This document provides character and speaking roles for a story about Louis XVI's descendants visiting Jefferson descendants in the US. It then summarizes several scenes: 1) Louis and Jacques meet Mary at the airport and discuss their ancestor Louis XVI. 2) They visit a French class and meet student Mimi. 3) They tour the University of Virginia and Monticello with Jeff and his friends. 4) Louis feels homesick so they visit a local bakery, where he enjoys pastries and chocolate.

1. APP story 2012
Character #of speakingparts Student Substitute
Louis(French,brotherof Jacques) 33 Pierre x
Jacques(French,brotherof Louis) 24 Oliver x
Jeff (connectedtoJefferson) 12 Dawson x
Sister(connectedtoJefferson) 18 Elsa x
Jeff’s friend 12 Isabella x
Sister’sfriend 7 Julia Mimi/Chanel/Tourguide
Professeur 6 Ellie Jeff/sister
Baker 4 Sam Jeff’sfriend/Mary/Student
Mimi 9 Peyton Baker/Sister’sfriend
Michel 9 Sami Professeur
Robert 10 Jay x
Chanel 11 Ariana x
Tour guide 8 Halle Michel
Mary 8 Riley Professeur/Baker
Student 9 Gia x
Mr. Chandler 4 Mr. Chandler Mme. Boulle
LES DESCENDANTS
At the airport
(Mary, Jacques, sister’s friend, Louis)
Mary: So how was your trip? Bon voyage? This is how you ask if someone had a good trip,
right?
Jacques: Presque. Almost. We say “Bon voyage” when someone goes on a trip to wish them a
“good trip” “bon voyage.” When the trip is over, we say: “Vous avez fait bon voyage?”
Mary: Wow! That’s too hard! So, “bon voyage?”
Jacques: Oui, merci! Thanks for picking us up.
Sister’s friend: No problem. That’s the best part of our job. So, what brings you to the U-S-A?
Louis: Our great great great great grandfather.
Sister’s friend: He is still alive?
Jacques: Oh no! He died a long time ago.
Sister’s friend: Oh, was he sick?

2. Jacques: Non. Il n’était pas malade. His head was chopped off.
Mary: C’est dégoûtant! Was it some kind of accident?
Jacques: Non. He was executed.
Mary: C’est terrible! Executed... like King Louis XVI (16th)?
Jacques: Oui. That was him!
Mary: Wait! Louis XVI was your great great great great grandfather?
Jacques: Oui. C’est notre arrière arrière arrière arrière grand-père.
Sister’s friend: Isn’t he the one with long curly hair and high heeled pointy shoes? He was so
ugly!
Jacques: What does “ugly” mean?
Mary: Heu, ugly? Heu... that means... “beau” that’s right, ugly means beautiful, like you know,
handsome or pretty! (Phone rings) What? yes...yes...YES...ok (sister hangs up the phone). Sorry.
That was my brother Jeff. We have to go pick up my brother at school.
At school
(Sister’s friend, Jacques, Mary, sister, Jeff, Louis, student, Jeff’s friend)
Sister’s friend: Let’s go! On y va?
Jacques: On y va. Oh la la! C’est une jolie école moderne.
Sister’s friend: It’s not new. This building is new, but the school is over 100 years old.
Jacques: 100 years old? That’s new! The University of the Sorbonne in Paris is more than 700
years old!
Mary: Wow! I hope the professors are younger!
Sister: Ha! Voilà mon frère. Here is my brother.
Jeff: Hey sis.
Sister: Jeff, this is my friend Louis and his brother Jacques. They are French.
Jeff: Friend, as in “petit ami?”
Louis: Non non non! She is not my girlfriend. She is very nice and... ugly, but she is not my
girlfriend.

