Almost Shakespeare

34 pages

Approximately 20 Actors. Some doubling possible.

A drama class is bringing a cutting of “Romeo and Juliet,” the famous play about star-crossed lovers, to competition. But the truck with their set pieces and props has broken down on the highway, Romeo’s throwing up backstage, and Juliet is adamantly not using a tall stepladder to replace the missing balcony. But the show must go on! This funny, fast-paced ensemble comedy mixes legitimate Shakespeare scenes with controlled chaos, theater inside jokes, and absolutely no respect for the fourth wall. About 30 minutes.

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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,...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

72 pages

12 m, 15 w

Seattle, Washington, 1895. There are 10 men for every woman in the territory -- excellent odds for Shamus Donovan, an Irish fisherman with five daughters to marry off. Several town council members immediately fall for the younger daughters, but unfortunately, a family tradition says the oldest must marry first. But the oldest daughter is Katherine, a wild cat! In a woman-starved town like Seattle there has to be someone desperate enough to take on Katherine, they reason. Using William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" as a guide, the men give Danny O'Brien,...

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...

20 pages

2 m, 2 w

Four high school students report to the school auditorium for play rehearsal only to find out the director is not coming. To add to the confusion, one of the cast members has dropped three rehearsal scripts, of which all the pages are unbound and unnumbered. The pages fly everywhere. No problem! - unless the scripts are "Macbeth," "The Taming of the Shrew," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." As one of the students quips, "We don't know anything about Shakespeare, but it all sounds the same anyway, so grab some pages." The mayhem that results will have you wonde...

70 pages

28 flexible parts

"The Bard!" offers an enjoyable, approachable introduction to William Shakespeare. In Act I, we discover his world and his realities, his life and his times. In Act II, abridged scenes from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Romeo and Juliet," "Twelfth Night," "The Merry Wives of Windsor," and "Macbeth" make the man and his works come alive for both the actor and for the audience. 

Sound effects include dramatic opening music with Gregorian chant; trumpet fanfare; wind, thunder and lightni...

61 pages

4 m, 4 w, 5-19 flexible, extras

Shakespeare's agent options his script "Macbeth" to a Hollywood producer who wants a "few" changes to make the play more contemporary. The trouble is the producer isn't sure what changes exactly should be made. Soon Shakespeare is casting the poor witches alternately as country singers, rappers, and punk rockers, while Macbeth and Lady Macbeth perform their lines as gangsters, farmers and Goths. A member of the audience is even pulled onstage at one point to help Macbeth rehearse a murder scene. If that's not bad enough, the final showdown between Macbeth and...

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...

60 pages

4 m, 4 w, extras

This richly-textured play weaves the dark energy of one of Shakespeare's most intense plays with compelling, current-day characters and problems. Andreya, a selfish student who gets what she wants by being manipulative and cruel, is affronted when she doesn't get the lead female role for the school's production of "Othello." Instead, the part of Desdemona goes to Miranda, a quiet but talented teen whose dysfunctional family has kept her out of many school activities. The part of Othello goes to Aaron, a well-rounded and popular student. As the rehearsals prog...

81 pages

Flexible cast, approx. 9 m, 9 w, extras

Jane, a nerdy-looking new student, is all but ignored by the in-crowd. They're too involved with trying to get parts as extras for the movie that's going to be filmed at their school. Little do they know Jane is really the pampered, glamorous teen soap opera star, Tiffany! She's undercover to prove she can act and earn the lead in the movie. In drama class, Jane is teamed up with Tim, the class bookworm. They look like losers ... until they play the parts of Romeo and Juliet! That threatens posse leaders Clarissa, Shelley, and Mary, and everything explodes! O...

