Community Theatre Full Length

58 pages

4 m, 3 w, extras

Two old grumpy Polish ladies, Lottie and Bernice, become trapped in a television studio by a blizzard and end up taking over Western New York’s favorite morning show “Buffalo Yak.” Well, they do have some help. Two constantly bickering janitors, Hal and Sal, agree to handle the editorials while Candy Bickel, a wildly ambitious station intern who sees the blizzard as her break into media stardom, takes over the news desk. Neurotic program director Virgil Mooch tries to help, despite the fact that being on-camera makes him throw up. Lloyd Block, the station man...

56 pages

3 m, 3 w

Lacy Casey is socially awkward, has a goofy sense of humor, and has raised clumsiness to an art form. If you look in the dictionary under "adorkable," you'd find a picture of Lacy.  Her friends Sue and Trevor love her quirkiness and accept her for who she is. When Lacy goes out on her first date with Bryce, she assumes it will be their last date. After all, her ungraceful mannerisms practically destroy their dinner, and he keeps calling her by the wrong name. But he comes back for more ... Meanwhile, Trevor harbors a ...

58 pages

3 m, 3 w

Howard, a middle-aged tailor, indulges in daydreams to escape his humdrum existence. Norma, his suspicious wife, believes he is fantasizing about Dorothy, a sexy widow friend, so she comes up with a scheme to have Dorothy passionately flirt with Howard to test his fidelity. But Norma's plan backfires when Howard retaliates by conniving with Dorothy to turn the trick around. Soon Norma is threatening divorce and conspiring with a widower in a romantic charade to make Howard jealous. When the mixed-up couples are spotted having intimate dinners for two by Howar...

84 pages

13 m, 21 w. (With doubling 5 m, 8 w. )

TELL-TALE is loosely based on the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe. It is, in essence, Poe’s last confession. It takes place in the Baltimore hospital where he lies in a delirium before his death. Poe is forced to look at his life, his mistakes, his outrageous behaviors, and, in the end, he must try to find peace. This peace in death comes by way of the only peace he had in life -- telling a story. Poe starts his story by casting himself as the dashing, tragic hero, but as the play progresses, his own memories slip from his control, turning on him and forcin...

66 pages

2 m, 3 w, 1 flexible

Nora Marsh has lived with the burden of a father who's been branded a traitor. She has tried to keep their inn, the Cat and Mouse, running smoothly, but her father's depression and drinking after his return from the World War II European front has made life difficult. Her life begins to further unravel when a new border, Daniel Cavell, turns up missing. Kate Sherwin, the local Civil Defense warden, and Cavell's mother, Ruth, begin a search which ends when his body is found in the window seat of the inn's living room. Kate has long suspected Nora's father Harr...

72 pages

3 m, 3 w, 2 flexible (one non-speaking)

A madman is on the loose and college student Penny, somewhat flighty, has gotten a gun for protection over the objections of her brainy roommate Janice. The objections prove all too true when Penny accidentally shoots her boyfriend, Glen. Granted, his sense of humor often makes people want to shoot him, but this was truly an accident. Fortunately, Janice is a pre-med genius and she is able to use a very unorthodox method to save Glen’s life...kind of. His head at least, but only temporarily. While Glen protests to being stored in the TV cabinet, Penny is conc...

65 pages

1 m, 8 w (or 9 w)

Veronica Blather is a sweet little old lady who spends most of her time knitting and solving murders, most of which occur whenever she shows up. Understandably she has a problem finding a place to live. When her niece invites her to stay at a retirement home for old knitters, it seems ideal - until one of its members dies from drinking poisoned punch. Who did it? Was it Matilda, the president of the Crazy Quilt Club, or Lydia, who likes to die on Tuesdays? Could it be Clara, who's a compulsive liar, or the wisecracking Sarafina who doesn't trust anybody and c...