3. Jeff: (whispering to his sister) Ugly?
Sister: Shhh, I’ll explain later. Just play along... (outloud) So, Louis is the great great great
great grandson of Louis XVI. Can you believe this?
Jeff’s friend: Wow! Pretty cool! And what brings you guys to Virginia?
Jacques: We just wanted to understand better Louis XVI’s relationship with Thomas Jefferson.
Sister: Interesting!!! Do you guys want to use the restroom? I am sure you need to go after
such a long trip.
Louis: Les toilettes? Non, ça va.
Jacques: We are good.
Jeff’s friend: Sure! Absolutely! The closest one is around the corner, à droite, to the right.
We’ll wait for you right here (pushing Louis towards the bathroom).
Louis and Jacques: Oh, ok.
Jeff: (to his sister after Louis is gone) Did you tell him?
Sister: Not yet. What do you think? Should we mention it?
Jeff: I don’t know. Should we?
Sister: That’s what I just asked you! What if it’s not good? Better be silent than sorry...
Jeff’s friend: Safe.
Sister: What?
Jeff’s friend: The expression is “better safe than sorry.”
Louis: Vos toilettes sont cool! C’est tout automatique.
Jeff’s friend: Oui. When they built the building, they wanted to make sure it was sustainable,
you know, energy efficient.
Jacques: Je ne comprends pas. What does that mean?
Jeff’s friend: It means the building is “vert.”
Louis: You mean “rouge.” I see lots of bricks, and that’s “rouge” not “vert.”
Jeff’s friend: Non. I mean “vert” as in “save the planet.”
Louis: Oh. Vert écolo?
Jeff: I thought “école” meant school.

4. Jeff’s friend: “École” does mean school, but “écolo” is short for “écologie.” C’est cool!
Jeff: So you could say “mon école écolo est cool?”
Sister: Mon école écolo est cool!!! Ha ha! That’s fun to say! Mon école écolo est cool! Mon
école écolo est cool! (Hitting her head)
Mr. Chandler: Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Are you all right?
Sister: Mon école écolo est cool!!! Ha ha!
Mr. Chandler: She must have hit her head pretty badly. She is speaking nonsense!
Sister’s friend: Mr. Chandler, she is speaking French.
Mr. Chandler: French? Oh my goodness! This is even worse than I thought! Miss Johnson,
please take her to the trainer to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.
Sister’s friend: Yes Sir.
Sister: Mon école écolo est cool!!! Ha ha!
Student: We will. Thank you, Mr. Chandler.
Mr. Chandler: I have to run to a meeting. Keep me posted, okay?
Jeff’s friend: Let’s go say “bonjour” to our French teacher.
Student: Isn’t she in class?
Jeff: Yeah, but she won’t mind...
In French class
(Professeur, student, Louis, Jacques, Mimi)
Professeur: Bonjour!
Student: Bonjour! These are my friend Louis and Jacques. They are visiting from France.
Professeur: Bonjour. Je m’appelle Madame Capet.
Louis: Oh moi aussi! Je m’appelle Capet, Louis Capet!
Professeur: Just like Louis XVI?
Louis: Exactement, oui. Votre classe est cool. It looks just like a café in France. J’adore le
parasol rouge!
Student: Yeah! That red umbrella is the coolest thing!

5. Professeur: Merci. J’adore ma classe! We are learning a poem right now. Mimi, récite le
poème, s’il te plaît.
Mimi: Automne. Il pleut des feuilles jaunes, il pleut des feuilles rouges. L’été va s’endormir et
l’hiver va venir sur la pointe de ses souliers gelés.
Jacques: C’est bien! That was good! When did they start French?
Professeur: About 2 months ago. Deux mois.
Jacques: Wow! Impressive. Très impressionnant! Mimi, ton accent est très bon!
Mimi: Merci! (He likes my accent! Isn’t that cool?)
Student: Well, we have to go. Merci. Au revoir!
Professeur: Au revoir! Bon séjour! Enjoy your stay! Make sure you see UVA before you leave.
Student: I think we are going there tomorrow. Au revoir, merci!
At UVA
(Jacques, sister, Chanel, Jeff, Louis, Robert, Michel, Mimi, Jeff’s friend)
Jacques: Salut Jeff. I am so excited to visit UVA with your friends. (to Jeff’s sister) Bonjour. Ça
va?
Sister: Ça va merci. I just have a small concussion!
Jacques: Zut alors! Qui est-ce?
Chanel: Bonjour, je m’appelle Chanel. Je suis la petite amie de Jeff.
Sister: I knew you had a girlfriend! Why did you lie to mom and dad?
Jeff: Heuuuu... Surprise!!!
Sister: I’ll tell them you lied...
Louis: Bonjour Chanel. Je m’appelle Louis. Are you related to Coco Chanel?
Chanel: Oui, elle était mon arrière grand-mère.
Sister: Goodness gracious! Does everybody here have a famous person in the family?
Louis: What do you mean?

