Sesame Street pageants

Prairie Dawn produced and directed a series of short plays on Sesame Street. The plays were performed by her friends, with Prairie Dawn often accompanying them on piano.

Pageant sketches
Picture	Title	Earliest Known Appearance	Description
	A Flower Grows	Episode 0666	Ernie plays the role of Bart, a farm boy who plants a flower. Herry Monster plays the sun, and a nervous Cookie Monster plays a cloud. Bert reluctantly plays the flower. When it is said that Bert made the leaves for his costume out of lettuce leaves, Cookie and Herry proceed to eat the leaves and rip the costume apart.
	Let's Make a Face	Episode 0711	Prairie directs the cast in a pageant about the face. Ernie talks about eyes, Cookie Monster talks about the mouth, Bert and Grover talk about ears, and Herry Monster talks about the nose. At the end of the pageant, they assemble a picture of a face.
	She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain	Episode 0892	Cookie Monster, playing the heroine in this year's pageant, can't seem to grasp the concept of going "around" something (he instead goes over, under, and through) until Prairie gets an idea and lures him with a cookie.
	Feelings	Episode 1736	Prairie Dawn presents a pageant about feelings. Bert dresses as Cupid to represent love -- but his lines don't ring true. Instead, he sings his own song, "That's Love". He sings that to him, love means pigeons, oatmeal, his little nephew Brad -- and even his best friend Ernie. After the song, Bert complains about his costume and how he is always humiliated in many pageants. Ernie points out to the viewers that "He should have been Angry."
	The Life of a Butterfly	Episode 2073	A little girl plays piano in Prairie Dawn's place, with Ernie as a stage hand. Two AM kids play some eggs on a stick, Bert plays the caterpillar who hatches from an egg, and Herry Monster sprouts out as the butterfly.
	Food We Eat	Episode 2293	Prairie Dawn plays the piano for a pageant about food. Elmo plays an asparagus (a role that would, years later, be performed by Telly). Herry Monster is stuck in a fish costume that's "three sizes too small" and was made by his mom. Leo the Party Monster portrays a potato (mentioning that potato chips make a great party food). Telly, in the role of milk, carries a full pitcher of milk on his head and is concerned about spilling it. When he proudly concludes he managed to say his lines without making a mess, Herry tells him to take a bow. Telly does so, and gets the milk all over Prairie's hair!
	Tooth	Episode 2481	The cast demonstrates how to keep your teeth clean. Bert plays the role of the tooth. Herry Monster is a germ (complete with black coat and moustache). Ernie and Grover come to the rescue in the roles of the toothpaste and toothbrush. Cookie Monster enters the stage with a bucket in his hands, demonstrating how to rinse afterwards. Luckily, when he throws the contents over Bert, the bucket turns out to be filled with confetti.
	The Four Seasons	Episode 2497	Grover plays stage manager (and prop man) for Prairie's play, though he keeps making mistakes and eventually falls from the rafters. Bert presents a snowman for winter, while Herry, with a flower pot, explains spring. Ernie, wearing sunglasses and wielding a beach ball, represents summer, and Cookie Monster wears a (delicious) tree costume for fall.
	Computer	Episode 2618	Prairie Dawn hosts a pageant on the Street with Forgetful Jones as the keyboard, Elmo as the monitor and Telly as a floppy disk.
	How a seed grows	Episode 2679	In a play similar to the earlier flower pageant, Gladys the Cow stars as a seed. Ernie plays the rain and Herry Monster the sun, whose attentions cause the seed to bloom into a flower.
	Milk	Episode 2837	This pageant shows where milk comes from, with Elmo as a glass, Telly, the Big Bad Wolf and a Little Pig as three different sized quarts of milk, Gladys as the cow, and Herry Monster as the grass.
	Island	Episode 2893	Telly, Ruby and Herry appear in a pageant about islands.
	Heavy and Light	Episode 3438	Prairie hosts an pageant about heavy and light, where Monty shows heavy with a large boulder and Merry Monster shows light with a feather.
