Daniel S Kehde

Dan Kehde is a playwright, librettist and director who, for the past 15 years, has served as co-founder and managing director for The Contemporary Youth Arts Company of Charleston,WV, an organization dedicated to giving young artists hands-on opportunities to bring new works to the American stage. A nearly unfunded, for-profit theater company, CYAC has produced over 50 new works in the past 15 years including 15 new Scarpelli-Kehde musicals, more than thirty new plays and eight touring social action one-acts. Together with his persevering wife, Penny, Dan continues to work with the young people of CYAC while constantly striving to challenge the ever-changing lists of new actors that come into the company. Dan is currently working on new pieces of musical theater with composer/collaborator Mark Scarpelli, as well as continuing to create and produce three or four new plays of his own each year.

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  Birth Of An Actress

i-Monologue by Daniel S Kehde

2 pages

By Dan Kehde


A high school girl wonders why, after being in the chorus for so many previous school productions, she can't get the lead role. She should consider other careers for her future, but she loves the warm lights, the smell of makeup, and most of all, the applause.

  Who Needs Jeremy

i-Monologue by Daniel S Kehde

2 pages

By Dan Kehde


A friend tries to comfort a crying teen girl who's just been dumped. The friend points out Jeremy's bad points, especially his need to control. She finally gets her to smile.before more tears start.

  Mel And Gloria

i-Monologue by Daniel S Kehde

2 pages

By Dan Kehde


What girl hasn't daydreamed of marriage, scribbling her possible, maybe, wanna-be future new name? Sigh! So romantic.until another guy steps into view!

  Poof Goes Alex

i-Monologue by Daniel S Kehde

2 pages

By Dan Kehde


An older sibling laughs about the anticipated reaction Alex will cause in her new kindergarten class. Based on her behavior at home, the little demon sister will probably make her whole class go running and screaming into the street.

  Hector's Warehouse and Other Ghost Stories

Mystery by Daniel S Kehde

63 pages

2 m, 2 w


The problem with many plays where things have to go bump in the night is that things have to go bump. Not in "Hector's Warehouse and Other Ghost Stories." Four friends tell five ghostly stories using the most potent special effect of all: the audience's imagination. Using only chairs and candles (plus some well-timed blackouts), the characters re-enact their own eerie experiences and generate plenty of spine-tingling moments for us along the way. In "Toni's House," Phyllis takes us to a house she lived in with footsteps above and a fear-inducing basement belo...

  Girls' Room

Drama by Daniel S Kehde

41 pages

4 w


This powerful drama takes on the subject of date rape. Four girls meet throughout the school year in the girls bathroom, in the mornings when it is off-limits to students. It's their secret refuge where they share stories, tease and argue with each other, but above all, support one another. When one of the girls, a freshman, reveals the name of the guy she is seeing, her sister, a senior, is horrified as he is the boy who raped her in eighth grade. By the end of the school year, they have all grown, learned, and are ready to leave their refuge for good. This ...

  Siege of Room 304

Drama by Daniel S Kehde

45 pages

3 m, 11 w


What happens when a high schooler brings a pistol to biology class? In this tense drama, Wesley, a 17-year-old boy with a handgun, holds 13 of his fellow students as voluntary hostages as he tries to come to grips with the events that brought him there. In the 24 hours that follow, the tension of the stand-off outside mixes with the casual attitude of the students inside. By the end, we see these rich characters relate their own experiences with violence, parental authority, peer pressure, high school and the pains of outgrowing childhood. Finally, too, we le...

  Gettysburg Canon

Drama by Daniel S Kehde

72 pages

6 m, 5 w


Early morning July 1, 1863. Gettysburg, Pa. As thousands of troops from both North and South amass for what will become one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, five teenagers from several local farms escape to the safety of the surrounding hills. There's the level-headed Eliza and her little sister, Justine, who's strong-willed; Georgina, whose mother has sheared her hair to make her look like a boy; and Rachel and Jeremiah, a brother and sister from a wealthier family. As they witness the horrors of battle over the next three days, the teens are force...

  Picasso Pickup Scenes for Teen Actors

Resource by Daniel S Kehde

76 pages

Resource Book


These 22 dialogues present unique acting challenges that will stretch your teen thespians. The anthology is divided into two sections. "Then" features historical pieces such as Mary Surratt shortly before her execution for her involvement in the assassination of President Lincoln, and Marie Antoinette's maids on the eve of the French Revolution. "Now" offers contemporary situations such as the excitement and anxiety of a first date, how to deal with one's reputation, and difficulties with parents. Each scene requires investigating the characters' specific tim...

  Service for Jeremy Wong

Drama by Daniel S Kehde

69 pages

9 m, 9 w


When Jeremy Wong, a 15-year-old gay student, is savagely beaten and killed by two fellow students, the whole school reels from the blows. Reporters from all over the country descend on the town. Deep divisions among the students emerge as the student council debates whether or not to hold a memorial service. The brutal murder forces each student to search his or her own conscience and beliefs. Some react with denial, some make excuses, some are outraged, and some are frightened. Others respond with courage and caring, while a few start to question and change ...

  Gone Tomorrow

Drama by Daniel S Kehde

26 pages

1 m, 5 w, 1 flexible, extras and audience members


Rick, an intelligent ninth grade student athlete, has his first sexual encounter with Amanda, a senior. He has four more relationships before he graduates. By the spring of his senior year, when he tests HIV positive, he has inadvertently exposed more than fifty of his classmates to AIDS. That number has little impact on most audiences until the end of the play when fifty audience members are called to the stage from the names on cards they are handed. When the name on the card is read by the actor playing the doctor, the audience member holding the card shou...

  Love Is Not an Angry Thing

Drama by Daniel S Kehde

35 pages

2 w


Tina has fallen hard for Greg, an upperclassman, but her best friend, Margie, is worried about the relationship with its subtle and not so subtle bullying. Greg meets Tina after every class, gets her to quit the soccer team because it takes too much time away from him, and basically manipulates her to do exactly what he wants to do. Soon his controlling personality leads to violence, and Tina's family gets a restraining order against him. But he's determined to see Tina one more time. With Margie as our narrator, we see how a girl's youthful dream of love can...