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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...

52 pages

3 m, 6 w, doubling possible

A small-town funeral parlor is a hilarious place to visit in this trilogy of one-acts. In "All Laid Out," Mama, who stubbornly clings to out-dated manners and mores, finds being with her two squabbling daughters, the stuffy and pampered Lorena, and the free-spirited Ronnie, more stressful than being a new widow! In "Dust to Dust," the widow of Rick, who was a traveling salesman, and the widow of Fred, who was also a traveling salesman, meet face to face at the same coffin! But their outrage turns into understanding as they compare notes and jokes about Fredri...

52 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 teen boy, 1 teen girl, 1 boy, 6 girls

It is Christmas time. The Rasmussen family is gathering at Grandma's country home for the holidays. Everyone will be there - except Grandpa, who died recently. All are concerned for Grandma in her first Christmas without Grandpa, but Danni McKenna, a sort of step-granddaughter, may be the solution. Danni is now living with her stepmom, Samantha, who is Grandma's daughter. Danni has problems. She doesn't want to fit in or maybe she's decided that she can't fit in. She feels unloved and unwanted. By solving Danni's problems Grandma eases the loss of her beloved...

32 pages

4 m, 2 w

Lord Bellinger and the Right Honorable Trelawney Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, visit Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker street to have him find a missing document, which, if published, could lead to war. It had been kept in a dispatch box at the Secretary's home. Holmes suggests to Watson three possible individuals, any one of whom could have stolen the document to use for bribery. One of them, Lucas, is found murdered at his home, which Holmes visits with Inspector Lestrade. They find that the bloodstain on the carpet is not in the same position as the on...

64 pages

5 m, 4 w, 6 children

Inspired by the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. Whatever became of that pale, lanky school teacher Icabod Crane after a Headless Horseman threw a pumpkin at him? Ichabod is either really angry at the way he was treated or he's dead. Or, because this is Sleepy Hollow, he may be both! This Agatha Christie-like adaptation is set in the present. The first act is a faithful retelling of the story by Washington Irving with a contemporary Ichabod living in secluded Sleepy Hollow that has not changed in three hundred years. Still consi...

70 pages

Minimum cast of 13 with doubling: 6 m, 6 w, 1 flex

Dusty Junction is in big trouble! The roaming outlaw Ugly Monroe is terrorizing the citizens. First he shoots stable owner Joe and steals his boots; next he shoots the sheriff and steals his badge; and then he shoots the doc and steals his stethoscope. As the loyal community struggles to hold itself together, timid Deputy Shawn needs to step up and prove he is not Deputy Nancy-boy! He is bolstered by Marlene, the kindly saloon owner; Mindy Sue, his fiery sweetheart; and even Bobby Joe, the cute little boy…er, girl…well, child. The final straw breaks when Ugly...

57 pages

5 m, 4 w, 3 flexible, 5-7 kids or adults dressed as kids

At Jim Dandy's Dandy Dude Ranch for Children, nasty city kids learn good manners and improve their self-images. The Dandy ladies, including the lovely young Melody Dandy, are running the ranch while Jim Dandy is serving an undeserved prison sentence. Trouble is, the ranch is close to the future railroad line and villain Rash von Sphincter is determined to have it. Rash tricks the gals into letting him manage the ranch, turning all the dude children into brats, ruining the ranch's reputation, and (hopefully) forcing Mrs. Dandy to sell. All is saved when our he...

40 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 flexible

Get the youngsters in your audience twitching their noses, making engine noises, bowing to the king, catching imaginary gold thread, and shouting out names, especially Rumpelstiltskin! With such audience participation, this fairy tale adaptation is loads of active fun. It features a braggart father, his long-suffering wife, their poor but beautiful daughter, a strict rule-enforcing chancellor; a monarch whose kingdom depends on straw being spun into gold, and of course, the mysterious little man who is willing to perform that exceptional feat – but at a treme...

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...

63 pages

5 m, 4 w, 3 extras

1920s Hollywood is the setting of this melodrama. Sneakypete Underhand, a villainous doctor, and his henchwoman, nurse Heide Bedpann, are hired to work at a silent movie studio, where Sneakypete quickly hatches a plot to kidnap a top star, Verily Speakwell. Little do they know that when talking pictures arrive, the actress has such a horrible voice her career will be doomed! Sneakypete ends up disguised as a harem dancer to fool the director, Alfred Hitchkick, and the co-stars, including Manly Jawline, a dim movie hero, and Peerless Sneer, the ham actor who p...

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...

63 pages

5 m, 4 w, extras

A Commedia dell'Arte troupe invades a town square on market day and performs a hilarious play. In it, two young men and their servant have come to the town to find love. And they do with two young ladies. But their father, an impoverished man, has plans to marry one to his rich, fat friend, who happens to be the father of one of the young men. The daughter would rather marry the other young man, of course. Meanwhile, a rich, widowed contessa begins to pursue the girls' father. It falls to the faithful servant to arrange all the romances, forcing him to preten...

78 pages

3 m, 3 w, 2 flexible roles

Valerie Simpson, a suburban housewife, has begun seeing visions of murders, kidnappings, suicides and even family members threatened with impending accidents. But the most incriminating vision may concern someone close to Val herself. She hesitates to go to the police because her husband works for a conservative firm ("Wall Street and psychic phenomena don't mix"), and because she has spent some time in a mental institution. Val's brother, a caring neighbor, and a psychic researcher, all offer support and understanding. But why is her husband so violently aga...

56 pages

2 m, 4 w

A young mother, penniless and desperate, moves to a lonely lighthouse with her infant to escape her rich and possessive husband, a doctor used to getting his own way. So when the baby is kidnapped, it seems so obvious the father is behind it. But like an intricate and suspenseful chess game, there are numerous moves which simultaneously reveal and confuse. A suspicious car only Karen, the young mother, spies. Her long-buried secret of a child that died in her care. A grandmotherly housekeeper who so conveniently appears to help. A dead stranger. Insurance mon...

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...