One-Act Plays

52 pages

4 m, 4 w

Waiting in line? Waiting your turn? You don’t have time! Here’s a comedy in six scenes for those who are time-challenged. In the first scene a desperate woman has only 20 minutes to get to the airport to catch her flight and no matter what her beleaguered taxi driver says or does, they remain stuck in a traffic jam. In a different scene, things start to get physical at a restaurant when a couple with dinner reservations (and theatre tickets!) see others entering and being seated before them. In another scene, a jumpy hypochondriac is forced to wait in a docto...

31 pages

Flexible from 5 m, 6 w, to as many as 8 m and 14 w, not including extras.

The title says it all, and every actor and actress who has ever graced the stage knows it all too well. Bobby, Danni, and Christina are three high school students who share the same bad dreams of forgetting their lines, blanking on their monologues for a big audition, looking foolish in a death scene, or being in a really bad play where you don't even know what it is or any of the cast members in it! They stumble through the ridiculous scenarios by any means necessary, improvising and freaking out at the same time. Chaos and calamity reign supreme as they dea...

29 pages

1 m, 1 w, 1-14 flexible

Lacey, a teenage girl, has finished work at the mall and is waiting – and waiting – for her boyfriend to pick her up. Left stranded yet again, she reevaluates her love life while shuffling through the songs on her iPod. Actors portraying each of the songs appear with comedic monologues that stir her emotions, offer advice, and affect her decisions. Ethan, a good-humored co-worker, offers her a ride home and the possibility of future romance. The play may be performed with anywhere from 3 to 16 actors. Actors playing Songs portray the spirit and style of the g...

35 pages

Flexible cast. Approx. 2 m, 7 w, 2 flexible.

Faith and Ivy are best friends for life…and beyond. On the surface, they don’t have much in common. One is respectful, the other sarcastic. One is studious, the other a troublemaker. One is a friendly actress, the other a reclusive poet. And, oh yeah, one is alive, the other, not so much. Ivy has been dead for weeks, and only Faith can still see or hear her. How can a ghost help Faith achieve her goal of landing the lead in the school play? And for that matter, why is Ivy still hanging around, anyway?

24 pages

4 w

Ellie is at a party and wanders off to find the bathroom. The room she walks into, however, is not what she expected at all and she soon realizes that she can’t get out. Worse, she is quickly surrounded by three mysterious figures who seem to hold her life in the balance. One condemns her, one defends her, and the third seems to be a judge of some kind. Ellie must persuade the judge that the “moment’s pause” she took before making one crucial decision justifies a second chance. This compelling and powerful piece offers four varied and meaty roles in a play su...

36 pages

5 m, 7 w, 4 flexible. Some doubling possible.

Forget the school yard bully! There's always one teacher who can intimidate us! Will, an average high school freshman, used to love going to school…until he stumbled upon the terror of gym class under the formidable Mr. Breakwater's rule. Will's coddling mother and nervous wreck of a father (who hides out in the bathtub) are worried. Will's friends, who call themselves the Geek Squad, want to devise a plan to take Mr. Breakwater down. Can Will find a way to stop being afraid of his gym teacher? With a romance novel-obsessed principal, a jock chorus, and an un...

31 pages

4 m, 9 w

When Boss and his gang reconvene after being dismissed from parts better left unsaid, they go over the original map Boss had drawn showing where he had hidden a valuable string of pearls in a vacant house. They find it is now a home for aged ladies - and what ladies! Grannie Carlson loves to scoot in her wheelchair, Mrs. Hildebrand has a caustic tongue, Mrs. Katts has eyesight that leaves something to be desired. How the crooks find the pearls and what they do with them make this one of the funniest plays ever.

