Community

29 pages

3 m, 4 w

A Confederate soldier, transporting a Yankee prisoner, stops off at his fiancee's home in hopes of arranging a quick wedding. But the women of the home fall under the spell of the prisoner. Is the Yankee lying when he tells the fiancee, Lisbeth, he has fallen in love with her? The would-be groom challenges the Yankee to a duel. They go outside to settle the matter of honor. There is a single gunshot. Lisbeth, in her wedding dress, waits to marry. The door opens, but who's there?

74 pages

5 m, 6 w, 6 boys, 4 girls

Emily Ainsley, an idealistic young lady, is trying to provide a home to young orphans, and that's not an easy task in London in 1867. She rents space from a greedy businessman, Aloysius Penningham, but gets behind in the payments. He proposes marriage to her (so that he can manage her future inheritance) or threatens eviction if she refuses. Harrold, an angel in the guise of a gentleman, starts to work on Penningham, while other well-meaning folk attempt to help Mrs. Fritzroy-Palmer locate her long lost daughter. A ragtag band of pickpockets creates havoc and...

35 pages

3 m, 1 w, 16 flexible

A small California town is under mandatory evacuation as a huge wild fire threatens its citizens, their homes, and the surrounding forest. Just as the family is about to leave, their unsuspecting dogs Loony and Max are tricked by Prince, the evil cat. Following the cat’s sinister advice, the sweet but gullible dogs disappear to avoid the vet and to find the barbecue sausages, leaving the family no choice but to drive off without them. During their big adventure to find their family again, the dogs journey through the forest where they encounter pushy raccoons...

12 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 extra

Farmer Amos Hollister and his wife, Judith, order their daughter Matilda to leave their sight forever after she weds Roger Cameron. But when Roger is on the brink of ruin, he seeks Amos in desperation. Big mistake! In fact, mistakes make the performance of this melodrama even funnier. Prompting the actors is necessary, and even suggested in several places in the script. About 20 minutes.

74 pages

4 m, 4 w

In this high-voltage sequel to Bram Stoker's classic vampire tale, Baroness Katarina Stephanowski of Rumania - who is actually the widow of Count Dracula - moves to England in search of fresh blood. She gains entrance to the country home of Dr. Vincent Grant and his daughter, Diana. Attracted to Diana's fiance, Jeremy Randolph, the baroness attempts to make him her mate. When the Grants discover Jeremy bitten on the neck and nearly drained of blood, Dr. Grant sends for Lucy Seward. She has survived Dracula's bite herself and realizes what a dangerous adversar...

67 pages

2 m, 2 w or 8 m, 8 w

All four of the these plays involve a woman and man who are strangers to each other until happenstance causes them to meet in a confined space. Through self-disclosure their lives touch and perhaps change. Each play uses the stage “gimmick” of being able to hear the characters’ thoughts as well as their spoken words. Although the themes are on the serious side there is much humor. In "Ducks At Thirty-Five Thousand," a young man who is planning a suicide and a young woman who is planning an abortion meet on an airliner. As he finally reveals his plan, her reac...

62 pages

Interracial cast of 4 m, 3 w, 2 flexible, 1 child

Cole, a slave, struggles with the prospect of escaping--the personal struggles and danger it would mean for his family. Escape would also mean forgoing all the trust and faith his “owner,” Mr. Jones, had invested in Cole. After much thought, and arguing with his wife, Cole agrees that an opportunity for freedom is worth sacrificing his fairly contented life as a slave. Their plan of escape, however, is found out. Cole must come face to face with Mr. Jones and suffer the consequences. The cost is great. The slave gives his life for individual freedom. The slav...

62 pages

2 m, 3 w

Janine, the temperamental half of a totally unmatched set of twins, arrives at her sister's house in the middle of the night, making good on her endless threats to leave her husband. When Arlene and her husband try to explain it isn't a good time for a houseguest, Janine is surprised to find their mama has left their daddy on the very same night. Chaos ensues as Mama and Janine each stubbornly refuses to return to her own home. To add to Janine's problems, Red Jennings, a mysterious figure from her past, returns to town. In an emotional outpouring, Janine rev...

