). This quote shows his courageous act for Marilyn, making him the identifiable protagonist. As for the antagonist within our play, it is Malron’s mother and father. The reason that they are the antagonist is because of his disapproval of Malron wanting to save Marilyn’s life. The father directly states to Malron, “Look at her! She is already passed out, just make it easy and kill her. Besides, are you insane? A human? Working on my spacecraft! I couldn't have it!” (1.4). After this statement Malron’s mother agrees and questions why Malron wants to save Marilyn. These comments made by Malron’s parents are what make them the antagonists because of their opposition of what Malron is doing. . However, as the story proceeds we decided to make the parents accepting of Malron’s decision to save Marilyn because they care about their son's happiness. The protagonist and antagonist and are what made the story enjoyable for the

audience.
In order to deliver an entertaining and positive storyline, we needed to include the proper elements of setting: place, time, and environment. The play’s setting takes place aboard the Octagon alien spacecraft. As for the time period of our play, we describe in the introduction that it takes place during the future. The entire play contains three different scene changes. It first begins with Marilyn floating in space. Next, the scene changes to a storage room on the Octagon. The final scenes of the play occur in a conference room on the spacecraft. Through the use of a proper setting the audience is able to visualize what is going on, and have a full understanding of the place, time, and environment.
Our group wanted to use the elements of drama so that we could deliver an enjoyable and amiable storyline to our audience. We did this by making the falling action and climax of the play dark and scary, while the rising action and resolution was light and jovial. In order to do this, we had to make sure that our falling action and resolution contained positive dialogue among characters. We made the falling action the moment when Marilyn realizes she has feelings for Malron. This occurs after they make the physical connection of dancing with one another. The stage direction stating, “Marilyn and Malron continue to dance around the room, they both lock eyes and pause” (1.7). After this moment Malron states to Marilyn, “Marilyn, has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful pupils?” (1.7). This compliment made by Malron towards Marilyn shows that he is complimenting her in a positive way. This moment is when Malron and Marilyn’s dialogue displays the positive storyline. By the end of the story Malron and Marilyn accept their feelings for one another and Malron states, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift that is why it’s called the present” (1.8). After this comment Malron and Marilyn embrace one another with a passionate hug. By ending the play with this encounter, it allows the storyline to end in a happy form. It also allows the audience to interpret that Malron and Marilyn live happily ever after aboard the Octagon.
The content of The Slightly Warmer Equation follows the proper guidelines to deliver the elements of drama to our audience. We were able to do this through the plot’s pyramidal pattern, a protagonist and antagonist, elements of a time, place, and environment, and the delivery of a optimistic storyline to our audience. Our group incorporated a conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution, which gives our play a great plot. Along with this, our use of a Malron as the protagonist and Marilyn as the antagonist made the plot even more deliverable. Our group was able to accomplish our goal of creating an entertaining play through the elements of drama.