Inspired by a class lesson on pirates, Johnny and Rod start shaking down the other students for their milk money, terrorizing the school. But when Earl hears Lydia pass judgement on the two thugs -- ""Those guys are low-down, dirty sneaks. They're no better than Earl."" -- he loses it. After all, his stellar villainy is leaps and bounds above their amateurish thuggery. To prove his point, he dons a pirate's hat and becomes the infamous Peach Fuzz Beard, morphing a pirate ship into existence and commanding it from the boiler room. His scurrilous crew drafts our gang (Billy, Ruby, Lydia, Marcus, Johnny and Rod) into service. The pirate ship embarks on a pillaging voyage through the school in search of ill-gotten booty with our unhappy heroes in tow. Well, actually, not all of them are unhappy. It turns out Ruby has decided that the pirate life is for her, delighting in her position as ship's treasure-counter. Our gang must convince Ruby that stealing is wrong if they have any hopes of tu

• Ray Nelson Jr.

• Terri Hawkes
• Ron Rubin
• Tracey Moore