Story Synopsis
To the outer world CHRIS
KARAS is a shy, handsome, "A" student, the son of a
hard-working Greek contractor. But to his closest confidants he is none
other than the celebrated Prince of Pranksters, a secret society dedicated
to combating the inequities of high school through masterful acts of
subterfuge.
With graduation looming ahead, Chris longs for more from life. He
dreams of getting into a top college and wooing MARIAH RIVERA, the
radiantly beautiful editor of the school paper. Standing squarely in
Chris's way are the expectations of his fellow Pranksters, Mariah's
all-world boyfriend, and Chris's old-world father, who can't understand
his son's collegiate ambitions.
How Chris navigates the treacherous waters of
adolescence is the story of The Prankster. Guided by the homespun wisdom
of his delightfully eccentric UNCLE NICK, Chris embarks on a challenging
path of self-discovery, a path fraught with peril as well as laughter.
Chris's first step is his clandestine application for the Outstanding
Teenagers of America Scholarship, an award that his Prankster peers openly
deride. To have any chance of winning Chris must try out for graduation
speaker, vying with an insidious class suck-up, preppie student body
president BRAD BURRIS. Meanwhile, fate presents Chris with an opportunity
to get to know Mariah. She catches him planting an article in the school
paper but doesn't turn him in. Rather, she is surprised and intrigued by
this young man, whom she had once pigeonholed as a non-entity.
When catty blonde cheerleader TIFFANY FOWLER discovers Chris and
Mariah's budding friendship, she makes sure both of them become social
outcasts. To make matters worse, Chris's prankster cohort, LARRY, is given
a brutal "swirlie" by a humongous jock, 
BLOTTO, while the boorish school
DEAN looks the other way. Such abuse keeps Chris committed to the
Pranksters' mission. They gain revenge by sabotaging the Senior Follies,
humiliating the Dean in the process.
The pressure mounts as the Dean vows to discover and
punish the Pranksters. After Chris beats out Brad Burris for graduation
speaker in a nerve-wracking competition, the Dean finally catches one of
the Pranksters. In support of their fallen comrade, Chris and his fellow
Pranksters turn themselves in. The shocked Dean has no choice but to allow
Chris to make his graduation speech, but warns him he won't graduate if he
tries any funny stuff. Chris must now make the most difficult choice of
his young life - to continue being a Prankster, to become a suck-up, or
something far more difficult - to "step up" and be himself. It's a dilemma
faced by other characters too, one that is resolved in a climax that is as
moving as it is hilarious.