Dr. Faustus

Project Overview

Dr. Faustus and the Holiday Science Pageant is a comic science-fiction short about ambition, control, and one middle school student’s wildly inappropriate idea of genius. 

At Robert Heinlein Middle School, the annual Holiday Science Pageant is already a strange mix of science fair, talent show, and barely controlled chaos. But David Henry Foss, an eleven-year-old would-be mastermind who calls himself Dr. Faustus, has no interest in delivering the harmless musical number everyone expects. Instead, he unveils his greatest invention: a menacing robot designed to correct what he sees as antisocial behavior.

 What Dr. Faustus sees as a breakthrough in human improvement looks a lot more like a dangerous experiment to everyone else. When his invention targets a group of bullies and proves that it actually works, the pageant turns from awkward school event into full-blown science-fiction panic. 

Standing in his way is Veronica Weber, a strong-willed student who understands immediately that David’s machine needs to be stopped. As Dr. Faustus loses control of the room, Veronica takes on the robot, the pageant, and the boy in the lab coat who believes that genius excuses almost anything. 

At its core, **Dr. Faustus and the Holiday Science Pageant** is a fast-moving comedy about ego, invention, authority, and consequences. It plays with mad-science spectacle in a school setting, using science-fiction chaos to explore what happens when a child with too much confidence builds something that actually works.