Full Length (1-10 Actors)

56 pages

2 m, 7 w

Act I is a play rehearsal at the home of one of the characters, while Act II represents the high school stage with all scenery reversed so that the audience sees only what normally would be back stage. All sound effects are visible; prop table, prompters, stage braces, etc. About every problem a director has ever had is encountered. Comedy abounds as each character has his own particular problem with his part. Grammie in particular never speaks a line, but her presence is felt in more ways than one! A plot around and about high school students.

70 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 flexible, optional 1 boy

Armed with a sharply judgmental attitude and a pair of binoculars, homeowner Leona Crump is consumed with anxiety over her new neighbors. Will they be California beatniks? Or paroled drug pushers? Or more frightening yet, perhaps someone with children?! Her worst fears are realized when an odd-ball "hill-folk" family move in across the street. She quickly realizes that neither God, nor her favorite telephone psychic, has prepared her for the series of showdowns set to take place in her living room. Gafina Hambefferschmidt, an obnoxious, gum-chewing woman, tog...

60 pages

Flexible cast (minimum 6)

Ever wonder why people whistle in a graveyard? Because it scares away the bogeyman. Here's a little gang of stories that, far from scaring the bogeyman away, invites him in and sets a place for him at the table! Listen, gentle reader, while the Caretaker introduces spooky tales from the haunted graveyard that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat and sometimes have you laughing out loud when some of the spectres don't behave exactly as they should. Watch as one couple decides what to do with an old uncle who vowed he'd come back from the dead, and wa...

42 pages

3 m, 4 w

In this hour-long play, timid and somewhat nerdy Arthur Miller (no relation to the playwright) has inherited a century-old mansion from a distant cousin. On arrival he finds more than he bargained for - the ghosts of three relatives who died there more than 70 years ago, and the ghost of their killer, the schizophrenic Uncle George. But these ghosts are not content to rattle chains. They enjoy "life" by re-enacting their deaths, sometimes two or three times a night, each time funnier, faster, and more melodramatically than the last! As they explain to Arthur,...

48 pages

4 m, 6 w, extras

“Now, my friends… do you like stories about rousing sword fights? Do you like stories about fire-breathing dragons? Well, this story has absolutely none of that!” says Christophe as the townspeople of a small European village gather to hear this itinerant storyteller. Soon the villagers clamor to tell their own stories. And the seemingly silly and simple tales, infused with the villagers’ personalities, become important lessons of patience (“No More Than a Tiger’s Whisker”), friendship (“Birds of a Feather”), and love (“A Ring of Truth”). The villagers add no...

58 pages

5 m, 3 w (all play multiple roles)

On the campus of a small liberal arts college, one dormitory has served as a home to students for over a hundred years. The play opens in the present when two college freshmen, Jake and Clay, become roommates during the year before the dorm is scheduled to be torn down. Their story is interwoven with a century of college antics and hijinks, hopes and tragedies, as the previous residents act out their moments in the same dorm room. We meet the dormitory's occupants from the early days of the century, the Great Depression, the second World War, the early days o...

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...

64 pages

5 m, 5 w, extras

Chris, an all-American student, is healing. Having survived a shooting at his old school, he is starting to get on with his life. He has moved to a new school and meeting new friends: Allison, a girl with a big heart; Trent, the most popular kid in school with problems at home; and Randy, the kid no one seems to like. While dealing with everyday issues like homework and relationships, Chris and the others find themselves in the middle of an ongoing battle between Randy and Trent. What starts as name-calling escalates to a fight and then turns much darker when...

48 pages

with doubling 4 m, 4 w

A humorous urban romp through familiar tales by the Brothers Grimm. Everybody is having a bad day in the Enchanted City. Little Theodore Hood's grandmother is gravely ill and he must get a powerful medicine to her as soon as possible. But Theodore's grandmother lives on the other side of the Enchanted City and the sinister Stranger will stop at nothing to get his hands on the medicine. Meanwhile a young lady names Summer Greene has recently inherited a large fortune, making her the wealthiest person in the Enchanted City. Summer's wicked stepmother, Bertha, w...

68 pages

3 m, 1 w, 5 flex; total of 9 with doubling, 42 w/o doubling

Ever forced to wait and wait…and wait? Want to scream at nonsensical bureaucracy? Then you’ll sympathize with Mr. Poosch who, after he accidentally leaves his well-made coat in the country to the North, finds tremendous hurdles when he attempts to get it back. First, he cannot obtain the right paperwork to travel, and then, when he finally arrives, it is Sunday and the country is closed on Sundays. A homeless man finds the coat and finds his luck turns around while wearing it. Meanwhile, poor Mr. Poosch finds himself broke, hungry, and laboring in the street....