	Growing Vegetables		In this pageant which is set in the garden section of Sesame Street everyone gathers around for the "Growing A Vegetable." Elmo comes out dressed as a radish, Big Bird dressed as corn with the husk on. Then Snuffy comes out dressed as his favorite vegetable, a cabbage.
Featured pageants
	"The Night Before Christmas"	A Muppet Family Christmas	Ernie narrates the pageant, with Rowlf the Dog on piano. Bert reluctantly plays Mama, Grover plays a mouse, The Two-Headed Monster plays Santa Claus, and various monsters play reindeer.
	Seasons	Episode 2855	Tim Robbins performs the seasons in Prairie Dawn's pageant.
	Best Friends	Episode 3810	Prairie Dawn decides to direct a best friends pageant, but all of the best friends on Sesame Street start arguing with each other.
	Little Red Riding Hood and the Oat Bran Cookies	Episode 3989	Prairie Dawn directs a play called, "Little Red Riding Hood and the Oat Bran Cookies."
	Healthy Food	Episode 4122	Prairie Dawn decides to put on a "Healthy Food Pageant." Prairie plays the piano while everyone else dresses up like different foods and sings about the foods' health benefits. Zoe sings about potatoes and Rosita sings about tortillas. Telly is just about to go on as an asparagus, but he just isn't feeling the part as he has never tasted an asparagus. Another problem arises right before Elmo is about to make his broccoli debut - he can't find his costume!
	The Nativity	Elmo's World: Happy Holidays	A pageant of the Nativity story is presented by Prairie Dawn and the Sesame Street cast. In the pageant, Natasha plays baby Jesus, with Bert as Joseph, Rosita as Mary, Zoe as an angel, and Herry, Grover and Cookie Monster as the Three Kings.
Pageants in other media
	A Christmas Pageant	Merry Christmas from Sesame Street	In this audio skit, everyone votes for Bert to play a Christmas tree in Prairie Dawn's Christmas pageant.
	"The Little Red Hen"	The Little Red Hen	Bert stars as the hen with Herry Monster (the pig), Ernie (the dog), Cookie Monster (the cow), and Grover (the sheep).
	The Sesame Street Weather Play	Don't Be Shy	Snuffy is cast as the Sun, but is initially too shy to come out. Also in the cast are Bert as Snow, Ernie as Rain, and Cookie Monster as Wind.
	Jack and the Beanstalk pageant	We're Counting on You, Grover!	Prairie Dawn asks Grover to help her to create the Beanstalk for the play.
	Thanksgiving pageant	The Sesame Street People in Your Neighborhood 1991 Calendar	Prairie Dawn presents a Thanksgiving play for the month of November.
	Feelings pageant	Happy and Sad, Grouchy and Glad	Prairie Dawn presents a pageant about feelings, with participation from Grover, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, the Amazing Mumford, Elmo, Telly Monster, and Shelley the Turtle, amongst others. The majority of this pageant did not involve costumes.
	Job pageant	When I Grow Up and When Elmo Grows Up	In this Sesame Street Live show, the entire play is presented as a pageant, with the characters portraying their ideal occupation.
	Sing a Song of Sixpence pageant	The Sesame Street Dictionary	Cookie Monster plays the queen who is eating bread and honey in the famed nursery rhyme.
	Jack and the Beanstalk pageant	The Sesame Street Dictionary	Ernie takes on the character of Jack, while Bert plays the beanstalk.
	Cinderella pageant	The Sesame Street Dictionary	Prince Charming tries the glass slipper on Prairie Dawn, who plays Cinderella.
	Goldilocks and the Three Bears pageant	The Sesame Street Dictionary	Ernie, Bert, and Herry Monster played the The Three Bears while Prairie Dawn took on the title role of Goldilocks.
	Little Miss Muffet pageant	The Sesame Street Dictionary	The Nursery Rhyme tale of a Miss Muffet and a spider, played by Stanley.
	Ali Baba and his Forty Thieves pageant	The Sesame Street Dictionary	Ernie takes on the role of Ali Baba in this story from One Thousand and One Nights.
	Peter and the Wolf pageant	The Sesame Street Players Present Peter and the Wolf	In this book and tape set, the Sesame characters present the story of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

See also

Ernie and Bert sketches

Cookie Monster sketches

Kermit the Frog sketches

Grover sketches

Herry Monster sketches

Count von Count sketches

Elmo sketches

Big Bird sketches