Full Length (11-20 Actors)

63 pages

9 m, 9 w, extras, doubling possible

Here are three updated tales of horror. "The Monkey's Paw," by W. W. Jacobs, tells the story of a family destroyed by a grisly talisman that promises to grant three wishes. When a college-aged daughter is crushed while chiseling a huge marble tombstone, her parents wish her alive - at first. "The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe, is set in a contemporary prison where clinical experts delve deep into a killer's scarred psyche, only to discover that the motiveless murder is anything but. "Midnight Wax," by L. Don Swartz, is the story of an ambitious reporte...

65 pages

8 m, 9 w, doubling possible

"All we want is a simple wedding," agree Mark and Colleen as they get engaged. And their simple wedding stays simple, for about two minutes. Then the families get involved. There's the McMasters, who think the Frobishers are a bunch of snooty dudes, and the Frobishers, who picture the McMasters as a crowd of hillbillies. The bride's father keeps offering the soon-to-be-wed couple thousands of dollars to elope, "No questions asked!" The bride's mother decides to call in her sister, who is a sweet, lovely woman, until she becomes "The Coordinator, " a drill ser...

60 pages

15 to 40 actors

Four students stare out at the audience. Tomorrow they start their freshman year of high school. There are so many things to worry about: class schedules, bullies, cafeteria food, dating, parents’ expectations, what to wear, and worst of all … gym class! These students need a survival guide and that’s exactly what this play attempts to do with hilariously embarrassing and awkward results. Watch as our guides take us through the gauntlet that is high school. Find out the appropriate way to boogie down at high school dances, discover creative ways to get out of...

46 pages

4 m, 8 w, 2 flexible, extras

Stan is a social pariah. He is beaten up at the school bus stop, never chosen for any team, and ignored every day at lunch. Then Chloe enrolls at the school. Being called names? No problem. She has flippant retorts and happily collects the offensive epithets in a notebook. Someone in her face? Her dad taught her how to physically twist a bully’s arm. Amid her tough, cool exterior, however, she also has compassion. Stan and Chloe become allies and gradually fall in love, and as is often the case with first loves, they feel as if everything good in their world ...

56 pages

5 m, 9 w, 3 flexible, plus extras

To prom or not to prom? That is the question! The student body leaders at Lowzund High bicker and argue about various prom themes. They finally decide to combine all of their ideas into one to create a medieval-futuristic-under-the-sea dance. But when self-proclaimed drama-geek, Dante Allegro, is rejected by the arrogant, text-messaging-obsessed cheerleader, he uses his persuasive abilities to cancel the whole event. Now, the noble-hearted student body president, Beatrix Holiday, must come up with a scheme to rescue what she believes is the defining moment in...

60 pages

7 m, 10 w

Baby-sitting the three Taylor kids isn't a job, it's a matter of survival of the fittest. They delight in terrorizing their newest sitter, explaining their secluded home is haunted by a ghost, and that an "ax murderer" has just escaped from jail and is heading their way. Adding confusion is a dizzy aunt, who pays a surprise visit; the dad's boss, whom the kids knock out thinking he is the escaped convict; the boss' domineering mother; and the sitter's offbeat boyfriend, who wants to "rescue" her. The kids lay a trap for the convict and bring about a hilarious...

74 pages

7 m, 10 w, 1 flexible, extras

Mrs. Brown has moved to Hoke's Bluff to study rural school life. She's used to schools equipped with state-of-the-art computer labs and up-to-date technology. At Hoke's Bluff, however, high tech is an intercom system consisting of an aluminum can with a piece of string attached. On the first day of school, the sheriff shows up looking for leads to cow-tipping pranks. Her study of "these people" may be more than she bargained for. But as relationships are built, Mrs. Brown not only teaches her students a few lessons, but she learns a few of her own. And when C...

