58 pages
Flexible cast of 14 – 29 actors
“The Odyssey: A Comedy, Mostly” is an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. It follows the well-known story of Odysseus’s journey from the battlefields of Troy back home to Ithaca and features familiar characters such as Odysseus, Athena, Poseidon, Circe, Penelope, and the Cyclops. The play was written with casual and modern language and a comedic tone, but it involves some dramatic moments and routinely breaks the fourth wall. About 90 minutes.
68 pages
4 m, 5 w, 5 - 9 flexible
Welcome to East Beverly Hills High, where old money meets new technology in this hilarious contemporary adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel. When mysterious transfer student Jason “Gatsby” Gatz arrives with designer clothes (price tags still attached) and a suspicious cryptocurrency fortune, he turns the school's social hierarchy upside down. His mission? To win the heart of popular girl Violet Fay, who once shared her graham crackers with him in kindergarten – a memory he's never quite gotten over.
Narr...
84 pages
Minimum cast of 10 plus drama teacher to 40+
The Updated Best-Selling Classic!
Here's a comedy that covers nearly every angle of the typical high school play with a dose of history and improvisation thrown in for good measure! A group of actors, who have apparently been abandoned by their drama teacher, have to fend for themselves opening night in front of a live audience. In this hilarious metatheatrical comedy, a desperate Stage Manager and an overly confid...
48 pages
3-4 m, 3 w, 3 flexible, extras
Electra is a young woman who mourns—and ultimately avenges with the help of her brother Orestes—her father Agamemnon’s murder. The story is based on a lost epic of ancient Greek literature, set in a period between Homer’s Iliad and his Odyssey.
This show explores the psychological costs of resisting evil in a society bent on ignoring or even sustaining that evil. Written in blank verse, the language is conversational despite its formality. Poetry best expresses that ...
43 pages
4 w, 4 m for small cast; 8 w, 7 m, 2 flexible for large cast
Melisande dreams of catching a unicorn, Ana dreams of capturing the perfect sunrise, River dreams of finding the all-consuming love of his life, while Kristi seeks to unlock her love. These are just a few of the stories of love lost and found in “A Day of Dreaming.” We meet young people with powerful dreams which they write in a Dream Journal that is nestled in a covered bridge (which exists today in Winterset, Iowa). There is always the hope that if they write down their dreams, they will come to fruition. The stories run the gamut from forging new connectio...
64 pages
3 w, 30 flexible, doubling possible
This show is a celebration of the works of Lewis Carroll. All the classic characters that audiences expect are featured including the Red and White Queens, Humpty Dumpty, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and the talking Flowers. Additionally, the Borogoves give an added layer of poetry by Lewis Carroll from his other works.
When Alice becomes trapped in a game of chess, five rabbits swoop in to save her. Between solving riddles and fending off the evildoers of Wonderland, it is up to our rabbit team to keep little Alice saf...
62 pages
2 m, 6 w, 6 flex, plus ensemble, doubling possible
When a devastating earthquake strikes Haiti, age-old fears and superstitions rise to the surface in civilized Port-au-Prince. For Alanis Ducette, the daughter of an aid worker, it brings nightmares of her dead sister and a conviction that zombies are intruding on everyday life. To exorcize her nightmares, she enters the threatening world of Haitian vodou and black magic—and uncovers a mystery no one in her family had dared reveal. About an hour.
54 pages
Flexible cast of 20 or more
In Jujuba, it really is a jungle out there! The veerry English Prof. Schmoo is on safari to find an ape named Dr. Teecha. Teecha is studying a purple wild man of the jungle, Zartan, the Grape Man. The discovery of the yodeling Zartan could provide the missing link between man and ape! But it's not easy finding a missing link in a jungle filled with cannibalistic natives or a bunch of loony pirates hunting for treasure. The safari party itself is pretty weird, including Schmoo's whiny daughter; Jungle Guide Clyde, who keeps getting lost; the reporter who is al...
60 pages
8 m, 12 w. (With doubling: 5 m, 9 w)
The blank page. It strikes fear into the hearts of writers everywhere, but not student Jan Clark. She thinks writing a novel is the way to an easy A in English class. After battling constant interruptions of well-meaning friends and family, Jan discovers this assignment may be more than she bargained for. All is not lost. Jan is visited by a demanding Muse, who summons a group of struggling actors to play outrageous literary genre characters. As Jan works to finish her story, the actors complain about the size of their parts, the inane dialogue written for th...
58 pages
Large flexible casting
From the first anxious day of high school to the hopefulness of graduation, these scenes recount the good times and bad - the awkwardness and joys of dating, going to the prom and just hangin' out, to the pain of breaking up or having a friend die. We get some glimpses of life from those who are experiencing newfound freedom with wide-eyed wonder. There is a joke that teenagers should "leave home now while you still know everything." But we see these teens also realize that they are nowhere near being complete and have quite a daunting but wonderful road ahea...
