Children's
MGTV
Fantasy by Stephen Murray
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...
The Magic Machine
Musical Theatre Youth by Berger and Landes
40 pages
Approx. 6 m, 5 w, 6 flexible, extras. Much doubling possible
Calvin is a slight youngster who can’t compete with the more athletically-inclined kids in the neighborhood. A wise magician lends him an old “Magic Machine.” Through its erratic powers Calvin, his best friend Jenny, and a lost dragon drop into odd versions of three fairy tales. In "The Three Little Bears" Calvin stops the bears from eating them for dinner and teaches the bears how to be happy. In "Rumpelstiltskin" Calvin helps the miller’s daughter by shouting out the evil little man’s name, and in the third story, "Alice in Wonderland," Calvin stops the cou...
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (Condensed version)
Classic by Stephenson and Tucker
61 pages
With doubling: 7 m, 12 w, 2 flexible. Many extras including children
Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice in Wonderland," has been contracted by a theatrical producer, Sir Henry Irving, to adapt his book into a stage play. Carroll, multi-talented but totally disorganized, has put off the writing of the play until the day before it is due. To help him create it, he gets Alice Liddell and her friends and family to improvise all the delightful characters. Even his staid housekeeper, a local handyman and two of Carroll's university students end up playing the roles of the Queen of Hearts, the Caterpillar, and the March Hare and Dor...
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
Classic by Stephenson and Tucker
72 pages
With doubling: 7 m, 12 w, 2 flexible. Many extras including children.
Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice in Wonderland," has been contracted by a theatrical producer, Sir Henry Irving, to adapt his book into a stage play. Carroll, multi-talented but totally disorganized, has put off the writing of the play until the day before it is due. To help him create it, he gets Alice Liddell and her friends and family to improvise all the delightful characters. Even his staid housekeeper, a local handyman and two of Carroll's university students end up playing the roles of the Queen of Hearts, the Caterpillar, and the March Hare and Dor...
The Kids From Camelot
Musical Theatre Youth by Joseph Kochiss
0 pages
Large, flexible cast (minimum of 15)
Four timid page boys in the Court of King Arthur will soon become squires by performing acts of courage and skill. The girls of the court chide them for their fear and lack of ability. Merlin the Magician helps the boys in adventures that include rescuing their teacher, Lady Katherine; subduing the Grouchlinks, the evil slaves of Morgan LeFey; and slaying a dragon. Very clever lines with comedy situations. Some 13 songs including "I Don't Want to Go," "Knock! Knock!" "The Wishing Song," and "Dragons in England."
Jungle Book: Mowgli and the Great Kaa
Adaptation Classic by Kate Emery Pogue
37 pages
Flexible cast of 10
From the story "Kaa's Hunting" by Rudyard Kipling. Deep in a jungle in India in the middle of the 19th century a tribe of monkeys come chasing in with the boy Mowgli in their midst. In the middle of their play, Kaa, the great python, terrifies them as well as Baloo, a great bear, and Bagheera, a panther, who are Mowgli's friends and protectors. Once out of harm's way, the two scold the boy and teach him how to make himself safe in the jungle. They fall asleep. The monkeys, eager to get Mowgli to make them huts like his, wake him and drag him off. Baloo and B...
Jo White and the 7 Campers
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
20 pages
3 m, 11 w
Take seven inept campers who must win a variety show competition on which the whole camp's reputation is based and what have you got? Instant disaster! Luckily for the campers, Jo White, who would rather sing than whistle while she works, has escaped to their cabin. Hilarity and confusion follow, but the camp's reputation is saved!
Jack in the Blue Ridge Mountains
by R Rex Stephenson
56 pages
Flexible cast: 9-30 actors.
Gather ‘round, friends. Here are four Appalachian folktales your audiences will love … and your actors will love performing, too! Our favorite folk hero, Jack, appears in all four stories: “Jack’s Mother’s Second Marriage,” “Jack and the Mean Old Man,” “Foolish Jack,” and “Soldier Jack.” All four tales are fast paced and humorous, and still hold true to the oral traditions of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In fact, playwright R. Rex Stephenson gathered some of the material from the archives of the WPA Virginia Writer’s Project and some tales from interviews with l...
Jack and the Ruffians
Comedy by Laura Joye
32 pages
15 - 30
Jack's family makes and sells the best cheese and butter in the world. That is, until the competition gets jealous. Vegetable merchants Vlad (who is not-so-nice) and his sister Carol (who is missing a few cards in the deck) make a wish with some pink magic beans to ruin Jack's family's livelihood. When Jack's cows suffer strange and dramatic demises, and Jack's dad is captured by ruthless and revolting Ruffians for his cheese-making skills, Jack's mom goes on a daring adventure to rescue her husband with a ladle as her only weapon. Jack is left to do one thin...