56 pages

4 m, 3 w

Lord Liverpool, a chauvinistic proprietor of a 19th century London newspaper, must deal not only with a wife who’s a suffragette and a daughter who seeks own career, but an old school rival out to embarrass him. The plot concerns a series of dispatches being penned by an adventurer in Africa, which have made the Herald a popular newspaper. Unbeknownst to Lord Liverpool, however, the dispatches are actually being written by his wife Athena, who seeks a literary career. Their daughter Calliope, suspecting something is amiss, goes to work for the rival newspaper...

64 pages

3 m, 1 w, 2 flex, 1 young adult

Jobie King, well known and loved in his rural area of West Texas for brewing delicious - albeit unlicensed - beer, has become a target. His greedy Yankee sons-in-law plan to swindle his illegal brewery away from him and turn it into the newest internet fad. Adding insult to injury, the dastardly duo seek to put Jobie, recently widowed, out to pasture, abandoning him at a nursing home. As avarice and technology threaten to ruin his rustic yet pleasant way of life, the fiercely independent and unrepentant Jobie is determined to take back what is rightfully his....

80 pages

17 roles (approx. 8 m, 9 w)

A "melodrama plus," this play cleverly intertwines a classic "losing the homestead" plot with a realistic subplot in which high school drama students are putting on (what else?!) a melodrama. The Colonel and his daughter Belle are trying to keep the family restaurant (and Belle's heart) from the clutches of the villain I.C. Blizzard, a fast food franchiser. The hero, Beau, suffers from a perpetual crisis of confidence that he deals with by cooking and obsessive psychoanalysis. The student characters trade insults that imperfectly hide a budding romance. Holdi...

32 pages

4 m, 4 w

Friendships are tried, prejudice revealed, and self-interest is (dare it be said) exposed, in this fast-moving comedy. A small Iowa town must deal with the weighty issue of whether a stone statue violates the morals ordinance. Chorlis Deets, longtime resident of Lamb’s Corner, has a new lawn ornament in honor of his departed wife...a stone statue of Aphrodite...painted pink and “situated” on a swing in his front yard. An emergency meeting of the city council is called to debate the issue and decide whether or not to forcibly remove the statue. As the meeting ...

63 pages

4 m, 10 w, 1 flexible

It's 1841 and Christmas at Moor Manor doesn't promise to be a happy one. The two daughters of the late Lord Fairchild deeply mourn their father's death. Lady Fairchild has invited her old pupil, now Queen Victoria, and her new husband Prince Albert, for Christmas hoping their presence will cheer her daughters. But the girls act even worse than before. On Christmas Eve, as they are about to run away, they bump into five orphans who have been hiding in the house stealing food. Roused by the commotion, Queen Victoria devises a plan for their "punishment." The or...

67 pages

10 m (doubling possible), 6 w

Elaine has had enough. Ralph, her exasperating, risk-taking husband, has got to go. With the help of Pookie, her younger sister; Anthony “Prettyboy” Ferrari, her father; and Rudy Gambruzzo, her father’s personal assistant, Elaine sets out to stage an accident that will rid her of marital stress. In the space of one morning, Elaine accidentally gets the pool guy and the mailman killed before finally clobbering Ralph. Then she learns that Ralph must be alive that afternoon to sign a vital contract or she will be not only happily widowed, but unhappily bankrupt....

63 pages

8 m, 7 w, 1 boy, 1 girl, extras

Jack Thompson's kids are fighting non-stop this Christmas. Yet the season holds wonderful memories for Jack. He relates the story of his family's magical Christmas back in 1965 when life could not be worse. The stage comes alive with Jack, now 13, with his dad about to lose his business. Mom is worried about the two girls they are sheltering from an abusive home. Grandma, newly widowed, has come to live with them while irresponsible Aunt Hilda and her over-pampered son, Little Claude, arrive for an extended visit. Jack's older sister, Corrie, has a boyfriend ...