29 pages

3 m, 7 w, 4 flexible

Movie audiences can often be as entertaining as the film itself. This imaginative one-act comedy takes place during the waiting period before a movie begins, offering a rare look at the personalities and idiosyncrasies of typical teen audience members. Alice only wants to enjoy the movie alone but someone's always invading her space. Kent doesn't know how much he wants to flirt with his date Maria, and she is shocked at her reactions. Mindy is a social outcast and just ripe for snotty Laura's tricks. Meanwhile, Ben continues to chow down, while two latecomers...

36 pages

8 m, 6 w

A group of outcast high school students in a small Texas town have formed “The Losers’ Club.” On homecoming evening, these 12 students kidnap the star football player, Joe Taylor, and homecoming queen nominee, Tawny Harris, who have ignored, bullied, and ridiculed members of the club for years. Lead by Trenton, a 17-year-old Goth, the club members put the condescending Joe and Tawny on trial for “crimes committed against their fellow students.” Each member of the “jury” details how he or she has been harassed by Joe, Tawny, and their friends, and how their li...

36 pages

3 m, 8 w, 16+ flexible or with doubling 3 m, 6 w, 2 flexible

When Angel was a child, she knew she had wings. She knew she could fly. After telling everyone and enduring mockery, she left her wings on the ground in exchange for fitting in. Now she is in high school, and when she sees her friend Hunter being teased for sharing honest feelings, Angel is torn. Standing up for Hunter now means no longer fitting in, giving up her new possible boyfriend Isaac and alienating the few friends she has. But Angel gains one of the most important insights of all — that she is already loved just for being herself. An Angel Chorus use...

23 pages

1 m, 5 w

When two big-time bunglers like John and Darlene attempt to burglarize an apartment, they get a coat hanger stuck in the door lock and then manage to accidentally ring the doorbell. When they do finally break in, Darlene's nervous bladder forces her to make an emergency bathroom visit. All this ruckus wakes up the bunny-slipper wearing homeowner, Erica, who discovers she is being burgled by her own husband. And if this wasn't weird enough, Darlene claims she is really a "cat burner" instead of a "cat burglar." All this, and the show has just begun! Is John re...

40 pages

5 m, 9 w, 1 flexible

Ten students from across the U.S.A. compete for the title of “America’s Next Top Model Student” in the latest TV reality show. Host Myra Thanks and the show’s judges, M’Lady Andrews, Judge Julie, and Mr. Blaine Rose, put each student to the test in a series of bizarre and hilarious challenges that hardly have anything to do with their scholastic aptitude. One by one, the students are eliminated and “expelled” from the classroom competition. No one goes down without a fight and some are even taken away literally kicking and screaming. The off-the-wall challeng...

42 pages

3 m, 4 w, 10 flexible

Young Mary Blanton has suffered some kind of trauma as evidenced by her monster-filled dreams and the horrific scratches on her neck and back. Who did this to an innocent 9-year-old girl, a child who finds comfort through an imaginary pet peacock? Dr. Janice Todd is called before a review board to defend her investigation of the child abuse case. She recounts her discoveries and interviews with the Blanton family, and scenes of Mary’s recent past are brought painfully to life. Three judges, staged as omniscient, skeptical shadows, and several surreal nightmar...

24 pages

8 flexible

Anyone who has tried to cancel their service with any tech company will sympathize immediately with Meghan. On her way to work one morning she decides to quickly drop off the cancellation form she filled out from the company’s website, but of course it turns out to be much more complicated than that. She is drawn into a process involving an increasingly bizarre set of characters who hamper, confuse, intimidate and even threaten her in their efforts to keep her as a customer. When Meghan’s best friend is brought to the office in tears with instructions to illu...

26 pages

6 female speaking roles, unlimited female ensemble

Set in the realm of Purgatory, the all-female cast of Desdemona, Emilia, Juliet, Lady Macbeth, and Ophelia explore the roles women choose in their pursuit of love and self-identity. Taking its inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, this visceral play allows powerful actors to reach heightened levels of awareness as they grapple with the ideas of an individual’s purpose in their mortal life and the ramifications it carries over into the immortal world. About 40-50 minutes.

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