One-Acts

32 pages

Widely flexible cast of 9 - 24

When a stray kitten turns up at her sister’s wedding reception, Avery decides to give it a temporary home in her family’s laundry room. When she checks in on the kitten later that night, Avery discovers that a portal to outer space has opened in the wall, a T-Rex is trying to eat the washer and dryer, and the kitten can breathe fire. Then a unicorn shows up. And some aliens. And a few mythological deities. Avery is convinced it has to be a dream—but it’s not. Her life is about to get a whole lot more interesting, and she may never be able to complete another ...

16 pages

2 m, 2 w, 6 flexible

If humor is the best medicine, get ready to feel great! Slade, new to the hospital housekeeping staff, has just been given his cleaning duties in a patient's room when a lovely nurse mistakes him for a new doctor. She thinks his bumbling is just a little professional humor and even calls in student nurses to watch him administer a suppository. After blowing up a rubber glove like a balloon and conning all the nurses into exercising the patient's limbs while singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," the poor patient finally crawls from bed just to escape. Lots of vis...

19 pages

11 parts, approx. 6 m, 5 w

Seven teens are brought to police headquarters to tell what they know of their friend's deadly encounter with drugs and alcohol at a party the night before. Through police questioning and the attorney's defense, we find that while no one gave Julia Dark the drugs, no one stopped her from using them either. Some of the "friends" include the cheerleader, the smart aleck, the football player, the president of the student council, and others. The teens know all about the dangers of drugs, but they don't understand the responsibilities of friendship. A compelling ...

36 pages

4 m, 5 w, 3 flexible, doubling possible

Like Moliere's original “Tartuffe,” a supposed holy man enters the life of affluent but naïve family and almost succeeds in cheating them out of their home. Now set in current-day Dallas, the wily opportunist is finally exposed, but not before a series of humorous misunderstandings and some rollicking good fun. Grandma Perkins has nothing but praise their boarder, Tartuffe, because he is a man of such holiness and zeal. Father even wants his daughter Maryanne to break her engagement and marry Tartuffe! The siblings agree they must expose Tartuffe's hypocrisy....

23 pages

2 m, 7 w, doubling possible

Adapted Renee Rebman from the story by Edith Wharton. A period piece set in the 1920s, this play provides an opportunity for two old friends, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, to sit in an outdoor cafe in Rome and reminisce about the past. Now both widowed, the women begin to examine their strangely intertwined lives. A dramatic and emotional confrontation reveals a startling secret that is explored through well-staged flashbacks. A twist of fate long buried in the past leads to a surprising ending that will leave their friendship marked and the women changed forev...

29 pages

5 m, 3 w, 1 flexible

William Shakespeare retired at about age 48. Why did this prolific genius stop writing? How did he get along with his long-neglected wife, Anne, once he gave up the stage? “The Shakespeares” imagines what The Bard’s last years were like in Stratford-upon-Avon. The play is full of inside jokes for Shakespeare fans. But even for those unfamiliar with his plays, there are laughs (and a few tears) as we watch this profoundly mismatched couple try to make a go of it. Shakespeare’s confidante, daughter Susanna, realizes that her father’s creative spirit is being cr...

40 pages

2 m, 6 w, 4 flexible, plus extras

Three teenagers are lured into malevolent Professor Carny Barker’s Once-in-a-Lifetime Traveling Career Fair. There they are tempted with futures of glamour, riches and power by warped and wicked counterfeit pretenders from the military, medical, legal, and business professions. The teens, with the oddball assistance of a janitor, think about what they’re willing to trade off to achieve career “success.” This modern morality play is loaded with slapstick comedy, wry satire and a flexible cast of bizarre characters.

39 pages

4 m, 5 w

Laura has carefully plotted a day off school in order to find out the meaning of life. Playing hooky, along with her ditzy best friend, she has concocted a foolproof plan to get to the bottom of things. Chaos ensues when her attempts to leave the house are foiled by a lazy cable guy, a rapper who's come to install high-speed internet, a disapproving Mary Kay consultant, a devious Girl Scout selling cookies, and an insecure FedEx driver. It seems all is lost until Laura's older brother arrives with a man claiming to be Leonardo Da Vinci. He, too, knows the sec...

