One-Act Plays

41 pages

6-16 m, 5-15 w, flexible casting, some doubling possible.

This one-act version of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth maintains the Bard’s original dialogue but changes the setting to a post-apocalyptic world affected by nuclear fallout. The setting allows for many opportunities for creative staging, props, music, and lighting. Three witches arise from piles of mannequin parts, looking as if they were just pieced together. Use of a shadow scrim intensifies the violent and edgy nature of the play. About an hour.

28 pages

(13 - 24 total. 2 m; 5 w; 6 - 17 flexible with doubling.)

Courtney Hanson, high school junior and avid protester, claims that her high school has turned athletics into a religion, violating the separation of church and state. After numerous meetings with the hapless school principal Courtney and her mother have decided to sue the school district. The characters interact in a series of scenes at the school, at a sports fundraiser, and at a PTO meeting. Some say Courtney has finally gone around the bend, while others say it’s high time someone stood up for academics and the arts....

38 pages

4 m, 3 w

Philip, the Stone Age lord of an elegant cave suite, is something of a Neanderthal when it comes to change. Rumors of a new secret weapon worry him. So does the alarmingly barbaric tribe that has settled across the river who live in boxes made of wooden logs with a panel that opens and closes! Then there's his son, Thomas, who has dropped out of hunting-fishing-agriculture school and does nothing but play with inventions. His daughter, Sharon, befriends animals instead of attracting a nice caveman who will carry her off to a decent cavern in a good neighborho...

47 pages

1 m, 1 w

Two teenagers, an African-American urban girl and a white rural boy, confront their racial prejudices when they meet at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Looking for clues into their fathers' pasts, they discover more about themselves and each other and are changed forever. About 60 mins. Winner of the 1994 AATE Distinguished Play Award. Ideal for Black History month observances.

24 pages

5 m, 3 w, and ensemble

Hassan works as a scholar in the House of Wisdom specializing in translating legends. She spends her days alongside her father and twin. Together they are all living a dangerous secret. It is 13th century Bagdad at the height of Islamic civilization and women are forbidden in the House of Wisdom, so Hassan and her sister are posing as men. The daughters are living a protected and peaceful life, yet Hassan dreams of travelling the world. The arrival of a new scholar expands Hassan’s horizons, but will he jeopardize her secret identity as well as her future? Wh...

22 pages

2 m, 6 w

High school senior Kimberly is the founder and president of the school’s undefeated all-girl math team. She expects nothing but the best from her mathletes, especially since it’s her senior year and her last opportunity to compete and secure her legacy. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned. One of their members is suddenly forced to sit out the rest of the season, so their first alternate — Monica H. — must step up and compete even though she longs desperately to join the drama club instead. A possible solution presents itself when Mr. Roberts tri...

30 pages

Large flexible cast of about 25

This show spotlights some of Shakespeare’s greatest couples: Romeo & Juliet, Kate & Petruchio, Beatrice & Benedick, and more. Twists and turns abound in this story of love and whimsy, consisting entirely of Shakespeare’s actual text. The Fairies establish the world of the play. One Fairy has decided that love is foolish and “merely a madness,” but the other Fairies are determined to convince their friend otherwise. The characters display all facets of love; desperation, bliss, fear, passion and pure joy, in a collection of scenes that takes the au...

17 pages

1m, 1w

One male actor and one female actor each play two parts that's the challenge and fun of this one-act play. All the action takes place in front of a simple park setting. First a teenage boy and girl discuss their young love, he the romantic, she the practical one. She leaves (late for work) and the actress returns as a middle-aged woman, who gives the young romantic some sage advice on love from her lifetime experience. The boy rushes off to save his girlfriend's job and the actor returns as a middle-aged British man who is wooing the older woman. Their scene ...

41 pages

2 m, 2 w

This play is a gathering of some of the most clever characters ever written! It provides examples of the clownish, comic characters written by William Shakespeare in many different kinds of productions through the ages. Far from circus clowns in face paint, these are clowns in the broadest sense, varying in sizes, shapes, ages and types. A few of the characters include the rude Mechanicals in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Constable Dogberry in “Much Ado About Nothing,” the boastful Sir Jon Falstaff in “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” the boisterous sisters Bianca...

36 pages

3 m, 3 w, 1 voice

Friendship, adventure, integrity, an evil mime, a mysterious butler, stolen dinosaur bones, a man with a mailbox on his head -- it’s all just a part of the fun in this one act. Follow the heroic adventures of Princess Mystic Starfish, a charming and unconventional superheroine who battles her enemies with dogged persistence by firing bubbles in an attempt to confuse them (or possibly get soap in their eyes). Despite her unorthodox methods, the Princess’ success in apprehending wrongdoers is somehow perfect. One day she is given an invitation to join the great...

38 pages

2 m, 2 w

Based on the short story "Twin Spirits" by W. W. Jacobs. This delicious comedy tells of Gilbert and Addie Cox, whose marriage is based on her money and headed for the rocks. When Gilbert begins to pawn household items to pay for his gambling, Addie confides in her nosy neighbor, Doris. The two women concoct a plan involving Doris' lazy Uncle Joseph. He is to pretend to be an agent from the bank repossessing the house and property. But the two men conspire to turn the tables on the women and get more money out of Addie. Addie and Doris, however, are smarter th...

20 pages

3 m, 11 w

Take seven inept campers who must win a variety show competition on which the whole camp's reputation is based and what have you got? Instant disaster! Luckily for the campers, Jo White, who would rather sing than whistle while she works, has escaped to their cabin. Hilarity and confusion follow, but the camp's reputation is saved!

15 pages

2 m, 2 w, 2 flexible, 3 narrators

In ancient Thebes, Antigone determines to give a sacred burial to her brother, Polynices, who had died on the battlefield. But her uncle Creon, the tyrant king, forbids her to do so under pain of death, because, he says, Polynices is a traitor. Antigone gives up her family, her fiancé and even her own life to do what she believes is right.

39 pages

Approx. 10 m, 10 w, much doubling possible

Frankie meets his end in an act of wanton cowardice. This offense isn't bad enough to send him to the basement, but he isn't good enough for the attic. He is assigned to Angie the Angel in the "Situation Re-Modification Department." He is given three chances to try to correct something in history that didn't go the way it was supposed to go. He messes up all three chances, but is offered a fourth chance by Herman, Angie's boss. With this one, the toughest of them all, he succeeds.

36 pages

6 m, 9 w

An ensemble group of outlandish zany actors seek to answer this question: "Why do we have a social order in which we rank ourselves from the most dominant to the least?" They attempt to do this by acting out both hilarious and serious life situations. They do this in order to answer questions presented by the all powerful Voice. Using the Socratic Method the Voice teaches by asking questions, never answering them. In trying to answer the first question they are actually delving into the most awesome question of all, "What is the meaning of life?" The answer: ...