Children's Theatre Plays

36 pages

With doubling: 2 m, 4 w.

Before putting "Through the Looking Glass" down on paper in 1860s, Lewis Carroll told a colleague’s young daughter, Alice Liddell (the real Alice in the books), the story of talking chess pieces. The novel, of course, was a sequel to his earlier one, "Alice in Wonderland." This play is set in the early 1920s as a now elderly Alice Liddell reflects on the telling of the story. Faithful to Carroll’s expression of childhood fears of growing up, this adaptation keeps the Victorian charm and merriment by maintaining Carroll’s scenes intact. The audience is transpo...

35 pages

5-15 actors.

Four spellbinding stories from Native American lore. In the first, the Raven, great trickster bird of all the Northwest Native American tribes, creates the world and the creatures in it. When Man complains about the darkness Raven fills the sky with the sun, the moon and the stars. Soon the new inventions are stolen by the greedy Ganuk. Raven turns himself into Ganuk's infant grandson to return the lights to the sky. In the second story, Raven disintegrates a giant, blood-thirsty cannibal into all the mosquitoes of the world. In the third story Raven's tragic...

39 pages

5 m, 6 w, 2 flexible

Here’s unconventional, humorous, and easy-to-stage treatment of the famous fairy tale. Rather than one huge ball to find his future Princess, the Prince has met eligible ladies of the kingdom at smaller, separate gatherings called “Choose a Princess Parties.” Now, after 118 parties, where the Prince has danced with “364 clods,” the Zanzibany family has finally received its invitation. The formidable sisters Wartzella and Bageena, along with their domineering mother, go to the party escorted by Cinderella’s meek father and their clumsy farmhand. Cinderella is ...

31 pages

3 m, 3 w, extras

This timeless fairy tale has a unique twist: Beauty is a male and the Beast is a female. The Ranier family has a host of problems, but an act of love begins to transform their adversity. John saves his father from certain death by taking his place in a Beast's castle, a castle with an aura of magic and mystery as shrouded figures move about attending lost and lonely travelers. John, or Beauty as the Beast names him, is conflicted between fulfilling his father's promise to the Beast and his own longing to be with his family. Although John honors the promise an...

34 pages

8 m, 6 w, extras, doubling possible

This re-creation of Robert Louis Stevenson's well-loved action classic will delight audiences of all ages and can easily be taken on tour. Young Jim Hawkins finds a treasure map and the adventure is on. If crossing the ocean is not adventuresome enough, Long John Silver and his band of pirates plan to take over the ship and steal the treasure for themselves. With the help of a castaway named Ben Gunn and a group of islanders, the pirates are defeated in battle and the treasure is recovered by Jim and his friends. About 40 minutes.

29 pages

6 m, 9 w, 12 flexible characters

Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm have been in competition for over 200 years and the friction between them doesn't seem to be abating. When Mother Goose takes off on vacation leaving Simple Simon in charge, the Goose employees go on strike. The only way Simon can bring them back to work and get the company out of the red is to agree to appear on a fairy-tale TV special with the Brothers Grimm employees. They, however, plan to sabotage the presentation on the live broadcast, destroying Mother Goose's company once and for all! But Mother Goose finds a way to...

16 pages

11 m, 6 w

In this farce, a narrator helps the action and humor even to the point of shooting the good queen, who doesn't want to die after Snow White is born. The evil queen can't make up a rhyme that's worth a darn before the magic mirror, and she even forgets her apples are poisonous and eats one at the wedding of the Prince and Snow. About 25 minutes.

43 pages

28 parts (doubling possible)

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to have fun we go with this modern version of the beloved fairy tale! When the Huntsman fails to bump off the beautiful Princess Snow White (although he still gets his ticket to Bermuda), the vain queen decides to do the job herself. Dressed as an Old Hag, she cons Snow White into buying a candy bar as a girl scout fund-raiser. Like, who can resist chocolate, especially if it's for a good cause? But at the first bite, the princess falls into a deep slumber. Luckily Snow White has lots of friends. The seven dwarfs immediately call 911, b...