6. Jeff: (kicking his sister) She means nothing! Don’t pay attention to her. She just likes to speak
for nothing. Bla bla bla bla.... That’s all she does. Concussion... Tiens! Voici Robert.
Robert: Bonjour. Je m’appelle Robert. Comment t’appelles-tu?
Louis: Je m’appelle Louis. Tu parles bien français. Your French is good.
Robert: Bonjour. Je m’appelle Robert. Comment t’appelles-tu? Je m’appelle Isabelle. Où
habites-tu? J’habite à Charlottesville, et toi? Où habites-tu? J’habite à Gap. La magasin? Mais
non! Gap dans les Alpes!
Michel: Don’t listen to him. That’s the only French he knows! Moi, c’est Michel. Je suis de
Québec. I am an exchange student.
Louis: So that’s UVA? C’est grand! C’est beau! C’est chic!
Michel: Chic?
Louis: Oui. Chic. Très sophistiqué et propre.
Mimi: I got that! Let me translate this for you. He said: “very sophisticated and proper.”
Michel: Nice try. You got sophisticated right, but “propre” doesn’t mean proper, it means
clean.
Mimi: Clean? That’s not even close! (Falling in mud) Ahhhh! Zut alors! I am covered in mud!
Chanel: Ça va? Pauvre Mimi. I guess you are not very “propre” now!
Jeff’s friend: No. You could even say: “Elle a bu la boue!”
Michel: You know she didn’t really drink the mud, right?
Chanel: Elle a bu la boue! Ahhh! Elle a bu la boue! Elle a bu la boue! That’s so cool!
Jeff’s friend: Oh boy! I have a feeling you will get along really well with my sister!!!
Louis: UVA looks a lot like the pictures I saw of Monticello.
Mimi: That’s because Thomas Jefferson designed it. This grass area is called the lawn. At the
end is the rotunda, and on each side, those are students’ rooms. See, I know things...
Jacques: C’est superbe. Let’s go to Monticello. I can’t wait!
Visit of Monticello
(Tour guide, Mimi, Louis, Student, Jeff’s friend, Chanel, Sister, Mary, Robert, Jacques, Jeff)

7. Tour guide: Welcome to Monticello. Please respect our heritage. Many of the items you will
see inside the home have not been touched since Thomas Jefferson lived here.
Mimi: Wow, must be pretty dusty!
Tour guide: Because some items are privately owned, please do not take pictures inside the
house (turning around and seeing Jeff) oh, it’s you! Take all the pictures you want then!
Louis: Why do you get a special treatment?
Student: Because he is the...
Jeff’s friend: Hey, look at those cool French doors! And that awesome clock!
Student: I guess Thomas Jefferson was not a very good designer because the clock is off
center!
Tour guide: Actually, he was an excellent architect. He designed the clock so that one
mechanism could control both sides, inside and outside the house.
Student: Quoi? That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t get it!
Tour guide: Let’s go inside.
Louis: I am so excited to be here. I am French and I know Thomas Jefferson spent a lot of time
in Paris.
Tour guide: Vous êtes français?
Louis: Oui. Vous parlez français?
Tour guide: Oui, un peu. Je ne parle pas beaucoup, mais je ne me débrouille pas trop mal.
Chanel: Just a little she says? I wish I could speak French like that!
Tour guide: ...so now that you understand the weight systemfor the calendar, where is
Saturday? Où est samedi?
Mimi: Eh look! The guy didn’t even know all the days of the week! The weights from the clock
only go from Sunday to Friday.
Sister: Are you insulting Thomas Jefferson?
Mimi: Non, non! Sorry, I forgot he was your great...
Sister: Oh look at that beautiful French chair!
Louis: Dimanche, lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi... Où est samedi?

