Almost Shakespeare

69 pages

5 to 6 m, 7 w

Wouldn't it be great fun to direct William Shakespeare's "Hamlet"? That was what Margo Daley always thought...until she is hired to do just that by the Peaceful Glen Memorial Players in their theater, a renovated funeral home. They DO have a couple of conditions, however. Margo has to make the play a melodrama, so the audience will know when to throw the popcorn. And they can't be too loud because the lady who lives under the theater bangs her cane on the stage. Oh, and Margo has to insert the sponsors' names into the play and, by the way, has to take place i...

32 pages

2-3 m, 6 w

Okay, these housewives may not be real, but they are desperate. Shakespeare has been manipulating and twisting their lives for six plays now, and they desperately want to escape his evil machinations. But are they desperate enough to commit murder? Shakespeare has been found dead: stabbed, poisoned, starved, choked, bitten by an asp, and even turned into a baardvark. Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Kate, Rosalind, Cleopatra, and Titania all had the means and the motive to kill Shakespeare, but who really did it? This comic tragedy (or is that tragic comedy?) has all of...

48 pages

5 m, 9 w, extras

Pedro, Ben and Claude discover that while they've been away at the Civil War, Betty and the other womenfolk have been doing all of the roping and ranching. This Western romp is inspired from Shakespeare's hilarious battle-of-the-sexes romantic comedy, "Much Ado About Nothing." Despite how much the cowpokes and the ladies of the ranch taunt each other, love seems to be in the air. Claude falls head over heels in love with Winny, a lovely Southern belle, but Calamity Jane, a rambunctious tomboy, secretly longs for Claude's affections and is bent on stirring up ...

50 pages

24 parts

Here is Shakespeare's classic comedy condensed without losing the passion, humor, and magic that has made the play a theater favorite. This adaptation, while remaining true to the original, is cut to about an hour and a half performance time, making it ideal for junior and high school productions. This timeless story remains the same: two young couples are all in love, but with the wrong people. They chase each other in a fantasy world, a forest filled with fairies, love potions and even a donkey. Their journey makes for an outrageous romp that advances perfe...

36 pages

Widely flexible cast from 9 to 40

A poor student is struggling to read Shakespeare's great tragedy, "Macbeth," while in a coffee shop next door to a theater. The student gets a study boost from waitress, who was an English major, and four customers, who are actors, as they act out the Scottish tragedy in fast-paced farce. Soon, a pompous actor who has just finished a Shakespeare matinee next door, enters and tells of the "Scottish curse," and all of the unfortunate events that surround the play's past productions. Actors portray characters throughout history including Shakespeare, King James,...

50 pages

6 m, 6 w

Miss Duncan, the Stratford High School drama teacher, has always wanted to direct "Hamlet," but from the very start her production is doomed. The lead actor is a prima dona who exasperates his peers. The other actors are either jealous that they weren't cast in different roles, or clueless. On opening night the costumes still haven't arrived, the makeup is lost, and the actor who is to play Horatio calls from the hospital just before his emergency appendectomy. A member of the cast has a cousin who is a professional actor who recently performed in "Hamlet." W...

61 pages

8 m, 14 w, extras

The students of Hilltop High are excited! They're going to put on a performance of "Romeo and Juliet." But the drama director, Miss Peggy Donahue, pressed into service by a principal eager to please his superintendent, is horrified. Twenty years before, when she was a student at Hilltop High, she starred in a disastrous musical version of Shakespeare's "Scottish Play," and she believes the curse lingers on. Sure enough, everything that can go wrong does. The set for the balcony scene collapses, the actress playing Juliet breaks her leg in a freak accident, he...

72 pages

3 m, 9 w

The Peaceful Glen Memorial Players are about to mount a new production, but this time, it's a fight for their lives. It's not just the usual hand-to-hand combat between board members Duncan and Hope for the last donut. This time the company is about to lose their building. According to the late Archibald Donnelly's will, they could keep the building as long as they do "quality productions." Oh, they have tried, in their own left-field way, to do the classics. "Isn't it true," family heir Blair Beesley asks, "that you did 'Twelve Angry Men' with five actors an...

71 pages

11 m, 10 w, 3 flexible, 1 boy, extras

Ah, what fools these mortals be! Whimsically adapted from Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy, this musical features the usual magical forest and spellbound lovers, but also an upstart Puck who decides to liven things up by modernizing the dialogue and adding song and dance numbers. It's all fun and games until William Shakespeare, fresh from spinning in his grave, leaps onto the stage, demanding to know what on earth is going on! The 13 songs capture a wide range of emotions, including the enchanting "Moonbeams," sung by Titania and her Fairies; the hilari...

58 pages

5 m, 14 w, 1 flexible

Enroute to London, young Will Shakespeare has a fanciful encounter in the woods outside of Stratford. In the space of one night, he finds himself chased by a young maiden, haunted by witches, bedazzled by spirits and enchanted by a group of rag-tag actors. Yearning to be an actor in London, he is in turn stopped by all in his path. The young maiden wishes to deter him from a low, base theatrical life. The witches mean to turn him into a playwright so he can write about their escapades and free them from the woods. Turning to the spirit world, the witches summ...

64 pages

5 m, 7 w, and 3 flexible, extras

Here's a charming, fantasy romp of fairies, elves, and sprites and their adventures--and misadventures--in love. And it's all happening at the same time of Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream.”  The sprites of Shakespeare’s fairy kingdom are awaiting the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. The fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania, should bless the upcoming wedding, but have been locked in a dispute over custody of an Indian changeling child for nearly two years. The sprites clamor to rekindle old flames and enco...

35 pages

3 m, 1 w

Inevitably, community theatres are destined to have Shakespeare and zombies. This comedy has both! Dr. Marlowe-Thomas, an aspiring new director, is desperate to stage the ultimate Shakespearean production of the "Scottish Play." She is convinced Shakespeare originally wrote his plays to be performed by a cast of actors that included zombies. To that end, she is auditioning Ian, a struggling young actor, using an original manuscript of “Macbeth.” Before they realize it, two actual zombie actors (Rick Burbage and Eddie Booth, both based on historically renowned...

44 pages

6 m, 2 w, 14 flexible

This play begins at the ending of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" but envisions a modern twist - it's a police drama, in which incompetence and political pressure rule the day. Balthasar and Friar Lawrence still flee the bloody scene in the Capulet family tomb and are apprehended by church security guards. But this time, security calls the police, who proceed to investigate the crime. The police release the friar because they can't imagine how he would be involved and instead try to pin the crime on Balthasar. The mayor, Escalus, is under political pressure ...

51 pages

2 m, 2 w, 10 either (expandable to 20)

Magic, mayhem, and madness unfold in this classic story of love, revenge, and forgiveness. Based on The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Bitterroot is a modern adaptation set in the American West. Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been stranded in the Montana wilderness for twelve years. When fate brings Prospero’s evil brother to Montana, Prospero must decide whether to exact his revenge or forgive his enemies. But can Prospero accept that his daughter wants to marry the son of an enemy? And can he forgive himself for th...

76 pages

8 m, 14 w, chorus

The students of Hilltop High are excited! They're going to put on a musical of "Romeo and Juliet." However, the director, Miss Peggy Donahue, pressed into service by a principal eager to please his superindendent, is horrified. Twenty years before, when she was a student at Hilltop, she starred in a disastrous production of Shakespeare's "Scottish Play," and she believes the curse lingers on. Sure enough, everthing that can go wrong, does. The set for the balcony scene collapses, Juliet breaks her leg, her replacement develops laryngitis, and the semi-deaf co...