77 pages
Flexible cast, approx. 4 m,12 w, extras
When a cyclone hits Emerald City High School, things really get crazy! Dorothy, who refers to the other students as Munchkins, demands that a girl named Toto, whom she insists is her own dog, lead her to the Wizard of Oz who will help her return to Kansas. Following the yellow broken tile floor, Dorothy, Toto and other weird students experience several exciting adventures. But to resolve the drama, Toto provides Dorothy with a bus ticket home and helps solve the other school problems. These students not only read "The Wizard of Oz" for class, they lived it!
51 pages
2 m, 6 w, 5 flexible, extras, doubling possible
Hazel is a teenage witch who’s somewhat different from every other witch in Frogshire Forest. She can brew a mean cup of coffee but can't brew a potion to save her life! And she’s an accident waiting to happen when she tries to fly on her broom. While Hazel dreams of becoming a barista, her mother, the head witch of the forest, wants only for Hazel to focus on her witch studies and preparations for the upcoming annual festival, the most important event in the forest. She would forbid Hazel from trying to fly into a coffee shop in the city—if she knew about i...
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...
43 pages
13 females (also two offstage voices, 1 m, 1 f)
This play gives a voice to young women's hopes and dreams, fears and failures, fantasies and hard-knocks. The girls arrive at a theatre to audition for a promising new play. Each girl has come with her own ambitions, even secrets. But upon arrival, the girls learn that the director will be late. The stage manager takes them through a series of improvisations. But the girls, confused and anxious, are soon left to "wait." Each one must decide how she will respond to the situation and to each another. As the play progresses barriers are broken down, friendships ...
72 pages
Flexible cast of 12
Here is a hysterical, non-partisan look at our fearless (and not so fearless) U.S. Presidents, their achievements, their failures, and their idiosyncrasies. This play offers a flexible, kazoo-playing cast the opportunity to portray history as never before! From newscasts, game shows, reality TV, talk shows, beach movies, the Grand Ol' Opry, and Shakespeare soliloquies, a cast of 12 actors presents all of the United States Presidents in twenty brief scenes. Former Presidents interview for jobs, advertise used cars, head to Fort Lauderdale for spring break, and...
42 pages
Flexible cast of 45 (minimum 12)
Miss Crandall and her junior high students are returning home late one night from a field trip when their bus breaks down and they are forced to seek shelter in an old abandoned house that legend has is haunted. While Miss Crandall goes for help, the kids keep up their spirits by telling spooky stories -- stories about a teacher who is really a vampire, a rude girl who is turned into a doll, a mummy that is sent as a gift and two others. The stories raise lots of goosebumps and lots of laughs. With easy staging, simple props and performance time of only an ho...
53 pages
Gender-flexible roles; approx. 3 m, 15 w, doubling possible
Prudence E. Witch is sick and tired of being burned in the oven while Hansel and Gretel run free. She decides to re-write some of the best loved children’s tales into a more modern narrative. Come join Chicken Little, the Three Pigs, Jack and Jill, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Prudence as they discover a new reality. Chicken Little finds that with a little therapy she can believe in herself. Foxy Loxy turns a new leaf…as a therapist. Two of the three little pigs practically insist on being eaten, and Cinderella rethinks the...
60 pages
2 m, 14 w
Camp Theatrix is an all-girls drama camp, providing those "wannabe" actresses, who spend most of their time waiting in the wings, real stage time and real roles. This summer's going fine until the world's leading action movie producer, Soren Antonsson, unexpectedly shows up wanting to make a big action movie at the camp. And he's gonna cast all of Camp Theatrix's students in the movie! Suddenly the "wannabes" are turning into "gonnabes" - until the girls start uncovering the real reason he's arrived. (Camp Theatrix T-shirts available for simple costuming on s...
43 pages
9 - 22. (7 m, 9 w, 6 flexible. Minimum of 9 actors with doubling)
Welcome to present-day Sleepy Hollow. This famed little town now has traffic lights, modern plumbing, even a Dunkin’ Donuts – but traces from its past remain. A troupe of actors takes us on a tour of Sleepy Hollow, but the participants begin to suspect that there is perhaps more truth to the legend than they realized. This inventive adaptation delivers a faithful retelling of the classic short story within a contemporary framework. The past clashes with the present, as the young square off with the dead, and the Headless Horseman is thrust into a 21st century...
62 pages
12 actors (5 m, 7 w) and can expand up to 42 (16 m, 25 w, 1 flex)
Hayden Ferovick, a successful female physicist at the height of her career, is tragically reaching the end of her life. The dying woman recounts key moments where her gender had a profound effect on her journey as a scientist and mathematician. Hayden’s story begins to interweave with two women who shared her same struggle over three hundred years ago. Emilie du Châtelet, a colorful, upper crust French scientist, befriended playwright/poet Voltaire and created the definitive translation of Newton’s Principia – but is later wiped from most history books. Mary ...
64 pages
Widely flexible cast (16-40 actors)
Here is a collection of stories to make your blood turn cold. "Urban Legends" starts with a whirlwind tour that covers many of the famous and infamous urban legends we’ve grown up hearing and fearing. It then delves deeper, dramatizing full stories in chilling detail. In “The Survivor” we meet the sole survivor of a plane crash who has lost his only love, but while the other bodies have been retrieved, hers will never be found. “On Second Hand” features a young man who has a close call with death and suddenly his life is literally flashing before his eyes. “W...
