Full Length (21 & more Actors)

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...

64 pages

10 m, 3 w, 11 flexible, extras

This adaptation of William Shakespeare's zesty classic comedy remains true to the original, but with its tighter construction is more easily accessible to junior and senior high school actors. Set in Padua, Italy, in the late 1500s, the story concerns the shy Bianca and the mean-spirited Katharina, the two daughters of a rich merchant named Baptista. Though Bianca is being courted by a number of young men, Baptista announces that she may not marry until Katharina is wed. None of the men in town are willing to marry Katharina, so Bianca remains unwed, even as ...

70 pages

7 m, 15 w, 6 or more flexible, doubling possible

Nurse Betty has been bumped off because somebody at County General doesn't want the world to read her novel "ER Confidential." But whose secret has she uncovered? Surely not the two candy stripers who earn extra money by smuggling in fast food to the patients. Maybe it's bossy Nurse Rackett, who longs for the good old days. Or could it be Dr. Nan Jeffries, hoping to escape her mother's clutches and marry Orderly Dan...the guy who once had a fling with Nurse Betty. What about Will Bates, the multigazillionaire computer genius who's supposed to be recovering up...

58 pages

9 m, 8 w, 5 flexible, extras

Adapted from the play by William Shakespeare. A ship at sea is suddenly swept up in a fierce tempest. The King of Naples, the Duke of Milan, and others become shipwrecked upon a mysterious island. Unbeknownst to them, the island is ruled by Prospero and Prospera, the rightful Duke and Duchess of Milan. With their magical powers they have cast the royals upon the island with an ultimate plan. But will Prospero and Prospera's scheme be cut short by their own prisoner/slave, Caliban, who along with the drunken butler, Stephano, have hatched a scheme of their own...

56 pages

12 m, 15 w

Sammy Sunnyside, world-renown comedian, wants to retire and give his famous joke chest to the most deserving of his relatives. The chest is almost priceless since it contains all of Sammy's comic material since his career began. Sammy and his shy but trusted attorney, Dagwood, dress themselves as kindly old ladies and show up at Sammy's birthday party attended by lots of other relatives and uninvited guests. In disguise they hope to find out who really wants to carry on his comical tradition or who just wants his gold mine to sell off. But everything gets scr...

54 pages

27 characters, extras, much doubling possible.

The bored Sultan thinks Sahara Scheherazade is auditioning for the new position of Royal Entertainer, but what she's really trying to do is get her friend Aladdin out of the dungeon. A quick thinker, she creates captivating stories to gain time. "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" becomes "Ali Baba and the Forty-Niners," with a disgruntled football team as some of the characters; "The Adventures of Sinbad" becomes a Star Trek-inspired spoof with Captain Kork and Mr. Spork; and lastly, the "Emperor's New Clothes" deals with the "King" himself, Elvis, and his advi...

50 pages

5-9 m, 7-8 w, 9-12 flex, extras and doubling possible

There’s something in the water at George Washington School. Literally. A truck carrying sodium pentothal – a chemical also known as “truth serum” – has crashed into the local lake and spilled its cargo into the drinking water, and now everyone in school can’t help telling the truth. Teachers are fighting, parents are pouting, kids are confessing their crimes, and the school’s beloved Principal Van Vleck has gone missing. Paulie, Tibby, Seth and Analise are getting ready to compete in the school’s Olympic Mind Games as Team Electricity. The competition is in j...

60 pages

12 to 30 (4 m, 8 w with doubling) (7 m, 13 w, 10+ flexible)

In 1890s London, a recent night of fatal violence has terrorized the city. Scotland Yard fears that the infamous Jack the Ripper has finally returned home. Inspector William Wright has staked his career on bringing the killer to justice and believes he finally has his man. Wright will stop at nothing to make sure that George Bessel goes to the gallows for the crime. However, Bessel’s partner and friend, Theresa Vincey, protests his innocence. The leading witness to the crime, Vincey holds the key to Bessel’s fate. As the investigation unfolds with interviews,...

75 pages

6-12 m; 9 w; 6 or more women as extras

By itself, the sweetness and wholesomeness of "Little Women," the story of a tomboy and her three sisters coming of age during the Civil War, might be a little too saccharine for a cynical modern audience. But this warm, intelligent play is grounded by scenes from Alcott's real life, as a daughter of an abolitionist father, as a published author in a male-dominated business world, as a volunteer nurse during the war, and as a suffragette. Woven into her novel, we see just how radical these independent girls were for their time.

70 pages

Flexible cast, approx. 8 m, 14 w, extras

Teenager Jane Hastings inherits remote and creepy Wolfbane Abbey. It's a combination school and clinic for students who have trouble "adjusting." No wonder - they're werewolves! The doctor who runs the Abbey decides Jane must be driven out of her mind so he can be trustee. This isn't as easy as it sounds - even though the place is filled with more horrors than a wax museum. With two friends, Jane does her best to sort out the Abbey's problem and "curse." The characters are great fun to play in this fast-paced spoof, including bewildered police, a werewolf hun...

68 pages

13 m, 13 w, and Bear, Time Chorus & Musicians

A beautiful adaptation especially written for secondary school students to perform. Here is the story of good versus evil and the power of time to heal all wounds. Leontes, without warning, suddenly believes his visiting boyhood friend, Polixenes, is in love with Leontes' wife Hermione. Leontes even goes so far as to order his friend poisoned and Hermione thrown in jail where she has a baby girl. It never occurs to Leontes he could be wrong, even though the Oracle of Apollo showed the couple's innocence. Sixteen years later the child, Perdita, who has been ra...

