One-Acts

41 pages

4 w

This powerful drama takes on the subject of date rape. Four girls meet throughout the school year in the girls bathroom, in the mornings when it is off-limits to students. It's their secret refuge where they share stories, tease and argue with each other, but above all, support one another. When one of the girls, a freshman, reveals the name of the guy she is seeing, her sister, a senior, is horrified as he is the boy who raped her in eighth grade. By the end of the school year, they have all grown, learned, and are ready to leave their refuge for good. This ...

16 pages

4 w

Sarah, a student at a girls' prep school, isn't going home for Christmas. Her boyfriend has dumped her, her grades have bombed, and being at home with her alcoholic stepfather is unendurable. Sarah's friends try to talk her into leaving with them, but Sarah has a different trip in mind, a permanent one where she won't feel sad anymore. Then Miranda, a hippie vision from the '60s, drops in. Her message is infused with humor but unmistakable: There's no makeup exam for suicide. Finally, she tells Sarah, "I know this for sure: You've got a great future ahead of ...

20 pages

2 m, 2 w

Four high school students report to the school auditorium for play rehearsal only to find out the director is not coming. To add to the confusion, one of the cast members has dropped three rehearsal scripts, of which all the pages are unbound and unnumbered. The pages fly everywhere. No problem! - unless the scripts are "Macbeth," "The Taming of the Shrew," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." As one of the students quips, "We don't know anything about Shakespeare, but it all sounds the same anyway, so grab some pages." The mayhem that results will have you wonde...

27 pages

2 m, 2 w

The road to freedom for people of diversity has not been easy in American History. Students will learn of the struggles for acceptance of a wide range of minority groups through poetry, drama, and song. Hear the stories that made America and that continue to shape our nation today. From immigration to oppression to acceptance listen to the stories of bravery and determination from the likes of heroines like Rosa Parks and brave individuals who represent Asian, Italian, Latino, Jewish and Native Americans. It has been no easy road, but students can see that hi...

23 pages

1 m, 3 w

Danny's journey into the world of high school romance begins with Laurie, a girl who shares his enthusiasm for videos and hanging out at the neighborhood shopping center. But when a hot number named Brooke blows in from Hollywood, things start to fall apart as Danny shifts from hometown girl to movie star "gonnabe." The girls plunge into a fight over Danny that has all the intensity of a professional wrestling match. As a matter of fact, that's how it's presented in this play of love, and love and hate, and then love, and then hate again. Enemies become frien...

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...

20 pages

3 m, 2 w, 2 flexible

An ideal version for introducing younger audiences to one of Shakespeare's best-known comedies. A narrator helps keep the action going and explains some lesser known words. The story, of course, is this: Petruchio, who wants a rich wife, marries Katharina, "the shrew." Then he has to tame her. And that he does by spirit, good-nature, and wit. The holy terror is subdued but perhaps Katharina saw in Petruchio what she liked in a man and allowed herself to be tamed. This is a loud and energetic romp from beginning to end. Can be presented with a detailed or simp...

27 pages

2 m, 3w

Davey is a small freshman boy, who's got a crush on his sister's friend, Jennifer. With his idol a professional wrestler, Davey starts on a quest to get pumped up. But his behavior becomes obsessive. He has "bigorexia," a disorder that is a lesser-known counterpart to women's anorexia. Men and boys become obsessed with developing their bodies through controlled diet, body building and, in extreme cases, drugs such as steroids. Davey starts to take an over-the-counter adrenal hormone possibly connected to uncontrollable rage. The only one who believes Davey ha...

17 pages

3 - 4 m, 2 w

Braz, a soft gray squirrel, easily captures the heart of Ann, a nurturing teenager who wants only to please. “I love you, Ann,” Braz proclaims, “but I need you to do a few things for me. Do you think you could bring me some nuts—cashews are my fav, Ann.” But he really isn’t appreciative of her best efforts: “Peanuts! I thought I said cashews!” he complains. In this allegory Ann makes Braz very happy, seeing to his every demand, but what is this love-professing squirrel doing for Ann? Ann has to think about this when she sits with a boy named James while an en...

19 pages

1 m, 2 w, 3 flexible. Doubling possible.

Adam, a teenager, is hearing squeaks in the walls of his room, so much squeaking, in fact, he's losing sleep. How can he get rid of the problem? He consults with two rats who advise him to use everything from a chain saw to a blow-up doll dressed to look like a rat, to the ultimate solution, playing Michael Bolton CDs! But will any of these ideas really get the rats out, or make Adam's problem worse? Just what are these squeaks anyway? It doesn't look good, and time is running out as the lovely Rachel will be stopping by at any moment!

27 pages

5 actors

“Reading Shakespeare in class is akin to going to a restaurant and eating the menu. Shakespeare is meant to be acted and attended, not just words on a page.” With this belief in mind, playwright Rosina Mason Whitfield created this lively and shortened version of the Bard’s classic. It is specially designed to be played by 5 actors as a touring show to introduce middle and high school students to the wonder of Shakespeare in a way that is enjoyable and accessible. The show did in fact tour for two years to schools in Pennsylvania where students always loved th...

32 pages

4 m, 2 w

Lord Bellinger and the Right Honorable Trelawney Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, visit Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker street to have him find a missing document, which, if published, could lead to war. It had been kept in a dispatch box at the Secretary's home. Holmes suggests to Watson three possible individuals, any one of whom could have stolen the document to use for bribery. One of them, Lucas, is found murdered at his home, which Holmes visits with Inspector Lestrade. They find that the bloodstain on the carpet is not in the same position as the on...

26 pages

2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible, doubling possible

In spite of Dr. Winona Smedlap's repeated warnings to her team of lab assistants not to go near the Time Mobile until it was "totally, thoroughly, and undeniably ready," she forgot to mention that it also applied to responding to strange noises coming from inside of it. That's exactly what Bill was investigating when he mysteriously disappeared, his friend Pemberton nervously explains. As if Bill's unexpected trip into time weren't alarming enough, it seems he has managed to trade places with none other than England's most famous playwright, William Shakespea...

41 pages

3 m, 3 w

Lois Lancaster is a big-city journalist writing about the current state of mental health facilities. Her research takes her to a hospital populated with a unique group of quirky inmates who imagine they are crime-fighting superheroes. Speed Freak thinks he can run at incredible speeds, while enthusiastic Dim Bulb thinks he has the ability to turn off lights with his brain. Mental thinks she can read minds, despite being prone to sudden outbursts of bizarre non-sequiturs. Kevin, much less quirky and flamboyant than the other inmates, doesn’t embarrass himself ...

26 pages

Flexible cast 5 - 18

Puns and pratfalls abound in this fun, frumpled 35-minute version of three Grimm fairy tales. And with the help of a narrator, the audience can cheer the heroes and boo the villains. In "Rumpelstiltskin," a greedy king, a miller's daughter and a comical chap named Rumpelstiltskin all mix together in the story of gold spinning and name guessing. In "Rapunzel," a witch puts lovely Rapunzel in a tower where a handsome prince rescues her. But the standard happy ending is reached in anything but a standard way. In "Red Riding Hood," Little Red finally escapes the ...