8. Mary: (angry) Saturday is in the basement, which you two would have known if you had
listened to what the guide said!
Robert: (Whispering to Louis) What’s wrong with her?
Louis: Je ne sais pas! Girls... Oh, regardez! That’s my great great great great grandfather’s
portrait!
Mimi: He was so ugly!
Louis: Merci! Thank you! I was told I look just like him...
Chanel: Hey Jeff? Wasn’t Louis XVI the one who gave your great great great great grandfather
that portrait?
Jacques: Non. C’est impossible. He gave it to Thomas Jefferson as a present before he left
France to go back to Monticello.
Chanel: Exactly. That’s what I just said!
Jacques: Quoi? Toi?
Sister: Fine! We didn’t want to tell you, but yes, we are the descendants of Thomas Jefferson.
We thought you would be mad!
Jacques: Mais pourquoi?
Jeff: Because, Jefferson supported the revolution in 1789, therefore ruining your chances of
being a king.
Robert: Why can’t he be a king?
Jeff: Because the revolution ended the monarchy, and the king and the nobles lost all their
privileges. Don’t you know anything about the French revolution?
Robert: No, I slept through it... in history class.
Louis: Being a king? Pas pour moi, merci!
Sister: So, are you mad at us?
Jacques: Of course not. I just wish that you would have told me.
Tour guide: Well I hope you liked your tour. Enjoy your stay! Au revoir!
Michel: Ça va Louis?
Louis: Non. Ça va mal.
Chanel: Tu es malade?

9. Louis: Paris me manque.
Michel: So you are not sick, you are just homesick? What do you like to do in Paris? Tu veux
aller à la pâtisserie?
Louis: Oh oui, j’adore la pâtisserie!
Robert: Cool! Let’s go to the bakery downtown; there is one by the train tracks. The owner
lived in France for a long time, so you can speak French with her. I’ll get to practice my French.
At the pastry shop
(Louis, Chanel, Robert, Baker, Michel, Jacques)
Louis: Miam! Ça sent comme Paris! It smells like Paris.
Chanel: Does it remind you of your home?
Louis: Oui.
Robert: Tu veux un muffin?
Louis: Non merci. Je déteste les muffins.
Chanel: How about “une crêpe?”
Robert: Crap??? Why would he eat that?
Chanel: Une crêpe! You know...those thin pancakes...
Baker: Bonjour, vous désirez?
Louis: Bonjour, je voudrais un croissant au chocolat, un éclair au chocolat, une mousse au
chocolat et ...un chocolat chaud.
Michel: Would you like some chocolate with that?
Louis: Should I?
Baker: Voilà!
Louis: Merci. C’est combien?
Baker: $15 (quinze dollars).
Jacques: WOW! C’est cher! It’s less expensive in France!

10. Baker: It’s not expensive! We use prime organic local ingredients. We get our wheat directly
from the mill, our butter is made with whole cream and our eggs are fresh from the farm.
Robert: I didn’t know eggs grew on a farm! That’s so cool! C’est bon?
Louis: Délicieux! J’ADORE le chocolat!
Michel: I wouldn’t have guessed!
Jacques: Next year, you are all invited to come to France. I will take you to all the best pastry
shops in Paris.
Michel: D’accord. But only if they serve chocolate.
Louis: Of course...
FIN

11. Characters Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6
Louis X X x x x x
Jacques X X x x x x
Jeff X x x x
Sister X x x x
Jeff’sfriend X x x X x X x
Sister’sfriend X x x x x x X x x x x x
Professeur x x x x x x x x
Baker X x x x x x x x
Mimi X x X x X x
Michel X x x X x x
Robert X X x X
Chanel X x X x x X x
Tour guide X x
Mary X x x x X x x x x
Student x x x
Mr Chandler