20 pages

4 m, 4 w, 2 flexible parts and extras

Here's a comedy about good-ol-boy law and (dis)order in the deep South! As various denizens of Redwine County testify, we find out an entire murder trial is based on the "facts" that the local undertaker needs some business and the sheriff's cleaning lady thinks the accused sorta looks like that criminal on TV the other night. Luckily, the defense council is not about to let her new client swing from the hangin' tree! A young newspaper reporter covering this most unusual and hilarious trial serves as narrator.

62 pages

Interracial cast of 4 m, 3 w, 2 flexible, 1 child

Cole, a slave, struggles with the prospect of escaping--the personal struggles and danger it would mean for his family. Escape would also mean forgoing all the trust and faith his “owner,” Mr. Jones, had invested in Cole. After much thought, and arguing with his wife, Cole agrees that an opportunity for freedom is worth sacrificing his fairly contented life as a slave. Their plan of escape, however, is found out. Cole must come face to face with Mr. Jones and suffer the consequences. The cost is great. The slave gives his life for individual freedom. The slav...

41 pages

5 m, 6 w

What would you do if you were faced with a former teacher you loathed? Ever-optimistic Tammy Davis gives a party for Florence Furtney, the despot who taught senior English at Central High School for 40 years. Only a few former students show up for the party and then only to see if time has rendered the dreaded teacher harmless. Some want to tell her off, some want to ignore her, one wants to kill her! One by one, as the former students sit in an old desk, Miss Furtney comes to life and tells them why she acted as she did. All come away with a different view o...

29 pages

4 m, 5 w

George and Dana each had such high hopes for their high school popularity and love life back when they were in junior high. But the reality is they now have their lunch stolen every day and are subjected to catty comments by the sports jocks and cheerleaders. Laugh and cheer as George and Dana's daydreams for wild success come alive as they imagine themselves as successful business people, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, famous actors and authors, and secret CIA operatives foiling hijacking attempts. Meanwhile, their tormentors' biggest achievement is to memo...

27 pages

1 m, 9 w

In the late 1800s rumors were circulating about alleged horrors taking place on Blackwell’s Island, home of the Insane Asylum of New York. Women were apparently the victims of abuse and torture, and one woman, a newspaper reporter, decided to risk her own life to investigate. Nellie Bly committed herself to the asylum, documenting her findings and ultimately revealing the horrors to the entire world. This one-act play, adapted from her book, “Ten Days in a Madhouse,” tells the incredible story of how this “girl” reporter forever changed the way the world look...

37 pages

4 m, 8 w

At the end of the 1940s an old theatre building is about to be torn down. As the theatre's acting troupe is packing up the props, costumes and set pieces, an old magician's trunk is wheeled onstage. Suddenly, members of the company are turning up dead. Margaret, the director's assistant, is the only witness to these crimes, seeing with her own eyes how Eve was strangled, Madigan bludgeoned, and Stan shot. Yet no one will believe her, especially when there is no trace of any of the bodies! This edgy, film noir-style mystery earned straight superiors from the j...

28 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 flexible, possible extras

It’s five days before the premiere of the non-musical version of Les Misérables, and high school drama director, Chris, has actors who are still on script, cast members absent from rehearsal, a sick stage manager, an unbuilt set and only twelve dollars left in the budget. Oh, and the principal is bringing the superintendent on opening night to see if funding for the drama program for the district should be cut. It’s a director’s nightmare, but Chris tells the cast and crew about a pocket watch from her great-grandfather that is known to help turn everything a...

42 pages

5 m, 4 w, 4 flexible, extras

Dreamy young lovers Lelio and Silvia must keep their love a secret from their fathers, who are fierce rivals. Will a scheme featuring the loveable Arlecchino (whose main occupation is taking money from others) and a quartet of bumbling bandits save the day? Middle and high school actors will revel in this fast-paced, uproarious one act complete with screwball antics and a cast of madcap characters including two saucy servants, a lovable miser, and a host of zanies. It is this type of slapstick humor that makes the performance style of commedia dell'arte a per...

22 pages

2-3 m, 5 w, 3 flexible and ensemble

Based on the work of Federico Garcia Lorca

This play follows the surviving women from the original play by Federico Garcia Lorca. We find that the Mother, the Bride, and Leonardo’s wife are caught in the same circle of bitterness, unable to forget and move on.

Set on a rural mountainside where the mother has erected a tomb to commemorate the one-year anniversary of her son’s death, she catches the eye...