57 pages

3 m, 6 w

You think it's easy to write a murder? Just ask the Marquis Crossing Ladies Society for the Arts. They decide to do just that, especially when they find out they have to pay royalties to do someone else's play. "Anybody can write a murder," Emma tells the others, and Opaline immediately begins to try to strangle the other members "just to figure out how to do it." The ladies soon find themselves writing an "operatic murder mystery dinner theater with possible audience participation," providing no one sells fruit to the audience. Then two actual convicts on th...

72 pages

3 m, 4 w

Here is a sweet comedy featuring a social-climbing sister who tries to keep her visiting country sister from embarrassing her among her new society friends. Meet Millicent and Coreen – two girls who grew up in Bullfrog Waller. Millicent is now a big-city snob. Her sister, Coreen, on the other hand, chose to stay in the country…until now! How can Millicent keep her embarrassing past a secret when Coreen, as country as cornbread and grits, shows up spouting her backwoods sentiments to everyone at Millicent's party? Frantic, Millicent decides to pass Coreen off ...

69 pages

1 m, 6 w

"If there's any skeletons in the closet, I'll find them!" states Angie, who then opens a closet and has a skeleton literally fly in her face. This is one of the many surprises that faces the undercover police woman who just took on a job as a "domestic engineer," hired by Dr. Hugh Bernard to "find out what's going on." Five elderly spinsters live in the same house and all, apparently, hate each other. And what a group. There's Evelyn, who keeps acting out death scenes for Fiona, who's writing some sort of novel. Then there's Catherine, who keeps alluding to h...

62 pages

4 -5 m, 4 w

“The Importance of Being Earnest” is Oscar Wilde's most perfect, and most popular, play. Since its premiere in 1895, it has given joy to generations of theatergoers. The play is often called a "comedy of manners," because in the world Wilde knew and wrote about, late 19th century British high society, manners were everything. In this play, young Jack Worthing and his good friend Algernon find themselves in a ridiculous situation after their fiancées learn they are coincidentally engaged to the same man. A glorious rendition of mistaken identity, Wilde's play ...

65 pages

2 m, 5 w

Margaret Osgood, a sweet, quiet woman who is somewhat oblivious to details, is now shocked to find herself a recent widow and quite wealthy. She tries to adjust to her new life, first by buying herself a mink coat, a long-awaited extravagance, and joining the Wandering Widows’ Club where she makes good friends and creates a new social life. She soon finds herself pursued by Charlie, her late husband’s business partner, who questions her desire to donate much of her new-found money to charity. Is he just concerned about her financial future or is he more inter...

75 pages

2 - 3 m, 4 w

If you've ever had a job, or wished you hadn't, this office comedy is for you. Even on a good day, tensions run high in the customer service department of The Treasure Chest because of two female coworkers who can't stand each other, and a third who is constantly stuck in the middle. But when a chance for a promotion suddenly appears, all three women find themselves fighting for the job, although they don't all fight fair. Will the promotion go to daydreamer Hope, saintly Bonnie, or snarky Louise? A madhouse free-for-all of schemes, sabotage and unlikely alli...

42 pages

5 m, 3 w, 1 flexible

A wacky cast of actors is rehearsing for its big community theatre production of "You Only Die Twice." Marge Cunningham, the author of this "spell-binding murder mystery," runs the Enchanting Dreams Bed-and-Breakfast, which doubles as the community theatre. When she receives word that a top Broadway producer is coming to town to hopefully "discover" some fresh acting talent, she notifies the cast, and they go into high gear to perfect the show before opening night. They decide to stay in character and run their lines as much as possible before the performance...

62 pages

2 m, 5 w

It’s July 3, 1956 and the jockettes of WHER, America’s first "all-girl" radio station in Memphis, Tennessee, are having one heck of a day: the copywriter has run off to elope, they have just found out that the Elvis Presley is coming to the station to be interviewed on-air and their star DJ Bettye has shown up… in pants! When Elvis’s record promoter arrives and is none other than Bettye’s former flame Benjamin, sarcastic zingers fly, sisterhoods are forged, and secrets are exposed. Approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes.  Pulitzer Prize Nominated Play 2...