30 pages

5 m, 3 w, 15+ ensemble

Death and Strife, along with the Chorus of Darkness, serve as narrators in this foreboding tale, the story of Romeo and his first love, Rosaline. Although their families have been at war with each other for centuries, the young couple are so enamored with each other, they are ready to defy their families and face the inherent danger. But Death and Strife will cleave their tentacles onto the dreams and aspirations of this mortal pair. Filled with moments of bittersweet tenderness and joy, the play unexpectedly turns dark when Rosaline betrays Romeo and arrange...

22 pages

6 actors

The legend of Pyramus and Thisby is known today primarily because William Shakespeare used it in his comedy "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." As a part of Shakespeare’s play, six workers, sometimes called “mechanicals” or “clowns,” decide to present a play for the festivities that will follow the wedding of the Duke of Athens. In this one-act, we see the mechanicals getting their parts, then rehearsing in the woods the night before the wedding. Of course, these men know nothing about acting or play production, and, as a result, the audience is treated to a rousing...

36 pages

7 m, 4 w, plus ensemble

Here is a retelling of Shakespeare's tale of the decline of an honorable man into darkness, a study of how far an individual is willing to go in the pursuit of power. This adaptation includes new scenes between Lord and Lady Macbeth and uses an interactive ensemble to play a variety of roles. Only the director’s imagination will be the limit for this piece. It can be staged as elaborately or as simply as desired. The truth is in the words. It was written to be performed at any venue, any time period, and with a multi-cultural cast. Movement, music, and passio...

46 pages

21 characters; 10 m, 11 f, extras, doubling possible

A high school drama teacher directs her students in rehearsing a version of Romeo and Juliet. A creative writing teacher encourages her students to compose poems that reflect their personal lives. And a man, the narrator, weaves these school experiences –and his own– into a play he has written. The result is a beautiful mosaic of the familiar lives of students and culture inherent in high schools. The play deals with tragedy, bullying, sexuality, grieving, and perseverance with vital sensitivity. A mix of ...

45 pages

7 m, 8 w, 5 flexible

Finding a prom date is tough in a normal world, but in a world dominated by the Queen and King of Teens and all their teen spirits, it's nearly impossible. In this side-splitting send-up of the Shakespearean classic, four teenagers only want to attend the prom with the teen of their dreams. Mia wants to go with Lyle but her father insists she go with Dean. Mia detests Dean but her best friend Helen adores him. Yet Dean wants nothing to do with Helen. Mia and Lyle decide to sneak off to attend another school's prom but to do so must sleep in the woods overnigh...

25 pages

3 to 5 w

Things are seldom what they seem in the world of theatre. That is never truer than in "The Audition" (3 w). On the morning of a (maybe) life-altering audition, three (maybe) actresses come early to scope out the theatre and immerse themselves into the needs of the (maybe) director. As Phoebe, Celia and Rosalind vie for the chance of lifetime, secrets are revealed and plans unravel in this one-act that is never exactly as you think it to be. The play gives three actresses their own shining moments in the spotlight. Running time is about 20 minutes. In the seco...

77 pages

8 m, 6 w, 1 flexible, optional extra women

Not entirely happy with the way "Romeo & Juliet" ended, Prince Escalus decides that everything would’ve been better had the two famous lovers lived and the ending of Shakespeare’s classic is rewritten. With Romeo and Juliet alive and their fathers agreeing to end their vicious feud, it appears that we finally have a happy ending. Preparations are made for the couple to renew their vows in front of both families to cement the new peace. Will they live happily ever after, or will the fickleness of being a teenager – coupled with Romeo’s knack for getting th...

29 pages

5 m, 3 w, 1 flexible

William Shakespeare retired at about age 48. Why did this prolific genius stop writing? How did he get along with his long-neglected wife, Anne, once he gave up the stage? “The Shakespeares” imagines what The Bard’s last years were like in Stratford-upon-Avon. The play is full of inside jokes for Shakespeare fans. But even for those unfamiliar with his plays, there are laughs (and a few tears) as we watch this profoundly mismatched couple try to make a go of it. Shakespeare’s confidante, daughter Susanna, realizes that her father’s creative spirit is being cr...