Hundreds of Plays and Musicals
Eldridge Publishing, a leading play publisher since 1906, offers hundreds of full-length plays, one-act plays, melodramas, Christmas plays, children's theatre plays, and musicals of all kinds.
Featured products
Dad-Joke Intervention New Release
Comedy by Wade Bradford
23 pages
2 m, 4 w, plus 3 optional roles for the flashback scenes
The play opens with a typical living room scene: a good, old-fashioned dad sitting in a comfy chair reading a good, old-fashioned newspaper. However, things quickly take a turn for the absurd when Mrs. Wright, a professional and serious-looking person, enters the room and is subjected to a barrage of cheesy jokes and puns from the dad. As the rest of the family enters, it becomes clear that they've called Mrs. Wright in for a "Dad-Joke Intervention." But will she be able to help? Or is this family doomed to be forever subjected to the dad's endless supply of ...
Lavender & Lunatics New Release
Comedy by Tony Howell
65 pages
24-26 roles + extras (7m, 10 w, 7-9 flexible)
Lorelei Lavender is staging a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but unknown to her, a couple of would-be bank robbers are hiding out in her theatre and have become part of the cast. On top of that she has to deal with backstage drama, divorced movie stars, loan payments, and a tough-guy cop who keeps stopping rehearsals. Designed to work on a bare stage, much of the action plays in the house and is best staged to use all entrances from backstage to light booth. Costumes are modern with rehearsal pieces added throughout the course of the show, ...
Mystery of the Scavenger Hunt Heist New Release
Interactive Mystery by Brian Sylvia
46 pages
4 m, 6 w - 1 optional
Detective Vic Torious is called to the ranch of Bill Yonnaire, the host of the Third Annual Super Spectacular Scavenger Hunt. This year’s event is to be televised for the first time. But the ultimate prize, a solid gold 12-inch laughing hyena worth a million dollars, has disappeared before it is officially “hidden.” Who stole the high-priced hyena? Could it be Duane Pypes, the former teen idol from an ’80s sitcom? Or perhaps it’s the newly-crowned champion of the American Superstar TV series, Carrie Oakey. Add in a retired supermodel, a ruthless defending cha...
Totally Awesome! New Release
Musical by Stephen Murray
40 pages
1 m, 5 w, 15 or more flexible, extras and doubling possible
The Awesome family has been so successful at fighting Champion City crime that they have decided to release all the villains. Yes, General Mayhem, Corporal Punishment, and the others in the Army of Evil are free.
The Awesome family now travels to where crime fighters are needed. Meanwhile the youngest, Annie Awesome, is at odds with being in a superhero family as she’s often stuck doing not so heroic tasks. She meets normal citizen Fiona who dreams of making a real difference in the...
A Caterpillar’s Tale Featured Production
Children by Carlos Perez
39 pages
Flexible cast of 8 to 15. Min: 1 m, 1 w, 6 flexible
A screenplay adaptation of this play is an Official Selection of the 2022 San Diego International Kids' Film Festival.
Periwinkle, a curious caterpillar, feels compelled to find out what happens when caterpillars climb up the Great Tree –and never return! He decides to follow grumpy Thistle, who seems to be next to do the climb, but Periwinkle encounters some big obstacles he must overcome, including evading the clutches of a black widow ...
Arms and the Man New Release
Classic by Ken Womble
54 pages
4 m, 3 w
Arms and the Man is a satire on the glorification of war and the folly of basing one’s affections on an unreal love. Set in the 1880s, Raina Petkoff, a Bulgarian whose father and fiancé Sergius are serving in the war, is warned enemy soldiers may be nearby. Soon Captain Bluntschli, a war-weary enemy, breaks in and holds her hostage. Over the course of the evening, they start to connect. Raina provides him with one of her father’s coats and some chocolates, giving him the nickname, “my chocolate-cream soldier.” When the w...
"My students seemed bored by Civil Rights. I took out their textbook and put the images and events into a play to show them the natural drama and that it was regular people who made the difference in the Civil Rights Movement."
"Top-shelf fear!" - Niagara Falls Gazette
This show explores treatment of POWs.
Bestsellers
Just Another High School Play
Comedy by Bryan Starchman
73 pages
Minimum cast of 10 plus drama teacher, maximum of 40
Here's a comedy that covers nearly every angle of the typical high school play with a dose of history and improvisation thrown in for good measure! A group of actors, who have apparently been abandoned by their drama teacher, have to fend for themselves opening night in front of a live audience. Their teacher has left them hanging because no one has been showing up to rehearsals and no one is really quite sure what they are supposed to do. The student assistant director and the stage manager step in, find a box of scripts which they pass out to the cast, and ...
An Experiment
Fantasy by Brent Holland
28 pages
6 Actors
Portrayed in a fantasy world, five confused participants wake up with no memory of their past life … with only one word, a personality descriptor (such as compassionate, courageous or orderly) written in type on their shirts. The doctor explains that each is here willingly, and that they are all being compensated for their participation in a research study. Will the assigned attribute of each participant affect their behavior when under extreme duress? Once the experiment begins and they find out that to lose is to die, all five do what they must to survive ...
The Cry of the Peacock
Drama by Billy W. Boone
42 pages
3 m, 4 w, 10 flexible
Young Mary Blanton has suffered some kind of trauma as evidenced by her monster-filled dreams and the horrific scratches on her neck and back. Who did this to an innocent 9-year-old girl, a child who finds comfort through an imaginary pet peacock? Dr. Janice Todd is called before a review board to defend her investigation of the child abuse case. She recounts her discoveries and interviews with the Blanton family, and scenes of Mary’s recent past are brought painfully to life. Three judges, staged as omniscient, skeptical shadows, and several surreal nightmar...
The Actor Games
Comedy by Wade Bradford
32 pages
13, plus extras
In this dystopian/Hunger Games parody everyone is starving...for attention! Society's obsession with all things drama has become so distracting, the Capitol has outlawed all auditions and has divided the population into ten districts: Greek Tragedy, Shakespeare Drama, Commedia Dell'Arte, and others. During the annual Actor Games, a tribute from each district competes to become a star. The losers must suffer the fate of the Fallback Wheel. This year, Meryl hopes to become the first ever winner from High School Drama. Unfortunately, the odds are never in her fa...
Superhero Sanitarium
Comedy by Scott Haan
41 pages
3 m, 3 w
Lois Lancaster is a big-city journalist writing about the current state of mental health facilities. Her research takes her to a hospital populated with a unique group of quirky inmates who imagine they are crime-fighting superheroes. Speed Freak thinks he can run at incredible speeds, while enthusiastic Dim Bulb thinks he has the ability to turn off lights with his brain. Mental thinks she can read minds, despite being prone to sudden outbursts of bizarre non-sequiturs. Kevin, much less quirky and flamboyant than the other inmates, doesn’t embarrass himself ...
Help! I’m Trapped in a Musical!
Comedy Musical by Stephen Murray
46 pages
4 m, 16 w, 1 flexible, extras
There’s something strange going on at Sondheim High School. New transfer student, Norma LaBelle, is having trouble getting accustomed to the school’s unusual traditions. At any given moment, students and teachers burst into song for no apparent reason. Each time they sing, it sounds almost like a famous Broadway musical. The math teacher sings a lesson on the Pythagorean theorem. The history teacher delivers a rap-filled class on Alexander Graham Bell. Mrs. Lovett, the Lunch Lady, delivers a menu filled with Broadway-themed meals. The students sing a celebra...