Community

71 pages

7 m, 7 w, and extras (doubling possible)

Here's a hilarious melodrama spoof whose oddball characters seemingly ad lib their way through the wildest plot ever to come down the pike. Lovely, innocent Constance Purdy is about to lose her home to that villain-about-town, Wiley Schlink. Will hero Monroe Mannerly ride to the rescue in time? Will her long-lost prospector father show up and save the day? These questions aren't really answered because we're laughing too hard at the sheriff who has a mortgage on her own jail, a medicine man who ends up in a dress, and a saloon-smashing suffragette whose ax wo...

80 pages

5 m, 9 w, extras

Billionaire industrialist Wentworth Jefferson invites private investigator Joey (Jo Ellen) Reynolds to a party at his mansion where she meets, and secretly photographs, the people he believes might wish to see him dead. Frozen for a moment, as if caught on film, we meet the suspects: his flighty wife, Mamie; her children, playboy Sam Kane and sculptress daughter, Selena; his bitter ex-wife, Julia Jefferson; society columnist Felica Phillips, whom he once jilted; his spinsterish personal assistant, Debra Mason; and a senior executive in his firm, Paul Carter, ...

25 pages

5 m, 6 w, 3 flexible, extras

How can one man, even if he is Dirty Dan, capture the whole Mountie Choral Society? Easy, when you know all the men snap to attention at the words, "Northwest Mounted Police!" Trouble is as deep as the snow for Louella Lovelace's wedding to Sgt. Richard Dobetter. In addition to Dirty Dan, who's disguised himself as the Abominable Snowman, wedding guests are falling into bear traps and the townspeople fall for rumor of a silver rush. The play ends with Dirty Dan serving as the flower girl in a tutu. About 30 minutes.

66 pages

5 m, 6 w

Mickey Chigger, a nasty newspaper critic, turns up dead at the Chestnut Hollow Little Theatre’s final dress rehearsal of “The Curse of Infant Isle.” The players, desperate for a box office success, will go to any lengths to avoid a scandal. And that means, yes!, moving the critic’s body from the rest room where he died to the parking lot. That way the late Mr. Chigger will keep his dignity, even thought he doesn’t really deserve it, but even more importantly, the theatre won’t get bad press such as “The play was so bad it killed him!” But just when they think...

40 pages

6 m, 4 w, 4 flexible, extras,

Mild-mannered suburbanite Rob Clark is shocked when Eugene, an unlikely angel, tells him that he is going to have a baby. Rob and his wife, Cindy, have wanted a child, but they never expected Rob to be the one to get pregnant! Their family physician, Doc Mitchell, an old-fashioned doctor who'd rather be fishing, confirms the pregnancy, but Dr. Stern, a cynical psychologist, says everyone is nuts! Meanwhile, Rob and Cindy, who are trying to come to terms with the situation, are besieged by a parade of curiosity seekers, led by Dr. Stern, while Doc Mitchell com...

27 pages

1 m, 9 w

In the late 1800s rumors were circulating about alleged horrors taking place on Blackwell’s Island, home of the Insane Asylum of New York. Women were apparently the victims of abuse and torture, and one woman, a newspaper reporter, decided to risk her own life to investigate. Nellie Bly committed herself to the asylum, documenting her findings and ultimately revealing the horrors to the entire world. This one-act play, adapted from her book, “Ten Days in a Madhouse,” tells the incredible story of how this “girl” reporter forever changed the way the world look...

37 pages

4 m, 8 w

At the end of the 1940s an old theatre building is about to be torn down. As the theatre's acting troupe is packing up the props, costumes and set pieces, an old magician's trunk is wheeled onstage. Suddenly, members of the company are turning up dead. Margaret, the director's assistant, is the only witness to these crimes, seeing with her own eyes how Eve was strangled, Madigan bludgeoned, and Stan shot. Yet no one will believe her, especially when there is no trace of any of the bodies! This edgy, film noir-style mystery earned straight superiors from the j...

83 pages

3 m and 7 w (With optional extended ending: 7 m and 8 w)

Penny Ramsey is a young woman who, like all of us, has different sides to her personality. They are personified in the story by comically stereotypical characters, collectively known as the Egos. The five Egos make up her decision-making process, which gets a lot more complicated when Penny overhears only one side of her boyfriend Matt’s phone conversation and believes he has betrayed her. It’s a stressful time for Penny, made even more confusing by the introduction of a potential new suitor named Rick and the nosy involvement of Penny’s mother (and Matt’s bo...

72 pages

5 m, 4 w, 1 girl, 1 male voice-over

KOLD Radio is located in a corner of Carl and Lena's Place for Beer in a small Minnesota town near the Canadian border. Lars Knudsen is the host of a radio show called "Crappie Talk," devoted entirely to ice fishing for crappies. Because it is a somewhat narrow subject, Lars has no listeners, so he loses his only advertiser, Ole's Bait Mart and Deer Petting Farm. Martha Bjorklund, Lars' unrequited love interest, hosts "Book Beat." She has all the listeners, and all the advertisers. Lars has issues with Martha ever since she beat him in the 50-yard dash in 6th...

53 pages

Flexible cast of 10 to 34

Meet a theatre troupe whose Christmas spirit sparkles far more than their acting talent! In this two-act collection of comedy scenes, amateur thespians are preparing a Christmas Eve production at the community center, but nothing is working right. Meet Jordan, who demands fresh flowers in his dressing room (the broom closet); Nicky, whose Christmas monologue is "enhanced" with all the wrong sound effects; and Red who's more than a little worried that Marley's ghost haunts the backstage. Boss, the director, is about to lose his mind! And it doesn't help that L...

68 pages

11 m, 13 w (with doubling 4 m, 5 w)

It is time again for the county fair in Flat Rock, Texas! In between the jelly judging, local politicin' and some extraordinary spoon playing, folks can see "Nature's Boo-Boos," an exhibit where teenager Tommy Rogers feels right at home, especially when he tries to do "Shakespeare in the Park"! Meanwhile, the Ladies' Auxiliary is hoping to collect funds for a hedge around the courthouse to keep all the dogs from frequenting it, while school supporters have set up a fortune-telling booth for money to get the school bus repainted yellow instead of camouflage `c...

36 pages

Cast of 12 plus ensemble. Most roles are gender flexible except for those noted. Doubling possible.

James, a young boy, suffers from Angelman Syndrome. This neurodevelopmental disorder causes problems with speech and mobility forcing him to spend his life in a wheelchair. The story shifts from James’ imagination where he dreams of being a superhero called “The Amazing Angel-Man” to the real world, where the realities of his condition have a serious impact on his family, particularly his father. As the play progresses, these two separate worlds start to overlap, leading to an uplifting resolution that upholds the values of hope and imagination. The play was ...