47 pages
Flexible cast of 9 m, 10 w, extras (or as few as 3 m, 3 w)
The early history of flight, alcoholism, the pressure of fame, dreams failed and fulfilled, and the never-ending need for courage are the themes of this play. It’s 1932 and Amelia Earhart is on her first great flight: a solo across the Atlantic. Her tiny cockpit becomes filled with specters of memory as she relives fragments of her life, fragments which challenge her right to fame and her ability as a pilot. Scenes flow seamlessly as she interacts with her family, including her alcoholic father, with other flyers, and finally with millionaire publisher George...
54 pages
4 m, 3 w
Hailed by George Orwell as “the wittiest play” G.B. Shaw ever wrote, Arms and the Man is a true classic in the history of theater, blending social commentary, romantic comedy, fun and lively characters, and crackling dialogue that leaps off the page! We are in the 1880s, and Raina Petkoff is a young Bulgarian woman, worried about the war her father and fiancé are currently fighting. No sooner is she warned that enemy soldiers may be nearby, than Captain Bluntschli, a war-weary enemy, breaks in and holds her hostage. To their surprise, and the audienc...
42 pages
2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible
Ronald Schmidt has just left his bride at the altar to attend an urgent meeting at Dr. Shaw's office. Diana Henderson has left her bridegroom at the altar to attend the same meeting. Both hope it's about inheriting the late doctor's fortune, but all that the two strangers find are Shaw's ashes in an urn and Shaw's assistant. To qualify for their legacy, he says, they must be handcuffed for twenty-four hours. Once alone, they argue, then kiss and eventually break the handcuffs. The assistant returns with the jilted bride and bridegroom, the ones left at the re...
64 pages
5 m, 5 w
"I wish just once we could have a family get-together without somebody getting tied up!" This plaintive request, yelled at the top of her lungs by Aunt Clarise, gives you a pretty good idea of how family reunions go for this particular gang. Peri has taken her husband Graham to the family lake house to finally meet the clan. And Graham was looking forward to it. That is, until he gets overcharged by the taxi service, takes a large swig from the Major's private stock and has a wax apple stuck in his mouth, only to be dislodged by a slap on the head. It's littl...
77 pages
5 m, 5 w
Aunt Ollie has been having a hard time keeping her hotel open and her brother, Earl, isn't much help. Ollie has one hope in keeping her "Home Away from Home" open with investor Judith Pomeroy. Unfortunately, before Judith can get a good look at the place, she accidentally gets a generous dose of Earl's recipe for moonshine. Add one UFO-logist, a psychology major, a fat sheriff and a conniving competitor and this hotel starts looking more and more like a real "home"! Int. set.
60 pages
7 m, 6 w, extras
Coming to your theatre! All the fast-paced action, all the cockeyed characters, all the romance you'd ever want and still have room for popcorn. Return with us now to those thrilling days of silent movies when anything went and usually took most of the scenery with it. Can B.B. Tackett, one step ahead of the police, make his next movie? Will Freddie Thurlow find true love with the daughter of a fruit vendor and will she be the apple of his eye? And just who brought in a stuffed hamster, anyway? Wisecracking their way through one scrape after another, our litt...
58 pages
Flexible casting: Minimal 3 m, 3 w.
By beginning the play with the arrival of the merchant and his daughter at the Beast's castle, this adaptation of the familiar fairy tale focuses on the many variations on the theme of love. Once the character referred to as “Beauty”' agrees to stay at the castle, the audience becomes involved in the changing relationship of the two central characters, leading to a bond of love that goes beyond surface appearances -- and that will outlast even death. It's a tale of happiness and sadness, of growing and changing. But in this version Beauty discovers her own co...
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...
68 pages
7 m, 2 w
At the height of WWII with a frantic need to produce food, yet faced with a critical shortage of labor, American farmers were compelled to accept help in their fields from prisoners of war. While farmers’ sons fought men just like them in trenches and tanks in Europe, the presence of these POWs in rural America led to plenty of emotional conflict at home. Isabelle Hunt knows her husband Fred needs help with their beet crop, so he grudgingly allows German POWs from a camp nearby to work the family’s fields. Fred is furious over the food and privileges the POWs...