Children's

26 pages

Flexible cast

These four plays are ideal for young actors in school, for children's theatre groups, or even for summer camp talent shows. With plenty of rhyming and choral recitation, they can be presented easily with only a few rehearsals. Though each requires strong leading characters, any number of children can participate. Included with each piece are suggestions for simple staging, but feel free to use your own creative ideas. 30-40 minutes. Each play is 7-10 minutes long. 

"Lost in the Forest...

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...

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...

39 pages

2 m, 3 w, 1 flexible

Based on the Grimm Brothers Folktale. Queen Ysabel of Oldmark sends her daughter, Princess Jorinda, to marry King Ferdinand of Eastphalia in order to seal an alliance between the two kingdoms. Elsa, an ambitious and devious maid-in-waiting, leads Jorinda to believe that her future husband is ill-tempered and ill-favored, and convinces the princess to trade roles: Elsa poses as the bride, and Jorinda is given a position as a lowly goose girl. Ferdinand, of course, proves to be neither ill-tempered nor ugly. In fact, there is a definite attraction between Ferdi...

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...

18 pages

3 m, 2 w, extras, if desired.

Four Warriors, each with superior abilities, are sent to the Highlands by their respective villages to seek a military vantage point. Each warrior discovers a large rock that will help destroy their enemy and each encounters an old man who helps them learn to live in peace. This allegory of urban street gangs examines the lunacy behind "dying for one's colors."

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...

34 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 puppet.

Y’all know of Pecos Bill, the first Texas cowboy! He was raised by coyotes, made the first lasso out of a rattlesnake, broke a cyclone down to a gentle breeze, tamed the longhorn cattle and almost married Slewfoot Sue, who caught his attention by riding a giant catfish. Unfortunately, this Pecos Bill is a little confused. Ya see, the setting is in the present at a performance of “Pecos Bill's Wild West Show,” patterned after the Wild West shows of the late 19th century. But Bill and the other performers still live in the past. They believe everyone comes to t...

28 pages

1 m, 2 w, 5 flexible

Based on the African fable of Anansi, the play tells the story of a "brave" spider's desire to bring stories into the world and the difficult challenges he faces achieving his goal. Anansi must battle the python, outwit the tiger, protect himself from the hornet's sting, and endure a frustrating encounter with Mmotia, the bad-tempered fairy. In addition, he even has to deal his critical mother-in-law! Throughout it all Anansi thinks himself clever, but in reality, it is only with the help of his wife Osa, who is really the clever one in the family, that Anans...