48 pages

18-19 roles (2 m, 1 w, 15-16 flexible)

When a pirate ship inadvertently sails over the lost city of Atlantis, an adventure-seeking girl – who happens to be the granddaughter of Poseidon himself – makes friends with a charmingly naïve sailor, causing their two worlds to collide. As the pirates continue to arrr-gue and the Atlanteans ask an endless series of questions with no answers, new friends Duffle and Pana explore strange new worlds they have never seen before. With the help of a Narrator giving advice and a friendly dog who just wants to play, and with Poseidon’s undersea magic adding to the ...

61 pages

Resource Book

Enjoy these three short plays in your middle school or junior high classroom. All three plays have roles which are mostly flexible in gender to include as many students as possible. The plays have interesting plots, easy settings, and short, easy-to-learn lines. Your student actors will have fun developing and portraying the varied characters. Young actors will enjoy performing them for their classmates and parents, too!

 

“Murder in the Cloister” - 9 characters+ extras. Who would murde...

44 pages

5 m, 5 w

This is a fun dramatization of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Young King Rupert spies lovely Princess Grace from a neighboring kingdom and fall instantly in love. But in his attempt to woo her he soon finds out she is not as lovely in actions as she is in looks. She is snobbish, selfish, and self-centered waited on hand and foot by her three ladies-in-waiting. Even the Princess’ father, the Emperor, is helpless to change her behavior. King Rupert, however, has an idea. By switching places with a swineherd, he enacts a plan where she must kiss him ...

44 pages

2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible

Two fairy tale classics collide in this fast-paced comedy for all ages. Dame Gothel prepares for a ball with the assistance of her magical minions, Rumpelstiltskin and Hob. Her young daughter Rapunzel ruins the festivities when she cuts her own hair. Dame Gothel banishes her to the tower until her hair looks normal again. Hob, after some awkward failures, places a spell on Rapunzel to make her hair grow faster. Her hair keeps growing, but her social-climbing mother keeps finding ridiculous reasons to keep her locked up. Freedom seems out of reach, especially ...

29 pages

4 m, 3 w, 2 flexible

Here is a classic children's tale told with Japanese Kabuki theatre techniques. Gosho-no-Goodo, an evil Samurai, has stolen the sword of Subi-Sumo, the good Samurai. Subi would not care that much because he'd rather paint than do battle, but unfortunately, he must retrieve his sword at all costs. To a member of the Samurai, a stolen sword is a disgrace. If he doesn't recover it, Subi cannot marry his love, a princess named Kyo-no-Imi. As Subi and his two servants go on a quest for the sword, they meet a witch posing as an old woman. They help her and she thanks Subi with a potion which ...

41 pages

5 m, 3 w, 2 flexible

Mayhem and comedy are guaranteed when a small troupe of animal actors perform "The Taming of the Shrew" for King Louie, a lion, and Queen Marie, a lioness. Bartholomew, a fox, and Cassandra, a cat, are the leaders of an acting troupe consisting of a sarcastic crow, a bumbling bear, a young rabbit, and a sleepy dog. Include a diva cat opera singer, Miss Bianca, and the fur is guaranteed to fly! As the stage story of "The Taming of the Shrew" unfolds, we see that the actors are like the characters they portray. We also see how much can go wrong when performing ...

44 pages

6 m, 7 w, 6 flexible, extras

At last, Rumpelstiltskin gets to be the hero! Based on the original Grimm fairy tale, this traditionally misunderstood character earns a well-deserved happy ending, winning the hand of Freya, the beautiful miller’s daughter. Both comic and suspenseful, and using elements of other fairy tales and classical myths, this adaptation involves King Grood, the (not very) Good; his vain son Prince Werther; and an unscrupulous chancellor. Rumpelstiltskin, a handicapped young man, is actually Prince Werther’s twin, whom the soft-hearted miller could not bring himself to...