One-Acts

45 pages

2 m, 2 w

The zany antics of the commedia style, with lots of bumbling, scheming, incorrigible improvisations and very physical comedy, allows just four traveling actors to create this fast-paced story of Aladdin. Arelquin, Punchin, Columbine and Rosetta portray all the many roles in the story of a lazy young boy who needs to work to help support his mother, especially since his father froze up and is standing in a forest where birds nest in his hair! Aladdin almost falls for the machinations of an evil magician, but instead he saves himself and gains access to the Gen...

33 pages

5 m, 5 w

The employees of Sly-Tech Corporation are bored, uninspired, and unhappy with their jobs, which consist of generating reports no one will ever see. They don't know from one day to the next who will even own the company or if they'll have jobs. When a perky young woman fresh out of college is hired to be their manager, they are exasperated. They are even more incensed when she insists on starting off the day with team-building exercises to enhance their P.M.A. (positive mental attitude) and making them hold a teddy bear when they wish to speak at meetings. Whe...

35 pages

15 m, 7 w, extras, much doubling possible

The survivors of the Titanic disaster tell you in their own words about their escape to lifeboats in this adaptation of the 1912 Senate hearings, which began just one day after they arrived from their fateful trip. "We have nothing to conceal," proclaims White Star Lines President Bruce Ismay, but then has to explain why he was able to get in a lifeboat. Hear Fifth Officer Lowe's report why some lifeboats were not completely filled when they departed and why he fired a pistol to control the crowds. As parts of their testimony are re-enacted, we begin to see t...

52 pages

7 m, 7 w.

This play is a new twist on the old-fashioned fairy tale. Two emperors from tiny, neighboring kingdoms are good friends but compete in wearing the latest fashions. Because they each continually want new, sumptuous wardrobes, their kingdoms are broke! Even their wives have to resort to doing dirty castle chores because there’s no money to pay any staff. Finally an elaborate ruse is planned where both emperors are taught a lesson about vanity and trying to impress others by clothes. If there were flashlights and spotlights in this historic time when men wore be...

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.

25 pages

9 m, 7 w, extras

Get a glimpse of the Civil Rights Movement in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, through the eyes of young Sandra. This play reveals the realities of segregation that prompted ordinary people to risk their security and sometimes their lives in pursuit of justice. Despite her father's disapproval and her mother's reluctance, Sandra skips school to attend Movement rallies, marches with adults to seek voting rights, and participates in "Bloody Sunday," the infamous failed march from Selma to Montgomery. A realistic but upbeat drama that can be a life-changing experience fo...

21 pages

3 m, 3 w, 4 extras

Adapted from the tale by Guy de MaupassantAn arrogant hunter shocks his dinner guests by showing them his prized trophy, a human hand chained to a board and mounted on the wall of his library. The next morning the hunter's mother demands he make amends to the guests and remove the hand. But the police have now heard about it and plan to check it out. The hunter wants to hide the hand but admits to his maid he feels safer keeping it in sight. The hand is the only thing he fears because the person it used to belong wants it back. That night the hunter finds the...

44 pages

6 m, 2 w, 14 flexible

This play begins at the ending of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" but envisions a modern twist - it's a police drama, in which incompetence and political pressure rule the day. Balthasar and Friar Lawrence still flee the bloody scene in the Capulet family tomb and are apprehended by church security guards. But this time, security calls the police, who proceed to investigate the crime. The police release the friar because they can't imagine how he would be involved and instead try to pin the crime on Balthasar. The mayor, Escalus, is under political pressure ...

29 pages

4 m, 4 w (all teen roles)

It’s Steph’s high school graduation party. Her friends are all around, her family will be back shortly, and she is supposed to be adding the final touches to the house. But this “commencement” is anything but easy or simple. She and her boyfriend Brandon have news that will devastate her father, has already caused an upheaval with her mother and sister, and will no doubt upset her best friend Gina’s careful plans. Everyone has an opinion about what Steph should do, but naturally everyone tells her it’s “her decision.” As the news filters through her network o...

24 pages

3 m, 4 w

Becky has been talking online with a guy for several weeks now. He’s really sweet, so obviously he’s not a weirdo or anything. Now she sits on a park bench, anxiously awaiting their first meeting in person. On the other bench sits her friend Trisha, who is there “just in case.” Suddenly, Morgan appears, then Ethan arrives, apparently to make a final play for Becky before he loses her forever to the mystery man. Then Allie, Noah, and Josh arrive to further complicate what was supposed to be such a romantic, exciting date. With its quick-fire dialogue and convo...

39 pages

3 m, 4 w

Ashley, one of the hottest girls in school, is shocked when, on their first date, Peter doesn't respond to her overtures. Peter, a pastor's son, knows the reason why: he thinks he is gay. He’s still hoping it’s not true, that no one will ever have to know he even suspected it. But what about Ashley? After storming out of his house, will she tell the whole school? Then there’s Craig, the youth leader at church, who saw Ashley rush out. He thinks Peter tried to go too far. How could he possibly understand Peter’s fears? But bit by bit Peter’s secret is revealed...

25 pages

7 - 9 plus an ensemble group

It is final exam time—again!—at Standardized Testing Senior High School, and Christie is feeling less than solid about her English final. Her friends, Bobby – a snack-o-holic, and Val, her BFF, are much less concerned until Christie’s vision of the horrible outcome of the test (shown in a slow-motion action sequence which uses “unseen” black clad stagehands) causes her to flee, taking her friends with her. Unfortunately, that is just the beginning. Can you really escape your destiny, or as the creepy school custodian warns “Testiny”? Bobby and Val struggle wi...

27 pages

6 m, 4 w

PT Dingle is a misfit, an outcast, a social pariah. Things look bleak for him, especially on the dating front, until, with the help of his best friend and fellow misfit, Morton J. Lewison, PT discovers his superhuman alter ego, The Fismit. Will PT become accepted by his peers and get Diana, the girl of his dreams? You’ll have audiences laughing at and cheering on Fismit (The Misfit Superhero)! About 40 minutes.

29 pages

7 m, 12 w

Stanley, an aspiring American writer vacationing in Paris, creates a wonderful assortment of characters to escape the recent downturn in his relationship with April. On the sidewalk of a busy café Stanley encounters several intriguing women, foreign spies, and an angry gendarme, but none can help him forget April. Even his buddy Art is of no use, running off with the April character Stanley has created. Can the real April bring Stanley back to reality? Your audiences will delight in the explosion of colorful characters and the imaginary efforts of Stanley to ...

20 pages

2 m, 1 w

Two class-clown type guys are playing a video basketball game and discussing one of their girlfriends. When one of the guys loses the game, along with his temper, the illusion of the fourth wall gets broken. The two young men, now exposed for being merely actors in a play, argue and debate about what to do next. When the character "Jessica" enters and proves to be trapped in the world of the play, things go more than haywire. The play is set in real time, able to be adapted to whatever stage or competition in which it is performed.