Children's

52 pages

Flexible cast, approx. 10 m, 4 w (or 7 actors with doubling)

A one-set operetta about the 1880s Colorado mining town of Dead Dog Gulch - oops, we mean, Columbine Valley. You see, the ladies of the Beautification Society have purtied the town - the general store is now a pink "emporium," and even the jail - well, crime is down because no man would be caught dead in it! Now the miners are always fighting, that is, until the cowboys arrive and start shooting and making fun of this sissy town. The kids and ladies solve the problem but pretend the miners did it all. Unison songs. About 60 minutes.

68 pages

7 m, 6 w, extras. Doubling possible.

The classic story of two emotionally-stunted children who discover, through their love for a garden, and the teachings of a boy of the English moors, that the key to happiness lies in caring for others. The story opens as two British officers in India discover 10-year-old Mary Lennox alone, her parents having just died in the cholera epidemic. She is sent back to England to live with an uncle, Archibald Craven, whom she doesn’t know, in the foreboding Misselthwaite Manor. His son Colin is sickly and bedridden and his cries can be heard echoing down the dark h...

41 pages

3 m, 3 w, 1 g, 2 b, 13 flex, extras

After losing her parents to a cholera epidemic in India, young Mary Lennox is sent to the English Misselthwaite Manor to stay with her uncle, Archibald Craven. Archibald, who has never recovered from the death of his wife, has had most of the mansion locked up, including his wife's beloved garden, and even his son, Colin, a sickly boy, to obliterate her memory. Mary, an unhappy girl herself, finds Colin, unlocks the secret garden and brings it to life. In her process of healing and self-discovery, she brings life back to Colin and Archibald Craven. This encha...

36 pages

3 m, 3 w, 1 voice

Friendship, adventure, integrity, an evil mime, a mysterious butler, stolen dinosaur bones, a man with a mailbox on his head -- it’s all just a part of the fun in this one act. Follow the heroic adventures of Princess Mystic Starfish, a charming and unconventional superheroine who battles her enemies with dogged persistence by firing bubbles in an attempt to confuse them (or possibly get soap in their eyes). Despite her unorthodox methods, the Princess’ success in apprehending wrongdoers is somehow perfect. One day she is given an invitation to join the great...

22 pages

1 m, 2 w, 1 flexible

Here's a perfect play to entertain young children and encourage them to read. Shusha wants an adventure like the one in her new book. Then the Story Snatcher, with his flapping ears and honking nose, grabs her story and descends to his underground lair. Shusha’s doll, Shareen, comes to life and gets the audience to help, acting as trees or a tunnel onstage, or providing wind and hooting owl noises from their seats. After magical and comic adventures they recover Shusha’s book. An ideal play to present during right-to-read week, national library week, or any o...

60 pages

11 m, 17 w, 22 flexible, much doubling possible

This sparkling adaptation of one of the most beloved tales from "The Arabian Nights" will take you aboard a dazzling, fun-filled, theatrical voyage. All of Sinbad's adventure-filled travels come from his desire to win the caliph's daughter, Minerva. In the land of Hashmona he presents the perfect present to its insatiable queen and is rewarded with gold and jewels for a dowry. But when he returns to Bagdad to claim the princess, his rival, the despicable Semitar, kidnaps Minerva. Sinbad sets sail to rescue her, but finds himself stranded on Paradise Island, w...

29 pages

3 m, 5 w

Two good but somewhat ditzy fairy sprites, Flora and Fauna, are having a delightful time at a gathering for the royals' new baby, Princess Aurora, when - you guessed it - the evil fairy Maleficent crashes the party! Irritated at not being invited, as well as for generally evil principles, Maleficent places a curse on the beautiful child: when Aurora turns 16, she will cut her finger on a spinning wheel and the whole kingdom will fall asleep, never to awaken. Later, Prince Charming breaks the curse by kissing the lovely Princess awake in spite of warnings from...

58 pages

12 m, 18 w, 7 flexible, much doubling possible

Despite the efforts of the Z's, a group of good fairies (Zabrina, Zanth, Zinda, Zaria, Zelda, Zoe and Zellie), Princess Tara falls prey to a curse from the wicked fairy, Xenia. The curse is that when Tara turns 16 she will prick her finger and she and everyone in the whole castle will sleep for a hundred years. Determined that no one ever wake Tara, Xenia conjures up a horrible ogre, enlists the aid of her terrible trolls and exploits a two-headed spider. A hundred years later, greedy Prince Egbert and lazy Prince Smedley, accompanied by their hard-working pa...