54 pages
6 m, 16 w (doubling possible)
Blanche Dunwitty's passionate romance novels are hot sellers. Little does anyone know (although his neighbor suspects) that the author is really one Ed Bartlett, a likable, thoroughly masculine man who chomps on his pipe when working. His identity is kept top secret because if the female fans knew, they would become violent! The only problem is the upcoming romance writers' convention. Young, attractive editor Elaine Hall is to give a speech as "Blanche" but a last-minute emergency forces a reluctant Ed to go. Dressed in women's clothes but still chomping his...
59 pages
7 m, 8 w, extras
El Fuego, a hot sauce empireowned by the Cienfuegos family for generations, has recently been falling victim to the newer, sleeker Hielo Azul, a corporate giant that wants to crush El Fuego for personal reasons. The Cienfuego family includes Violeta, the matriarch with dark family secrets; Hector, the wandering vagabond who left the family and the business many years ago but has suddenly returned; Julio, the playboy son and heir to the empire; and Margarita, his brilliant and bookish twin sister. They, along with Julio’s supermodel girlfriend and Margarita...
68 pages
14 m, 3 w, and courtiers, attendants and servants.
One of Shakespeare's greatest "Breeches Parts" plays. Viola finds herself shipwrecked on a strange coast where she must disguise herself as a young man to get along in society. An intricate plot that retains its intricacy but not its confusion. This tale of love and courtship, mistaken identity, pride, and practical jokes is edited to 90 minutes. The actions flows quickly and the archaic terms are eliminated. This is a fine version for actors from junior high school through college to perform.
71 pages
7 m, 9 w, doubling possible
Based on the stories by Mark Twain. This collection provides an evening's entertainment, but individual selections can easily be performed independently. "The 1,000,000 Bank Note" (two acts for 5m/5w, 60 minutes) features two wealthy British siblings who bet whether a destitute man can survive a month in London if they give him a £1,000,000 bank note, which he can neither account for being in his possession, nor turn into cash. Two one-act plays, "The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut" (1m/2w, 20 minutes) and "An Encounter With an I...
47 pages
4 m, 9 w
Competition, stress, excitement and jealously are but a few of the emotions these characters share as they all undergo the pressure of "trying out." Susan is bringing home a serious boyfriend for the first time, and her teenage daughter feels like she's trying out a new dad. Megan figures the lead in the school play is hers as a senior drama student until Tasha, a hotshot sophomore, shows up for tryouts. Brandon really wants a job at the burger joint where his best friend works, but is he ready for the rigors of a job interview? His friend Erik doesn't think ...
58 pages
9 – 46 performers possible
We all know the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle," but when you stop to think about it...how can a cow jump over the moon? If a cat could play the fiddle, wouldn't it be all over the internet? Why is a dish running away with a spoon? What’s the little dog actually laughing at? And how do they all connect with each other? This family comedy offers seven different outlandish tales speculating about what might be “The True Story of Hey Diddle Diddle.” It has a completely gender-flexible cast of 9-46 actors and runs about 55 minutes in length. Its target audience...
68 pages
7 m, 5 w, and 7 flexible
Deep in the heart of West Virginia, there’s a little hillbilly town called Gizzard, and in that town you’ll find Leroy’s Clip n’ Dip… the world’s first beauty parlor/auto garage. Now, folks in Gizzard aren’t exactly beating the Clip n’ Dip’s door down, so to pass the time, Otis Hooper and his mechanic buddies Crisco, Clyde and Floyd, have started a band called Truck Stop Chili. Clementine (Otis’s sweetheart.) and her beauty parlor pals, Mazola, Darlene and Helga the masseuse, all grit their teeth, cover their ears and tolerate the racket, until the day Hollyw...
44 pages
7 m, 11 w. Much doubling possible.
The terrible waste of war never seemed more contemporary than in these quintessential tragedies by Euripides set before and after the siege of Troy. Far from being “historical dramas,” they speak to any generation embroiled in conflict. We see up close and firsthand that war is the most pitiful—and most poetic—of human activities. In the first play, "Iphigenia at Aulis," the Grecian army waits to embark on the conquest of Troy. The army’s commander, Agamemnon, has been forced to offer his young daughter, Iphigenia, as a martyr to ensure victory. Valiant effor...
87 pages
6 m, 8 w, 4 flexible
Julie, an event planner, has been tasked with organizing a soccer conference at her uncle's run-down hotel. However, no one has registered, so Julie faces being fired. Dan, who has a crush on Julie, asks his sister Effy to pretend to be a world-famous soccer player at the conference to help sell registrations and save Julie's job. Effy is a wannabe actress who looks just like the person she is asked to portray, but she knows less than nothing about soccer. As Dan tries to keep Effy's identity secret, interference from an uptight bellhop, a bitter rich lady, t...