43 pages

3 to 4 m, 3 w

A delightful, comic coming of age play for teens. (Or a great trip down memory lane for adults.) It's 1964 and the Beatles are arriving in the U.S. for their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. Andrea, Libby and Kirk eagerly await their arrival while their older siblings are having trouble making the transition for Elvis to the Beatles. This is the biggest event in young Andrea's life until she realizes that she likes a boy! Young love is hilariously and touchingly portrayed in this story of change and loss. Andrea likes Kirk and her best friend Libby tells him so...

46 pages

3 m, 2 w

Edgar Allan Poe, his wife, Virginia and his editor, Griswold are frozen in time, endlessly repeating the moment of Virginia's death. Annie and Owen, two contemporary teenagers, enter the condemned building haunted by the trio and get locked in the room where they are unable to see the specters. Annie, with the help of Edgar and Virginia, starts looking for a lost letter Griswold hid from Poe, which keeps Edgar and Virginia apart. Frightened at first, Owen soon joins the search, motivated by the money the letter might bring. Meanwhile, Griswold watches the pro...

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...

56 pages

4 m, 1 w, 5 flexible, plus extras

As the title implies, this fast-paced, lighthearted adaptation takes a few liberties with the original text and focuses on one adventurous day in the life of fiction’s most unfortunate fellow. Here, Quasimodo is meant to be adored, not feared, while his villainous master Frollo sports a bad toupee. The handsome war hero Phoebus is easily outwitted (and charmed) by the feisty gypsy Esmeralda, and the city is patrolled by the 15th century’s version of the Keystone Kops. Nothing and no one is taken too seriously. But beneath the humor is a timeless moral core wi...

82 pages

6 m, 2 w

World War II rages. In London, the mysterious and charming Mae arrives home in the blackout to find herself accused of spying for Nazi Germany.  Following the death of Mae’s brother, his diary has revealed to the authorities a dreadful and secret past.  In flashbacks, the young Mae, her brother, and their friend find a wounded Nazi pilot who has parachuted to safety in a forest in rural Norfolk.  They imprison and interrogate him, but find him fascinating and bewitching.  Tonight, with her life on the line, Mae must reveal all her secrets before the bombs hav...

60 pages

4 m, 4 w, extras

This richly-textured play weaves the dark energy of one of Shakespeare's most intense plays with compelling, current-day characters and problems. Andreya, a selfish student who gets what she wants by being manipulative and cruel, is affronted when she doesn't get the lead female role for the school's production of "Othello." Instead, the part of Desdemona goes to Miranda, a quiet but talented teen whose dysfunctional family has kept her out of many school activities. The part of Othello goes to Aaron, a well-rounded and popular student. As the rehearsals prog...

70 pages

5 m, 5 w

"Doing a kiddie TV show is like playing the bagpipes," Uncle Neddy says. "Who knows when you make a mistake?" And whether it is hunting down an escaped snake or sawing a lady in half, he and his sidekick, Skeezix the Clown, have been at it for decades. However, when the new station manager plans to get rid of his show, it is time for action! Filled with oddball characters, from a neurotic moose-toting puppeteer to a muscle-bound yes-man, this frantic slapstick comedy races along with action on both ends of the stage. Everyone is tuning in to the final show to...

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...

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...

59 pages

Ensemble of 7 - 20+

Ben Franklin has gathered his apprentices together to make a play that is the story of his life and how it parallels the beginning of a new country. The apprentices are inexperienced but very eager. One will get to play Ben as a boy, “Little Ben”; another will be the young and daring “Middle Ben.” And of course, “Big Ben” will be played by Ben himself, who will also take a few other juicy roles! The great moments of his life are enacted including the creation of “Silence Dogood,” a wildly popular fictional female letter-writer who mocks all of society and ste...

67 pages

4 m, 4 w

Margaret Miller is a self-styled "barracuda" literary agent whose new client, Shane Velasco, star of action films, is expected for dinner and contract negotiations. Her routine business meeting becomes a comedy playground when her associate (and ex-husband) Hank shows up with his own client, Madame Guadelupe Montevideo, "world famous" hypnotist. When Margaret insults Guadelupe, she turns her fiery temper and flare for the dramatic on Margaret, hypnotizing her into a shy, five-year-old child. Coping with her growing pains are her roommate Janet, a bored execut...