64 pages

6 m, 12 w

Life isn't easy for a fashion designer who can't needle her way into a designing job. Alexandra Daniels, better known as Lexie, is stuck stitching at the famous House of Van Gore, where her friend, Mona, works in the stockroom yearning for her big break on Broadway. Although the fashion shows they work on are colorful, their lives are dull - until the late Mr. Van Gore makes a "spirit's visit" asking the two to help solve his murder. They only half-heartedly agree until Miss Rushton, the house's secretary, turns up dead in the workroom. Now, Lexie and Mona, w...

65 pages

5 m, 5 w, 7 flexible

Ernestine Webb is overwhelmed by the day-to-day pressures of managing the $77 million Webb fortune. When her slightly senile friend, Miss Pomfrey, visits bemoaning the loss of her beloved gerbil, and the heirs think it's Mother Webb who has died, Ernestine realizes that death is one way to get out from under all the hassles. She cooks up an elaborate plot to fake her demise. To see how much they've inherited, her greedy children fall all over each other in an attempt to find their mother's will and when they can't find it, they simply make up their own. Wild ...

69 pages

with doubling, 7 m, 7 w

Leo Mintz, a one-time big shot Broadway agent, now represents bird acts, roller-skating kids who recite poetry and flea circuses. However, Leo's problems are just starting when a known gangster Louie DeMarco "persuades" Leo to represent his protege with no discernible talent, the lovely Christine. As if this weren't bad enough, Leo promptly falls in love with her. "They should just type up a label which reads 'East River' and slap it on our foreheads!" scowls Liz, the secretary and bouncer for Leo's agency. Then, to throw everyone off the track, Leo stages a ...

51 pages

2 m, 2 w, 10 either (expandable to 20)

Magic, mayhem, and madness unfold in this classic story of love, revenge, and forgiveness. Based on The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Bitterroot is a modern adaptation set in the American West. Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been stranded in the Montana wilderness for twelve years. When fate brings Prospero’s evil brother to Montana, Prospero must decide whether to exact his revenge or forgive his enemies. But can Prospero accept that his daughter wants to marry the son of an enemy? And can he forgive himself for th...

67 pages

Widely flexible cast (5 -14 m, 9 - 31 w)

Horror movies can be lots of fun! Join producer C.C. Bellows as he meets five directors whose movie pitches come alive onstage. Of course, C.C. knows that audiences only really like what they’ve seen before, so each of the directors has tweaked a famous horror film. “The Calamityville Horror” tells the story of a family who move into a house that’s haunted by circus animals. In “Saturday the 14th,” a group of college kids hope to find the famous ghost, Jacob Voorbees, a hockey player who fell through thin ice. In “The Extortionist,” a young girl is possessed ...

65 pages

Widely flexible cast from 12 to 50

Here's an energetic, engaging look at how theatre developed, from the first actor to speak aloud to the idea of using scenery. The play then segues into a variety of scenes from the great plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. The easy-to-present scenes show how ancient Greek plays, both tragic and comedic, became classics because they were insightful and entertaining. Features a special music and sound effects CD (#8128T) to immerse your audience into the theatre of 2,000 years ago, available when you order your cast set. "The script is w...

61 pages

4 m, 4 w, 5-19 flexible, extras

Shakespeare's agent options his script "Macbeth" to a Hollywood producer who wants a "few" changes to make the play more contemporary. The trouble is the producer isn't sure what changes exactly should be made. Soon Shakespeare is casting the poor witches alternately as country singers, rappers, and punk rockers, while Macbeth and Lady Macbeth perform their lines as gangsters, farmers and Goths. A member of the audience is even pulled onstage at one point to help Macbeth rehearse a murder scene. If that's not bad enough, the final showdown between Macbeth and...

51 pages

4 m, 8 w, 2 flexible

When Chris, a popular, straight-A student, suffers the loss of his younger sister in a hit-and-run accident, he is left to struggle through the remainder of his high school career. But Jake Simmons, the star quarterback and class bully, won’t leave him alone and begins to torment Chris about his personal tragedy while taking bullying to a whole new level. Haunted by his sister and reeling in his pain, Chris decides to take matters into his own hands. In Our Own Backyard tells a story of profound loss, personal tragedy, teen angst and violence amongst a group ...

