67 pages
7 m, 4 w, 4 flex; doubling possible
In this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work, John Unger, a studious and innocent young man, has been invited by his fellow prep school student Percy Washington to summer at his family’s opulent estate hidden in the Montana mountains. John readily accepts. There he meets Percy’s parents, sister Jasmine, and sister Kismine – with whom he quickly falls in love. But as he and Kismine begin to make plans for the future, John discovers the source of the family’s wealth is a secret many have died for. Will he survive the summer? Full evening.
80 pages
17 roles (approx. 8 m, 9 w)
A "melodrama plus," this play cleverly intertwines a classic "losing the homestead" plot with a realistic subplot in which high school drama students are putting on (what else?!) a melodrama. The Colonel and his daughter Belle are trying to keep the family restaurant (and Belle's heart) from the clutches of the villain I.C. Blizzard, a fast food franchiser. The hero, Beau, suffers from a perpetual crisis of confidence that he deals with by cooking and obsessive psychoanalysis. The student characters trade insults that imperfectly hide a budding romance. Holdi...
57 pages
8 m, 12 w, 1 flex
The Wicked Witch has finally been caught and hauled into the Court of Once Upon a Time to stand trial. She's accused of casting a spell on Sleeping Beauty, attempting to poison Snow White, kidnapping Rapunzel, and trying to eat Hansel. Red Riding Hood heads up the prosecution with the Evil Stepmother of Cinderella fame serving as the defense attorney. The Three Little Pigs act as bailiffs, while Jack the Giant Killer is the guard. The judge? None other than the Fairy Godmother. The Wicked Witch's alleged victims are witnesses for the prosecution, along with t...
71 pages
4 m, 8 w, 4 flexible
At the end of the 1940s an old theatre building is about to be torn down. As the theatre’s acting troupe is packing up the props, costumes and set pieces, an old magician’s trunk is wheeled onstage. Suddenly, members of the company are turning up dead. Margaret, the director’s assistant, is the only witness to these crimes, and no one will believe her! Can she solve the mystery, or at least convince her fellow cast and crew about the sinister happenings, before the entire company is doomed? And when ghosts from the past mysteriously return, will former victim...
76 pages
21 characters. 6 to 8 men, 8 to 10 women,
No modern-day monster can equal the chill factor than that of Dracula and his nosferatu, the undead who must feed on the blood of the living to exist. Their lust, shown only in the darkest hours, haunts even the bravest of us mortal souls. This adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel is done with a sure and steady hand by frightmesiter L. Don Swartz. We encounter Dracula's horror from his centuries-old castle in Europe, to the ship he travels on, and finally to his new feeding grounds near an English asylum. When Dracula causes the death of a young woman named...
56 pages
8 m, 8 w, 4 or more extras as female pirates
While evading her wedding and overbearing fiancé, Lizette de Champlay, a headstrong French woman, leads her ladies to a British merchant ship. Once aboard, the ladies upset the sailors and their disciplined captain, Roger Thornwood, convincing him to hunt for treasure on an island home to a fierce band of female pirates. As Roger and Lizette begin to fall for each other, Lizette’s fiancé and her father follow them to the island, only to be captured by the pirates. What follows are battles of the heart and sword as everyone searches for their treasure.
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...
58 pages
5 m, 14 w, 1 flexible
Enroute to London, young Will Shakespeare has a fanciful encounter in the woods outside of Stratford. In the space of one night, he finds himself chased by a young maiden, haunted by witches, bedazzled by spirits and enchanted by a group of rag-tag actors. Yearning to be an actor in London, he is in turn stopped by all in his path. The young maiden wishes to deter him from a low, base theatrical life. The witches mean to turn him into a playwright so he can write about their escapades and free them from the woods. Turning to the spirit world, the witches summ...
80 pages
11 m (one non-speaking), 9 w
A terrible storm is raging, forcing an odd assortment of characters to seek shelter at Moss Manor, a broken-down old inn run by Mother Moss. As fate would have it, this is the night Mrs. Moss' son, Pete, returns from the service to marry his sweetheart, Terri Cloth. Terri's uncle is violently opposed and comes to the inn to demand the marriage not take place. At the height of the storm, the lights go out and someone is murdered! Who is the victim? And if the victim is supposed to be dead, how come the guests keep finding the body in different places? Who is t...
64 pages
6 m, 14 w
"Leave It to Daddy" is the most popular family sit-com of the '70s. So it's a national tragedy when the actor playing the father is murdered by none other than his TV wife, Norma Dreadful. Even though the law cannot find enough evidence to convict her, the public does, and Norma goes into seclusion in the very house where the show was filmed and the murder took place. Twenty years later, two young journalists finagle their way into the house and get Norma to tell her side of the story. The country has forgotten and forgiven, and Norma is even offered a role i...
71 pages
6 m, 13 w
When the owner of a small local television station decides to jump on the bandwagon and produce his own reality show, sparks fly about the million-dollar prize. Harold Fastbuck sees an opportunity to make millions with the TV show, which casts the haughty Tuttletons of Park Avenue, New York, with the down-home Hatter family of Hog Holler, Kentucky. The families think they only have to live together in the Hatter cabin for a month, but unbeknownst to them, they must also endure a series of challenges. Being the lying cheater that he is, Fastbuck intends to mak...
65 pages
6 m, 14 w
A quintessential 1950s mom, June Seevers, and her committee are working hard to win the "Small Town USA" title and a cash prize for their town of Sunnydale. The judges are due in two days to verify that it is, indeed, an All-American, apple pie-eating, crime-free hamlet. Did we say crime free? Then what about the mysterious customer at the Malt Shop who falls over dead during the committee's final meeting? It looks like he was poisoned, and the victim's sister may be a committee member! But who? With the help of her family, the prissy librarian, and even the ...
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...
73 pages
9 m, 11 w
Several guests go to a remote ski lodge for a mystery weekend during which actors, posing as other guests, simulate a murder which the real guests try to solve. The event is barely under way when the host is murdered, the cable car is sabotaged, and the phone lines are cut, stranding everyone with a killer. Suddenly, a thrilling weekend becomes the height of danger. Among the guests are a famous mystery writer, a former TV detective and his starlet girlfriend, a Texas millionaire and his beauty queen wife, a couple on their honeymoon, and a mysterious bandage...
65 pages
8 m, 7 w, 5 flexible parts
Mrs. Moss and her ever-faithful butler, Rhett, have been struggling to keep Moss Manor open but have finally decided to sell and move on. An unusual assortment of prospective buyers arrive, including ladies from the local preservation society; a toilet paper magnet; and a colorful hillbilly trio who claim they're distant relatives of Mother Moss. As the brokering becomes more competitive, word reaches the inn of an escaped murderer possibly heading this way--none other than Dr. Charles Hoarse, a former guest Mother Moss helped send to jail years ago--though n...