Classics

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...

28 pages

4 m, 4 w

Adapted from the short story by Susan Glaspell. A farmer has been found dead and his wife, Minnie, is the prime suspect. The sheriff, a deputy and other men meet at the lonely farmhouse to go over the evidence while two wives gather some clothes and necessities for Minnie, who is in jail. Two neighbor ladies, the Gains sisters, arrive to see what they can learn about the disturbing events of the previous day. As the men go about the business of investigation, the women make a remarkable discovery: the motive for the crime. Set in 1917, three years before wome...

63 pages

5 m, 7 w

World-famous author Charles Dickens falls asleep during an interview with London Times reporter Edwina Drood. He dreams a variety of his characters as passengers aboard a ship heading to England, but they are now in a future he doesn't quiet understand. Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella are luring Uriah Heep into a trap. Mr. McCawber is running from Madame Defarge, to whom he owes money. Captain Fagin tries to avoid the crewman Oliver Twist, who has become very adept at pickpocketing. Nancy, the barkeep, and Belle, the barmaid, are hiding secrets...

32 pages

Flexible cast of 7 to 18

A lonely boy receives a wonderful Christmas gift and a toy rabbit learns some valuable lessons about life and love. In this humorous and touching adaptation of the children's classic, the Velveteen Rabbit encounters the antics of toys and wild rabbits in his faithful quest to be "real." About 40 minutes.

59 pages

5 m, 4 w

Adapted by Pat Cook From the short story by Oscar Wilde. Hiram and Lucy Otis can't wait to move into their pastoral English manor house...just as soon as the ghost moves out. That's right, Canterville Hall comes complete with a howling, green ghoul, but only if Sir Simon (the ghost) can remember to bring the green mist with him. This classic Oscar Wilde tale spins the Otis family through a maze of dithering maids, blustering bosses and an English realtor who's always looking for a free lunch. The mystery unfolds amid flashes of thunder and disappearing guests...

67 pages

4 m, 9 w, 6 flexible, extras, much doubling possible

Faerie Tale, keeper of the stories of the wood, begins this classic tale, retold with a bit of an Irish twist. It’s the beloved story of a kind-hearted prince, cursed to live as a beast, and the girl who comes to love him. Due to the scheming by the family business manager, a devoted father believes he and his three daughters are destitute and move to a rundown cottage. They are unaware that the land is under an enchantment until Father encounters the Beast nearby. For having picked a rose from the Beast’s garden, Father is forced to make a promise to return....

35 pages

Flexible cast 50 to 500

Here's an excellent adaptation of the story with all the beloved characters including Dorothy, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, the Munchkins, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Wicked Witch. There's plenty of room for other performers, too, as winged monkeys, animals, guards and servants. Lively, original music, including music for the dances (which may be left out without hurting the story) make a musical your children and audiences will love. Performance time is 90 minutes.

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 ...

21 pages

3 m, 3 w

Two girls pursue art careers in New York, sharing a dingy, one-room flat. One grows sick when her paintings fail to sell. Only a vigorous desire to live can enable her to survive. She counts dead ivy leaves on a vine outside the window, convinced when the last leaf falls she will die. The morning after a fierce wind storm, when surely all the leaves will be gone, she sees a single leaf remaining. (Enjoy more O. Henry in "The New York Stories.")

22 pages

2 m, 3 w

A mysterious storyteller leaves a grisly talisman with a Midwestern farm family, assuring them that it will grant them three wishes, but warning them to pitch the monkey's paw on the fire, as it will bring them nothing but death. The father makes the first wish, but even good is twisted into evil as the family's lives spiral hopelessly out of control. (Excerpted from the author's full-length play, "Fright Night.")

36 pages

5 m, 10 w, 7 flexible

Here is a hip, contemporary version of "The Emperor's New Clothes," complete with election politics and news media spin. President William Lee is too busy with international politics to worry about whether his striped tie clashes with his plaid pants and argyle socks. His devoted wife is understanding but the media sure take a stab at his wardrobe, as does his election opponent, Horace Grinchley, and Horace's overly-ambitious campaign manager, Myrna Snerd. The two get several people to pose as wardrobe consultants to strip President Lee down to his "bare" ess...

68 pages

6 m, 8-9 w, 2 flexible

Based on the famous Oscar Wilde story, this adaptation is touching and funny. Sir Simon Canterville, the 500-year-old ghost of Canterville Manor, is suddenly faced with an English ghost’s worst nightmare -- Americans! The Otis family moves in, and Sir Simon wants them out. When 16-year-old Virginia, who wants to be anywhere but England, and Sir Simon meet, they have an instant dislike for one another. Soon, though, they find they have a very special link. Insert two rambunctious twins, a stuffy English butler, and a handsome young English duke, and this becom...

41 pages

5 m, 8 w, 4 flexible, extras (including a few children from the audience)

In this adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's beloved tale, all of the town's children gather round a traveling storyteller to hear the story of a wayward little fairy girl. When an old woman wishes on a magic flower, her heart's desire for a child of her own literally blossoms before her eyes. Her magical little girl, only a few inches high, is named Thumbelina, and although the friendly child is very helpful around the house, and very kind to the nearby forest creatures, she just doesn't feel as if she fits in. A gossipy Frog Lady convinces Thumbelina tha...

27 pages

8 m, 4 w

The clever short story, "The Three Strangers," by English Victorian writer Thomas Hardy, has been skillfully adapted to a rural Appalachian setting. On a snowy winter's afternoon, a farmer and his wife are celebrating the christening of their infant daughter with friends and family. The party is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger, a poorly-dressed man seeking shelter from the cold. Soon a second stranger appears. This man is finely dressed but pompous and offensive. The guests are impressed by the humility of the first man, and angered by the arrogance ...

45 pages

2 m, 2 w

The zany antics of the commedia style, with lots of bumbling, scheming, incorrigible improvisations and very physical comedy, allows just four traveling actors to create this fast-paced story of Aladdin. Arelquin, Punchin, Columbine and Rosetta portray all the many roles in the story of a lazy young boy who needs to work to help support his mother, especially since his father froze up and is standing in a forest where birds nest in his hair! Aladdin almost falls for the machinations of an evil magician, but instead he saves himself and gains access to the Gen...