35 pages

2 m, 2 f, 7 either

Portrayed in a fantasy-based courtroom we see ominous “Judgement” begin the Trial of Existence. Every 100 years the “Forces of Chaos” can choose to test humanity and a single candidate is chosen to stand trial. Should this candidate fail, all mankind will cease to exist. While Michael and the “Representatives of Order” see the best in all of us, they must quickly name a candidate and in finding Erin, they put their faith that she is the one to represent us all. The test is 24 hours of challenges in pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. If at a...

36 pages

Cast of 12 plus ensemble. Most roles are gender flexible except for those noted. Doubling possible.

James, a young boy, suffers from Angelman Syndrome. This neurodevelopmental disorder causes problems with speech and mobility forcing him to spend his life in a wheelchair. The story shifts from James’ imagination where he dreams of being a superhero called “The Amazing Angel-Man” to the real world, where the realities of his condition have a serious impact on his family, particularly his father. As the play progresses, these two separate worlds start to overlap, leading to an uplifting resolution that upholds the values of hope and imagination. The play was ...

42 pages

10 or more actors and extras

Things are about to get weird at Picka Packa Pizza. Word is out in the spy community that super-spy Jamie Gold is coming to this hole-in-the-wall pizzeria to pick up top secret documents. The problem is, Gold is a master of disguise and could be anyone, from average customers to the picky eater who can’t decide what to order to the new delivery person who’s got the worst luck in the world. But that won’t stop two teams of rival snoops from trying to make a name for themselves by getting the best of Jamie Gold! Their only clue is that instead of a password, Go...

36 pages

4 m, 9 w, 4 flexible, doubling possible

Chelsea is throwing a party while her parents are away, or so she thinks. When uninvited guests start showing up, including her grandma with gout-ridden episodes, a stern police officer with neighborhood complaints, Bonnie and Clyde-like outlaws, and even last year’s grads, Chelsea ends up with a different type of bash all together. And that’s not even including a sleepwalker and paranormal activities. This wild and crazy party is 35 minutes of escalating, nonstop hilarity!

43 pages

3 m, 6 w, 4 flexible, plus extras

The posh and well-to-do Robinson family is on a ship excursion (without their nanny) when they shipwreck on a deserted island. The mother is at her wit’s end about having to do actual parenting (without their nanny) and feels sorry for herself when she realizes her acting career might take a nosedive in her absence. The father of the clan is also at a loss (without their nanny) and spends all his time speaking with a British accent and playing golf down on the beach. So, the kids find themselves on their own (without their nanny) and begin to devise a surviva...

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...

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 ...

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 ...

41 pages

Flexible cast of 13.

Sequestered in an old theatre, nine prospective contestants must battle wits--and the witless!--to become the chosen few for the latest, greatest reality show, “Reality Frights.” As soon as the diverse contestants turn in their cell phones and introduce themselves, it’s discovered that all the exits are locked. Even Maureen, the professionally perky producer, starts to panic when suddenly there’s a blackout. When the lights come back up, one of the contestants is on the floor, bloodied and lifeless, while some monster in a mask threatens everyone. Or is this ...

36 pages

7 m, 4 w, plus ensemble

Here is a retelling of Shakespeare's tale of the decline of an honorable man into darkness, a study of how far an individual is willing to go in the pursuit of power. This adaptation includes new scenes between Lord and Lady Macbeth and uses an interactive ensemble to play a variety of roles. Only the director’s imagination will be the limit for this piece. It can be staged as elaborately or as simply as desired. The truth is in the words. It was written to be performed at any venue, any time period, and with a multi-cultural cast. Movement, music, and passio...

36 pages

2 m, 5 w, 3 flexible

"Four of a Kind" has been a hit show for years and the four girls on the show have grown up in front of a television audience. Unbeknownst to them until recently, they have been woefully underpaid by industry standards and are getting only a portion of what their "on-air" father makes.  When the studio refuses to re-negotiate, the girls take matters into their own hands during their live season finale! While holding all of the cards, the four girls re-negotiate their contract during commercial breaks at the threat of very serious plot repercussions! Approxima...

40 pages

4 m, 4 w, 5 flexible, plus 1 extra optional female

Jean Emery is a normal high school girl whose world gets turned upside down when she receives a surprising letter in the mail from her eccentric aunt. The letter claims that Jean has magical powers and the ability to grant wishes. Jean dismisses it as a joke, but unfortunately, her rival gets possession of the letter and plans to use it to blackmail her. Neither one believes for a moment that the crazy story in the letter could possibly be true -- or what kind of disasters could happen if everybody were to suddenly get exactly what they wished for!