54 pages

6 - 21 performers possible

This Hans Christian Andersen story is a challenge full of treasures for the unpacking. Kay and Gerda are the best of friends until a piece of an enchanted mirror finds its way into Kay’s eye, causing him to see the world in a cold-hearted way. Soon taken by the Snow Queen, Kay forgets his happy life. Gerda must go on her own journey to find him, and along the way she meets a lonely old woman, a helpful crow and his sweetheart, a robber girl with her reindeer, and a mysterious man who has been with her all along. Overjoyed to find Kay in the Snow Queen’s palac...

41 pages

6 - 21 performers possible

From the story by Hans Christian Andersen. "The Snow Queen" is an enduring tale of faith, devotion and the magic of friendship between a young boy, Kay, and his best friend, Gerda. One winter evening, Gerda's grandmother tells them the story of an evil troll whose magic mirror shattered into a million pieces. When a sliver from that mirror lodges in Kay's heart and in his eye, he becomes mean and ugly, and is carried off in the Snow Queen's sleigh. Gerda sets out all alone to search for Kay, and in her perilous venture meets an Old Woman who casts a spell on ...

56 pages

6 m, 4 w, 9 either

Here’s an exciting, magical and very untraditional version of Snow White! This time the evil Queen Zantha wants to change the ending so she’ll win. Her goal is to not only be the fairest in the land, but to unite a special scepter and mystical orb which will give her ultimate power. She will then rule both Snow’s kingdom of Aradon and the Prince’s kingdom of Mirador. Zantha cons Snow into eating a poisoned apple. The Prince, who wishes to marry Snow, and the Loyal Huntsman can only use magic and sorcery to fight Zantha, and her equally power-hungry family inc...

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...

44 pages

4/5 m, 4 w

This hour-long tale has all the classic characters: two poor but beautiful sisters, a handsome prince turned into an animal by evil magic, a mean troll, and even meaner tax collectors. Unlike traditional tales, however, these characters have a lot of personality. Rose Red ignores everything while trying to find the troll's treasure. Meanwhile, her sister, Snow White, thinks everyone should work instead of having fun. The Prince is selfish and sticks to the letter of the law, the tax collectors are greedy, and the evil troll - well, he's evil! When the Prince ...

56 pages

9 m, 9 w (or with doubling 5 m, 5 w)

Here’s the familiar story of Snow White but with enough plot twists and turns to keep all of us guessing what will happen next! The Dwarfs, including three sisters and four brothers, are a regular-sized family named Dwarf. While Snow’s appearance in their midst is a surprise, they show that unlike the Queen’s focus on physical beauty, real beauty is in caring for each other. At the end Snow does not automatically ride off with the Prince because he’s handsome. She makes a rational decision about who loves her, whom she loves and why. Full evening. Perfect for...

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.

44 pages

2 m, 4 w, 1 flexible. (Seven actors play 12 characters.)

Snow White is a dirt-smudged stable girl, innocent to the point of cluelessness, whose stepmother, the Queen, must be the most beautiful woman in all the land. But when the Magic Mirror informs the Queen that Snow White has the gift of inner beauty, the Queen goes berserk with jealousy. The Magic Mirror and the castle servants comically thwart the Queen's first attempts to poison Snow White. Fleeing into the woods, Snow White finds the House of the Three Slobs. Therein live Grouchy, Snivelly, and Slacker. They don't want to let her in, but she promises to hel...

23 pages

Flexible cast of 11

Humor abounds in this bubbly, high-spirited one-act version of the classic fairy tale. Meet Sonoma White (Snow's cousin), the seven dolts (no relation to the dwarves), a wicked queen who still isn't the most beautiful (even with 49 face-lifts), and an aging magic mirror which is hard of hearing. After the wicked queen bops Sonoma on the head with a MacIntosh (that's apple, not computer), Sonoma is rescued by the dolts, Sloppy, Crabby, Silly, Sneaky, Wimpy, Smelly, and Spam. Even though Sonoma is one of those irritatingly upbeat people, the dolts soon fall in ...

77 pages

5 m, 10 w, 8 flexible and 20 or more extras

Here is a musical adventure through cyberspace, a song-filled battle between technology and imagination. The story begins simply in the home of a couple of ordinary kids, but when their babysitters are sucked into a video game, the adventure begins! To rescue their babysitters, the kids must figure out how to get "into the game." Once inside, the kids discover that their babysitters are not the only ones in trouble! An evil sorceress called Chasm is draining all the imagination and color out of Cyberspace and soon there will be nothing left! The kids enlist t...

41 pages

3 m, 2 w, 2 flex

Attention, new recruits! Fairytale City is in trouble because of a wolf named Big Bad, who wants to get his hands on a magic porridge that will make him invincible! Billings, a master of disguise who runs the Special Agent Unit, needs your help! Meanwhile, Mama Bear, the Porridge Maker, and Papa Bear, the Porridge Keeper, are having a hard time getting Baby Bear, a bratty toddler, to eat the porridge and become the Porridge Heir, which would keep Fairytale City safe. While Big Bad plots to steal the porridge from the Three Bears, Billings calls in his secret ...

