One-Act Plays

37 pages

11 characters, 4-6 ensemble

It’s 1851 and a young man walks into a Nantucket pub inquiring about how to board a vessel and go to sea on an adventure. What he finds is not the inspiring advice he bargained for. Ishmael, a hardened veteran of the sea, tells a cautionary tale of foreboding and woe about his own first-time voyage on the infamous "Pequod" under the maniacal leadership of Captain Ahab. As the story unfolds, the young man plays the role of Ishmael and is fully immersed in the retelling of Melville’s classic tale. Will the young man listen to the warning or will he choose to ve...

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...

23 pages

Widely flexible cast of 10 or more

OK, teens, listen up. If you want to drive a car, go to college/grad night/prom, get a class ring or new clothes, you're going to have to - find a JOB! All the fun, frustrations and foibles of part-time jobs are explored in these scenes and monologues, from making a hamburger (first the lettuce then the onion!), to figuring our what garbled language is being spoken in the drive-thru, to presenting a phone sales pitch before the person hangs up with a thud! There are also some moments of comic fantasy as teens try to picture their dream job, as surfer and comi...

44 pages

Widely flexible from 11 to 20

Everyone has some burden, but shared pain is always easier to bear. This monologue-based play is sure to strike the hearts of teens, showing them that any frustration, embarrassment, loneliness, and grief they are experiencing is not limited to them alone. Some major issues within the dozen monologues include a girl’s concern about her body image, a boy who feels smothered by his girlfriend, a girl who runs to escape her home life, and a boy who feels guilty after failing to defend someone who needed help. Each actor, while wearing a hooded sweatshirt that sy...

36 pages

5 m, 4 w, 1 flexible

Follow the adventures of two Victorian street urchins—annoyingly enthusiastic and melodramatic—who still await with joy the return of their missing father after many years. As they gratefully and cheerfully accept their circumstances of foraging and freezing, Pip and Mimsy, accompanied by friend Fimm Bimbles, have a chance encounter with an evil and hypnotic puppet named Begeloits, who draws the unwitting children into his nefarious plan to kill the Queen. Coincidence and fate lead Pip and Mimsy to Court where they are reunited with their miserly Uncle Scroog...

31 pages

2 m, 6 w

On a sunny summer afternoon on the lawn of a country estate, Desiree and her guests gather for tea. Though the conversation is witty and sophisticated, one senses that underneath all the frivolity, something is wrong -- but what? What subjects has the new maid been instructed to avoid? What is implied in the guests' covert glances to one another? Why does Desiree's daughter, who is away at boarding school, write for permission to visit a friend over the holidays rather than come home? It's not until the last few minutes of the play that the audience learns th...

20 pages

4 w

A teenage girl has been arrested after a car accident and charged with DUI. Four of her peers who were with her earlier that night arrive at the small-town police station. Julie, restlessly belligerent, is frustrated with Lindsay, who sits silent and brooding. Soon, Erin, who is impulsive, and Jen, a natural follower, join them. The girls wait anxiously, speculating about what the police already know...and what they will find out. A series of admissions and revelations force the girls to re-evaluate themselves and their role in the events, as an already tense...

28 pages

6 m, 4 w

Quirky family-owned restaurant Jimmy’s runs a little…oddly, especially to Zoe who has never worked in customer service. She walks in hoping to be hired, but her first day is nothing like what she expects (or what long-time employee Cameron describes). Between the guy at one table flirting with her, a group of crazy frat boys acting wild in public, an old man who won’t stop telling “back in my day” stories, and the awkward fighting between a married couple in the corner, Zoe has no idea what to do. Should she stand her ground to wait for her well-deserved tip ...

33 pages

6 m, 6 w, 4 flexible, extras

Years before he would ascend to become the legendary king, Arthur is called on by Merlin to defend the kingdom from a cataclysm that threatens to destroy the world.  In a desperate mission that is led by Arthur’s older brother Marcus, eight brave souls set out to combat the ancient evil that has plagued the world for centuries. The brothers and noblemen experienced in warfare, along with Guinevere and Lady Gaian, are tested as they encounter Gatekeepers, Seductresses, and other demons who know the humans’ most primal weaknesses. A...