58 pages

5 m, 7 w, 2 flex

This modern retelling of the Austen classic places the entire story in an upper-class restaurant. The Bennett sisters are now four waitresses whose world is turned upside down by the arrival of the restaurant owner, a very rich but unlikeable man who seems to bring doom with him. As Piper fights for those she believes in, she comes to realize that she may have been prejudiced against the wrong characters and too proud to admit that she has misjudged nearly everyone. The modern setting allows for easy costuming and props, and focuses on the major relationship ...

51 pages

7 m, 8 w, 2 flexible

Because of a miscommunication with the principal, high school drama teacher Mr. Morris finds himself with only ONE DAY to cast, stage and perform the school play. In desperation, he turns to two of his best students, Paul and Laura, to take charge and co-direct the show, unaware that the two are in the middle of a nasty break-up and are no longer speaking. Things go from bad to much, much worse when Paul and Laura, practicing with their friends independently, don't realize they are rehearsing for DIFFERENT SHOWS, "Little Orphan Annie" and "Annie Get Your Gun....

74 pages

8 m, 8 w, 2 flexible

All the fun and nostalgia of the '50s make this play a winner! Judy Harding's life as a 16-year-old isn't too sweet right now. Her dad can't find the money to fix up the family's soda shop; her older brother is flunking out of school; and her younger brother has retreated into a fantasy world of comic book superheroes since their mom died. To add to the dilemma, Judy has a major crush on a new student who's a mysterious loner. Enter Angela, a bumbling angel-in-training who must earn her halo by helping the Hardings. But when the shop is hit first by a fire an...

62 pages

4 m, 6 w, 4 flex

“How’d you like to be on television?” This question, posed by future daughter-in-law Anne, takes Loff DuVall by surprise. After all, he and May June had been running the Hampton Court trailer park for more years than either would care to admit. The last thing he’d want now is to be in some reality TV show. In fact, he was hoping he and May June could get away for a while, take a long vacation from the place. He wouldn’t have to listen to Goose Halford’s long stories, such as how his grandpa has a metal plate in his head. “The kids used to catch him asleep and...

76 pages

5 m, 4 w, 5 flexible

Kathy, the stage manager, has the play’s first line: “I hate opening nights!” From that point on we see everything that could go wrong in the course of a performance happen to a group of dedicated high school actors and techies. Mistakes, miscues, dropped lines, forgotten entrances, missing props, and a tricky light board you name it, it happens in this frenetic play. As we watch chaos reign in the tech booth and with the actors backstage, we also see what calamities occur onstage in the “play within the play.” It all makes for non-stop hilarity as the proces...

45 pages

6 m, 4 w, 8 flexible parts, and a flexible jury (doubling possible)

Mrs. Dafney Dill has been accused of murder and is about to go to trial in a small-town courtroom, complete with a snoozing judge, a good-ol' sheriff, and a jury of confused country folks. As the prosecution presents its case, it doesn't look good for Dafney. Witnesses and evidence mount, and worst of all, the judge is in a hurry to get home to some glazed rhubarb his missus has fixed. It's up to the naive and ill-prepared B.V. DeBriefs, Dafney's court-appointed public defender, to save her. Through the twists and turns of the legal system, justice is finally...

50 pages

4 m, 6 w, 8 flexible parts

It's a dark day in the city. Big Al Gaydor and his gang are running wild! The police have their hands full trying to deal with the latest crime spree while the public is outraged and demanding quick action. In fact, the overworked police chief, Otis L. Vader, may even lose his job if the thugs are not put behind bars. All looks bleak until a young mystery man in black, with a curious white stripe, comes on the scene. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it is STINKYMAN! Unknown to the rest of the city or even his parents, Stinkyman is none other than the chief's ...