76 pages

5 m, 5 w

A magazine reporter interviewing 95-year-old Caddy Miller expects to hear the story of a woman who tended house and stood by her man while they homesteaded. Instead, the reporter finds a real pioneer who carved a place for herself in the Wyoming Territory in the 1880s. In flashbacks we see how young Caddy arrives out West with her dour husband. All they have to do is make three improvements to the land and it is theirs, but Caddy finds her new life increasingly difficult. A local rancher resents the "nesters" moving in and resorts to killing their stock while...

57 pages

2 m, 6 w, 1 flexible

Darby is a senior in high school, editor of the school newspaper, and dating the homecoming queen. Everything in his life is wonderful with one secret exception. Darby has been HIV positive since a blood transfusion he received as a child. His friends learn how to deal first with the news of his infection and then with his death when the virus progresses into AIDS. Full of the humor and romance typical of people their ages, the play ends with a dramatic scene that has garnered standing ovations in prior productions. Interior set.

48 pages

5 m, 5 w, 4 flex, 2 silent and flex. (With doubling 3 m, 3 w, 1 flex, 2 silent and flex.)

These two science fiction plays are inspired by H.G. Wells' works, The Stolen Bacillus and The Flowering of the Strange Orchid, and Alexandre Dumas' novel, The Black Tulip. In BACTERIAL BROADSIDE, two students working on a science fair project get involved in a potentially deadly heist when unscrupulous villains steal an experimental sample from the famous bacteriologist, Professor Parvulus. Will the world population become infected or will certain guilty parties be easy to spot? This play proves that the little things in life, like Gulliver's Lilliputians, a...

44 pages

Minimum 2 m, 7 w; maximum 3 m, 12 w, 1 flexible

Getting old feels like the end … especially for Margo. She’s worked hard to build her career and her life with husband Lars. But her 30th birthday isn’t what she planned. Already late to her own party, she and Lars quickly eat the last of the food before greeting guests. In hindsight, the crab salad may have been a little off … Apparently WAY off! Now they must start over in the after-life. But before they can rest in peace they must find a house and help the occupants. With the help of a celestial guide, they view three houses. There’s the far-out beach bung...

69 pages

4 m, 3 w

Ray Chambers is a sales executive whose company invests in small businesses to franchise them. His target this time is surly Kirby Muldoon, the owner of Kirby's Pizzeria. Kirby has taken a vacation to a mountaintop lodge to work on his anger management. Ray, with the help of his fiancée Julie and his woman-crazy assistant Tony, schemes to win over Kirby. It’s complicated by Tony's infatuation with Kirby's waitress Lisa and the shrill owner of the lodge, Cyndi, who can't seem to stop shrieking at an unseen handyman. After being turned down the first time, Ray ...

51 pages

2 m, 3 w

After years of waiting for a traditional marriage proposal, Caroline's had it. When she takes matters into her own hands and plans a "surprise" wedding at her family's vacation home, side-splitting mayhem is set in motion. This wedding, hardly the dream variety, has all the same trappings as a surprise birthday party: secrets, shrewd planning, and timing gone awry. Grudgingly participating in the scheme is her practical best friend and maid of honor, Beth. She questions everything from her bridesmaid dress (which she refers to as a fuchsia tortilla) to the ju...

56 pages

3 m, 3 w

Lacy Casey is socially awkward, has a goofy sense of humor, and has raised clumsiness to an art form. If you look in the dictionary under "adorkable," you'd find a picture of Lacy.  Her friends Sue and Trevor love her quirkiness and accept her for who she is. When Lacy goes out on her first date with Bryce, she assumes it will be their last date. After all, her ungraceful mannerisms practically destroy their dinner, and he keeps calling her by the wrong name. But he comes back for more ... Meanwhile, Trevor harbors a ...

45 pages

3 Actors or 3-8 Actors

The play tells the story of Davey Herold, a co-conspirator in the Lincoln assassination who accompanied John Wilkes Booth during the ensuing manhunt. It asks if Davey Herold had a choice in taking part in the assassination and whether or not he actually committed a crime. It moves fluidly from his jail cell where he speaks to his lawyer, to a series of locations during the planning of the assassination, to the history-changing execution, to Davey and Booth fleeing authorities.  Approximately 70 minutes.

62 pages

Flexible cast minimum 4 (3 m, 1 w) maximum 37 (28 m, 9 w)

Here are ten short views of turn-of-the-century New York through the eyes of O. Henry, the master of the twist ending and chronicler of everyday people from young shop girls with enormous dreams to the ne'er-do-wells with plans for the easy life. Among the people you'll come to know and almost love are: three of the dingiest and laziest musketeers you've ever seen, plotting to relieve a hard-working wife of a whole dollar she earned scrubbing clothes; a young gentleman with a sudden insurmountable problem in giving away a "mere one-thousand-dollar" inheritanc...