40 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 flexible

Get the youngsters in your audience twitching their noses, making engine noises, bowing to the king, catching imaginary gold thread, and shouting out names, especially Rumpelstiltskin! With such audience participation, this fairy tale adaptation is loads of active fun. It features a braggart father, his long-suffering wife, their poor but beautiful daughter, a strict rule-enforcing chancellor; a monarch whose kingdom depends on straw being spun into gold, and of course, the mysterious little man who is willing to perform that exceptional feat – but at a treme...

35 pages

3 m, 2 w, flexible cast of 25, doubling possible

Deep in the forest on a cold winter's night, an owl tells his friends about another winter's night when a shooting star lit up the sky, fell to the ground, and left a human child in a hollow tree. A woodcutter, who sees the shooting star, finds the child, takes him home, and rears him as a member of his family. The Star Child grows up to be a very handsome young man, but he doesn't have compassion or kindness. He mistreats the poor and the sick, he hurts the animals of the forest, and he shows no love for the family that raised him. Eventually he loses his ha...

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 s...

52 pages

7 m, 2 w

The Robinson family is on a journey overseas to begin a new life. After a harrowing storm, their tall-masted ship sinks, and they are shipwrecked on a deserted island. Mother and Father and their three children, Fritz, Ernest and Franz, are now forced to truly begin a new life: a struggle for survival. Salvaging what they can, the innovative family constructs a tree house in which to live. They embark on daily scavenging treks to recover what food, weapons, and other supplies have washed ashore the uninhabited island...or is it? Soon, strange things begin to ...

30 pages

Ensemble cast of 5 to 22 actors

Some of the gentle, humorous, and well-loved characters from the writings of Beatrix Potter come alive in this gem of a story theatre play for young audiences. The play consists of adaptations of three Beatrix Potter stories: “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” (one of the Peter Rabbit tales); her renowned Christmas story, “The Tailor of Gloucester”; and “Grasshopper Belle and Susan Emmet,” Potter’s adaptation of the Aesop fable. Also included are two poems from the “Apply Dapply Rhymes” and a third inspired by them. The pieces are short, the action continuous, and ...

36 pages

Cast of 15 to 53

Take your young audience on a journey around the globe discovering other cultures. From Africa we have the tale of why the Sun and Moon live in the sky. From the Pacific Northwestern Native Americans is the story of the ocean and its tides. From South America we learn how the beetle got its beautiful coat, while from Asia is the tale of why toads croak before a rain storm. The play ends with an Aesop fable from Europe that tells why the bat flies alone and at night. Weaving it all together is a Cherokee fable that explains the bringing of stories into the wor...

48 pages

with doubling 4 m, 4 w

A humorous urban romp through familiar tales by the Brothers Grimm. Everybody is having a bad day in the Enchanted City. Little Theodore Hood's grandmother is gravely ill and he must get a powerful medicine to her as soon as possible. But Theodore's grandmother lives on the other side of the Enchanted City and the sinister Stranger will stop at nothing to get his hands on the medicine. Meanwhile a young lady names Summer Greene has recently inherited a large fortune, making her the wealthiest person in the Enchanted City. Summer's wicked stepmother, Bertha, w...

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 ...

67 pages

8 m, 8 w, 12 or more flexible

Prince Fred wants more than anything to find the princess of his dreams. His mother, the queen, wants to stay young – in other words, no marriage and no grandchildren! And that means no partying or dancing. To preserve the appearance that the queen wants Fred to marry, the kingdom has advertised far and wide for a suitable princess. Unfortunately, the outlook is bleak until the Jester finds an incognito princess. Tired of being deluged with unsuitable suitors proposed by her military-like father, Princess Philamena has escaped and taken employment in Fred’s p...

55 pages

Ensemble cast of 6 to 27

The magic of theatre now weaves three tales from around the world together into more than an hour of captivating entertainment for young audiences. In a Chinese play, Little Red Maiden and her older brother learn that riches do not always bring joy. Too bad the selfish dragon learns the hard way! In a native American play, the Cinderella story is retold as Little Burnt Sand endures the cruelty of her sisters before becoming the bride of the new Micmac chief. In a delightful English fairy tale, we find that too much curiosity can be a mite unhealthy. Show the ...

38 pages

2 to 12

There’s nothing like real, live storytellers to catch the imagination of youngsters. With these six tales, each told by a pair of storytellers, students can go on an enchanted voyage, whether they’re in a classroom, cafeteria or theatre. Let your young audiences, from kindergarten through 6th grade, connect, learn, and be entertained through these inventive scripts in one of the oldest forms of entertainment -- storytelling! Running from 6 to 12 minutes each, they include “The Cat, the Mouse and the Huge Pot of Cheese,” the Aesop tale of the two traditional e...