Katie B. Oberlander
Director, teacher, playwright, and performer Katie Bufithis Oberlander has a bachelor's degree in voice performance from Eastman School of Music and a master’s degree in arts administration from American University. Katie has authored and directed numerous plays and musicals for professional theatres, including Imagination Stage in Bethesda, Maryland, Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, ME. An experienced drama and music teacher, Katie has worked at Norwood School in Bethesda, MD, The Peabody Essex Museum, North Shore YMCA Theatre Company and Marblehead Community Charter Public School. She is currently Director of Performing Arts at Harborlight-Stoneridge Montessori School. Katie lives in Beverly, Massachusetts with her husband Eric and their two sons, Thomas and James.
High School Heist New Release
by Katie B. Oberlander
67 pages
Large flexible cast of 26-37, extras and doubling (3 m, 1 w, 22-33 flexible)
Bayport High is on the cusp of victory in a cookie-selling contest until their prized “Golden Bar” treats vanish, snatched by rival school Fairview Academy, and stashed in a campus safe. With time ticking, Bayport’s gutsy hall monitor-in-training rallies a crew of students for a daring heist to reclaim their Golden Bars before the delivery deadline strikes. Amidst the chaos, cheerleaders from both schools stage a dance battle, an over-zealous fire marshal patrols the halls, a tyrannical football coach becomes a suspect in the crime, and the owner of the resta...
Dragon's Lair
Comedy by Katie B. Oberlander
48 pages
8 m, 10 w, 19+ flexible, doubling possible
Step onto the set of “Dragon's Lair,” a reality television show where fairytale entrepreneurs pitch their new ideas and products to the richest and most powerful business investors in all the land. The Dragons, named for their ruthless business practices, include Rumpelstiltskin, a gold-obsessed goblin who spun his way to riches; Evil Queen, inventor of Magic Mirror and dungeon torture devices; Fairy Godmother, a lifestyle guru and magical matchmaker; and notorious outlaw philanthropist Robin Hood. If the Dragons hear a great idea, they’re ready to invest, us...
Kitchen Catastrophes!
Comedy by Katie B. Oberlander
39 pages
5 m, 5 w, 5 flex, plus extras
Mayhem is on the menu when celebrity Chef Guy Stagsly and his outrageous reality show Kitchen Catastrophes! visit French restaurant Chez Jacques. While Guy and his crew bring in cockroaches and rats, conduct building renovations, and stage a rigged cooking competition, the employees strive to carry on. There’s Julie, the level-headed restaurant manager; Jacques, the temperamental chef; and Mickey, the loyal and ambitious dishwasher. Not to be forgotten, there’s also Olive, a shy trainee who needs a lot of supervision. They’re not only struggling to i...
Mastermime (Or Don’t Mime if I Do)
Comedy by Katie B. Oberlander
24 pages
3 m, 3 w, 6 flexible
Tomorrow is opening night at The Grand Old Theatre and Mastermime, a notorious criminal who distracts audiences with entrancing mime routines and then disappears with their valuables, has defaced the theatre marquee and is terrorizing the stagehands. Will hard-boiled detective Stanton Ovation and his earnest sidekick Deputy Hammet Upp capture this mute but expressive villain before he steals self-absorbed celebrity actress Ima Starr’s diamonds? Or is there more to this case than it seems? Ima’s talkative assistant Roberta, who was a forensic scientist before ...
Applause for Plautus
Comedy by Katie B. Oberlander
42 pages
Flexible cast 20 - 60
Here are three comic plays based on the work of the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. The first play is "The Pot of Gold," in which Euclio, a miser, goes to great lengths to hide a secret fortune from his family and neighbors. In "The Brothers Menaechmus," identical twins who were separated at birth cause confusion when one of them coincidentally arrives in their hometown on the day of his brother's wedding. The collection concludes with "The Haunted House" as a clever servant concocts a tale of the supernatural to aid his master in marrying a slave who...