One-Acts

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....

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.

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...

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...

40 pages

8 m, 10 w, 4 flexible (doubling possible)

Max and Katie are lost at a spooky campsite in the middle of the woods. Fortunately, Counselor Ned, a cheerful, but rather strange, camp counselor is there to help them out until the other campers and counselors find them. To pass the time, Counselor Ned suggests they all take turns telling scary stories, a "campfire tradition as old as time." As they take turns telling their tales, the stories come to life onstage! The story of "Taily-Po," an American folklore classic, reveals an old man living in the woods with his sarcastic dog… "The Backseat Driver" gives...

31 pages

2 m, 2 w, 5 flexible

Leaping llamas! "The Fourth Wall," a play within a play, begins as a murder mystery, but the murder victim won't keel over. The playwright forgot to give the characters names, and a rude audience member keeps interrupting the show. Even the ending of the play stinks! Everyone is supposed to die and then the character Death is supposed to do an interpretive dance. Thankfully, the audience's agony is cut short halfway through when the actors break character because Death accidentally kills the Host and then leaves the set to move his car. Without Death, how can...

32 pages

Flexible cast from 10 - 24 actors.

This play opens when a woman who is collecting mountain folktales asks the Gentry family to tell her one. But they do better than that! They act out for her the story of "Jack and the King's Girl." When a Princess has a "witchin'" put on her, Jack decides to save her and collect the reward. It isn't an easy task, especially when he has to sleep over in a haunted house. Along the way he makes some friends who have special skills, however, and ultimately they help him meet every challenge the old witch throws at him. Of course Jack saves the Princess! The widel...

28 pages

5 m, 5 w, some doubling possible

Welcome to "Avoiding the Pitfalls of High School Dating," a seminar for high school students who have trouble going on dates. Your hosts for the evening are Lucky Daye and Starry Knight, two people who have invested their entire life savings into creating this simple system of five "never-fail" rules for dating success. Lenny and Matilda, two outcasts, have been brought in to demonstrate the system by going on a series of speed-dates to bring the five simple rules to life. Through a series of humorous and humiliating scenes and hilarious one-liners, we will s...