One-Acts

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...

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 ...

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...

19 pages

Approx. 8 m, 5 w, numerous flexible roles and chorus

"Mary Jane of Whitechapel" is set during the Autumn of Terror of 1888 when London was haunted by the spectre of a killer which, even now, we know only by the name of Jack the Ripper. Alternating between the investigation into the killings and the life of Mary Jane Kelly, the Ripper’s final victim, the play re-creates the dark atmosphere of a city horrified by blood and violence. Most of the play is based on real people and incidents: the frantic officers on the case, the scores of suspects, the vigilantes who attack foreigners, and ordinary people, scared of ...

35 pages

Flexible cast. Approx. 2 m, 7 w, 2 flexible.

Faith and Ivy are best friends for life…and beyond. On the surface, they don’t have much in common. One is respectful, the other sarcastic. One is studious, the other a troublemaker. One is a friendly actress, the other a reclusive poet. And, oh yeah, one is alive, the other, not so much. Ivy has been dead for weeks, and only Faith can still see or hear her. How can a ghost help Faith achieve her goal of landing the lead in the school play? And for that matter, why is Ivy still hanging around, anyway?

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...

29 pages

1 m, 1 w, 1-14 flexible

Lacey, a teenage girl, has finished work at the mall and is waiting – and waiting – for her boyfriend to pick her up. Left stranded yet again, she reevaluates her love life while shuffling through the songs on her iPod. Actors portraying each of the songs appear with comedic monologues that stir her emotions, offer advice, and affect her decisions. Ethan, a good-humored co-worker, offers her a ride home and the possibility of future romance. The play may be performed with anywhere from 3 to 16 actors. Actors playing Songs portray the spirit and style of the g...

36 pages

3 m, 8 w, 16+ flexible or with doubling 3 m, 6 w, 2 flexible

When Angel was a child, she knew she had wings. She knew she could fly. After telling everyone and enduring mockery, she left her wings on the ground in exchange for fitting in. Now she is in high school, and when she sees her friend Hunter being teased for sharing honest feelings, Angel is torn. Standing up for Hunter now means no longer fitting in, giving up her new possible boyfriend Isaac and alienating the few friends she has. But Angel gains one of the most important insights of all — that she is already loved just for being herself. An Angel Chorus use...

43 pages

6 or more flexible characters

Twelve short scenes depict events in the life of Edgar Allan Poe -- or how his life might have been in today's world! Some of the more popular tales are represented: "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a police investigation; "The Cask of Amontillado" is a Jerry Springer-type TV show; and "The Masque of the Red Death" has a group of Hollywood types hiding out in a castle. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poe himself pitches the story to a producer for a horror film. Other scenes depict Poe as he might have been in elementary school; seeing a psychiatrist; trying to w...

24 pages

3 m, 3 w

Pat White and Pat Gray have come to the local television set of Rise and Shine, a morning news/entertainment show, to tape a public service announcement for their groups' national convention of crocheters, called the Happy Hookers. When an accident knocks the young, ambitious and somewhat egotistical news anchors out of commission just after the show begins, the two elderly Pats are called on as emergency replacements. Laughs abound as they struggle to read the news, discuss their passion for hooking, and deal with the two anchors whose inhibitions have been ...

33 pages

3 m, 3 w

Inspired by the short story by Richard Connell. In this updated version of a classic thriller, corporate headhunters give new meaning to the term "hunting." Throughout the Zaroff Corporation's long history, success is based on finding the right employees. Four professionals are invited for an interview at Zaroff's headquarters. After a gourmet meal and cordial introductions, the potential employees realize that this would be the perfect job with the perfect salary. The human resource manager of Zaroff then tells the potential employees that they are all compe...

52 pages

4 m, 4 w

Waiting in line? Waiting your turn? You don’t have time! Here’s a comedy in six scenes for those who are time-challenged. In the first scene a desperate woman has only 20 minutes to get to the airport to catch her flight and no matter what her beleaguered taxi driver says or does, they remain stuck in a traffic jam. In a different scene, things start to get physical at a restaurant when a couple with dinner reservations (and theatre tickets!) see others entering and being seated before them. In another scene, a jumpy hypochondriac is forced to wait in a docto...

38 pages

With doubling, 10 m, 8 w, many extras.

The Civil War was unlike any other war our country has ever endured. It not only severed our nation, it severed our nation’s families. Husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters were torn apart by politics, beliefs, distance, and death. Evidence of this bitter separation can be found in the abundant journals, diaries, poetry, songs, and letters of the day. This play, a one act with music, draws from these sources to provide a glimpse into the joys and struggles of “loving” during this turbulent period. The characters are based on real people, th...

35 pages

3 m, 3 w, 5 flexible parts

An undercover policeman is sitting on a park bench impersonating an old woman in the hopes of catching a purse snatcher red-handed. To his surprise, there is more than one purse snatcher, or so he thinks. Passersby, including a jogger escaping a vicious dog, a harried business woman, a male model and others, become victims of wacky experiences leading to more than one suspect being handcuffed to the park bench. On top of that, three mental patients have gone missing from the hospital located close to the park, and the old lady the undercover cop was impersona...

28 pages

1 m, 3 w, 5 flexible, extras

Wait—start worrying! No wait—don’t worry. Let Crisis, Inc. worry for you. This farce takes place in the lobby of a business which provides the service of panicking for people. When you have a panic situation and you can’t focus on what to do next, you hire Crisis Inc. to do the panicking so you can move along and get your work done. Two business people come to the company's office – and each of them responsible for the other's crisis situation. Realizing the potential for fireworks should the two meet, the receptionist tries hard to keep them apart. Classic f...