56 pages

Flexible cast of about 30

This delightful adaptation updates the action to 20th century New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration! It has been edited for time and archaic expressions, but otherwise the language is the same. The through-line is still very evident as Shakespeare's comment on the classes and pastoralism. Included in the oversized script are four original songs, New Orleans jazz style, which use Shakespeare's poems as the lyrics, with the suggestion of a grand finale of "When the Saints Go Marching In." The costumes are modern day but still very much in the style of Shakespeare ...

67 pages

15 m, 13 w, 7 flexible, extras, doubling possible

Adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens. A coming-of-age story of a boy in 19th century. A young hero battling a difficult youth, we see David's struggles from his childhood days at the family's estate in Blunderstone, to his early life of poverty and misery, to his final, joyful success. Many of our favorite Dickens' characters are present: David's gentle mother, Clara; the loving housekeeper, Peggoty; his cruel stepfather, Murdstone; his schoolmates Steerforth and Traddles; the amusing, ever-on-the-run Micawbers; the lovely Agnes Wickfield, and the despic...

57 pages

5 m, 11 w, 3 flexible, extras possible

Prince Ernie needs to be married quickly! Dreamwood Castle is broke and a rich princess with impeccable lineage (and money!) must be found immediately. Unfortunately, the evil fairy Liesl has plans to take over the castle. As Queen Marta holds a fundraiser ... er...ball to auction off Prince Ernie, it is found that Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rapunzel and Beauty are not proper princesses at all. The decidedly unsuitable Princess Hank shows up with a plan to make things right. She has a pal who can spin straw into gold. Unfortunately, no one will ...

58 pages

1 m, 7 w, 28 flexible

"The Birds" was originally written by Aristophanes as a satire on man's society. In this loose adaptation, three children embark on a journey that leads them to the Great Bird's Nest in the Sky. There they hope to live away from all the constraints of home and school, but instead of living "free as a bird," they find the birds trying to outdo humans in a far more complicated society. The cast is a mixture of children, meddling gods and goddesses, and a rich array of bird characters. Aristophanes' humor and satire are left intact as the play pokes gentle fun a...

59 pages

Approx. 14 m, 15 w, 4 flexible

The magic of Merlin can't last forever, but with the help of the fairy Nimue, Merlin is soon transported back in time to remember the young boy Arthur, who was scared to become a knight; the young girl Guinevere, who was bored as a royal princess; and the young peasant girl Elyzabel, who dreamed of life in the King's castle. These three meet in the enchanted forest and their fates are suddenly changed by the evil magic of Mordrid and his twin sister Morgana. In this charming tale you soon find out what happens when you get the wish you wish for, and how it ma...

68 pages

6 m, 18 w, doubling possible

Adapted from the book by Eleanor Porter. It's the early 1900s and young, frightened Pollyanna Whittier arrives in Vermont, full of hope that her new life with Aunt Polly will help ease the pain of her parents' deaths. But Polly Harrington has only taken her niece out of a sense of duty and quickly regrets it. The girl immediately begins making friends with the very people Polly Harrington has worked hard to either ignore or run out of town. Pollyanna seems to find joy in everything and gradually brings the town to life. But when Aunt Polly finds her niece hel...

59 pages

Flexible cast of 21 (from 12 m, 9 w to 7 m, 14 w)

Maxwell the Magnificent, the famous magician, has just completed a gruelling world tour. His entire production company has returned to Max's private island estate to collect final paychecks and head for home. It is here, while checking over props, that Max comes to the reluctant realization that his continuous bad luck on tour was by design. Someone has been sabotaging his act! It's hard to guess who it might be because as the faithful butler intones, "To know Max is to loathe him." So Max and a police-inspector friend arrange a special command performance wh...

52 pages

Flexible casting

Adapted from tales by Catherine Wells, Guy de Maupassant, and W.W. Jacobs. Three terrifying tales are set on or around Halloween in a New York brownstone. In "The Actor," (2 m, 3 w, 1 flexible), a young girl, who lives with her eccentric parents in a house rumored to be haunted, asks a famous actor to frighten her by portraying the house ghost at a Halloween party. She gets a lot more than she bargained for when she is truly frightened out of her wits. In "The Hand," (3 m, 3 w, 4 non-speaking), an arrogant hunter has his prized trophy mounted on the wall of h...

73 pages

Widely flexible cast from 28 to 41

The classic and timeless tale of Shakespeare's two star-crossed lovers takes on new life in this clear and concise adaptation. Audiences will understand and love this show with its lack of archaic phases or dated references. Reduced to two acts, this version makes our greatest play more accessible for modern audiences. Actors new to Shakespeare will appreciate the added stage directions as well. This is a Romeo and Juliet for today. Running time is between 90 minutes and 120 minutes, depending on further optional cuts clearly explained in the script.

64 pages

Company of between 18 - 35 actors

Here is a combination of three of Mark Twain's books blended into one story that continues Huck and Tom's great adventures. Huck and Tom are called to Arkansas because something mysterious is happening to Uncle Silas. As only Huck and Tom can, they set about solving the mystery that involves twin brothers, the maniacal Widow Dunlap and her nere-do-well son. This story is as poignant and humorous as Huck Finn, but without any of the racial overtones that in some areas has made Twain a controversial author. About 90 minutes.