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...

76 pages

6 m, 7 w, 5 flexible

Daisy, a somewhat clumsy college student, has been hired by Rose Thornbush to sweep and clean her flower shop, Rose’s Roses. Daisy, however, only took the menial job to get closer to her real goal of floral designer. It’s frustrating because the designs Mrs. Thornbush creates are terrible, as proven by the lack of business in the shop. Daisy, along with three young customers, can design much prettier arrangements. Mr. Hoodwink and Miss Deed appear and devise a competition between Rose’s Roses and the rival Monsieur Prince’s Shop of Floral Designs. The winner ...

60 pages

5 m, 9 w, extras

Victor Goole is the new kid in school, but he’s already managed to rub his new classmates the wrong way. Jack and his friends are furious that Victor has unseated Jack by winning the Mathelon. Hoping to humiliate and intimidate Victor, they dub him “Frankenteen”—half human and half mad scientist. (It doesn’t help that Victor’s new house has been vacant for 15 years and is widely believed to be haunted.) To make matters worse, Victor is forced to work with Jack on an important science contest. Of course, Victor’s mom Zinnia is thrilled. She is a scientist who ...

77 pages

8 m, 6 w, 1 flexible, optional extra women

Not entirely happy with the way "Romeo & Juliet" ended, Prince Escalus decides that everything would’ve been better had the two famous lovers lived and the ending of Shakespeare’s classic is rewritten. With Romeo and Juliet alive and their fathers agreeing to end their vicious feud, it appears that we finally have a happy ending. Preparations are made for the couple to renew their vows in front of both families to cement the new peace. Will they live happily ever after, or will the fickleness of being a teenager – coupled with Romeo’s knack for getting th...

64 pages

7 m, 10 w

Rhoda Raines desperately needs money to pay the rent on her beauty parlor, so she decides to check out a computer dating service in hopes of finding a rich man to marry her spoiled daughter Olive. She logs on to www.nuptialknots.com., and no sooner than Rhoda can say, "Wash, rinse, and set," prospective grooms are dropping in all over the place. There's a "British aristocrat"; a Hollywood producer; a guy who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt; an old codger; and even an undercover cop. Mix in Ronnie Harper, the owner of the local Kwiki Mart (who really loves Olive),...

51 pages

8 m, 6 w, 2 flexible, extras

The year is 1960 and the fear of nuclear war is foremost in the minds of Americans. This is the year that the O'Brien family leaves New York City for a better life in the suburbs. Children Angie and Ted are worried about fitting in at their new school. Amy, the youngest child, worries about the world situation. Unfortunately, the O'Briens move across the street from the Meyersons, who prove to be the worst neighbors in the world. Amy imagines that Khrushchev, who seems to be the cause of so much tension and fear, would probably be a nicer person if she could ...

72 pages

7 m, 11 w, doubling possible

Hawthorne's masterpiece comes vividly alive in this adaptation which begins at the gallows as Colonel Pyncheon greedily steals the land of Matthew Maule to build a magnificent house. But with his dying words, "God will give you blood to drink," Maule curses the Pyncheon family for generations. A hundred and fifty years later, Hepzibah Pyncheon, an aging old maid, is forced to open a cent shop in the now decrepit house to keep herself and her child-like brother from starving. It seems all hope is lost for the family. But that's precisely when pretty, 17-year-o...

65 pages

5 m, 9 w

Joanna Garner, a caterer, has good reason for being over-protective of her 16-year-old daughter Holly - reasons she has told no one. As guests begin to arrive at an exclusive party which Joanna is catering with Holly's help, there's a phone call. A hideous, disguised voice tells Joanna she must do exactly as she's told or Holly will die. Joanna desperately tries to get Holly out of the mansion, but another call from the voice reveals her every move and gives her further instructions about adding cyanide into the food she is preparing. Which one of the wealthy...