Plays of Social Significance

31 pages

6 m, 5 w, extra flexible roles

World War II lingers on. The unspeakable operations in the death camps are slated for closure, but there is still time for one last train to deliver prisoners before the Americans arrive. Two young German soldiers, Hans and Eric, are sick at heart and know their country is in ruin. They are assigned to assist the loading of the last car. Eric is shocked when he hears Anna, a childhood friend, call out to him for help. But Anna doesn’t have her papers, and no matter what Eric says to his superiors, he cannot convince them it is wrong for her to be there. Hans ...

52 pages

Flexible cast, approx. 11 m, 14 w, extras, doubling possible

This play forces us to examine the points in our lives when we make decisions - right or wrong, good or bad - that will define our own future as well as the lives of others. Built upon a series of monologues and scenes, the play depicts young adults dealing with the reality of HIV and AIDS. For some it's simply a threat -something not to be let out of its cave. For others, the monster has become an unwanted part of their daily existence. This uncompromising drama uses vivid and timely dialogue. A perfect competition piece, it features minimal staging, a choru...

24 pages

Flexible casting

The effects of drunk driving are brought home in these two very short one-acts combined under one title. In "Only Seventeen" (3 m, 4 w, 2 flexible), Corey Martin is dead from drinking and driving. At his funeral he desperately calls out to his family and friends,"I can't be dead. I'm only 17!" but no one hears him. A fellow student delivers a eulogy full of irony as Corey's friends and family think aloud about the senselessness of his death. In "The Waiting Room" (3 m, 6 w, 4 flexible), young people find themselves in a dark room, unsure of where they are or ...

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 ...

36 pages

5 m, 7 w, 4 flexible. Some doubling possible.

Forget the school yard bully! There's always one teacher who can intimidate us! Will, an average high school freshman, used to love going to school…until he stumbled upon the terror of gym class under the formidable Mr. Breakwater's rule. Will's coddling mother and nervous wreck of a father (who hides out in the bathtub) are worried. Will's friends, who call themselves the Geek Squad, want to devise a plan to take Mr. Breakwater down. Can Will find a way to stop being afraid of his gym teacher? With a romance novel-obsessed principal, a jock chorus, and an un...

23 pages

4 w

A one-act play about cyber-bullying. For two weeks Amy’s life has been unbearable. An intimate conversation she had online with a boy she likes has been shared so many times that she is now the laughingstock of the school. To make matters worse, she has been receiving threatening text messages, and her family has been plagued by a series of anonymous phone calls which have been intimidating and offensive. The play opens as Amy sits alone in a classroom. She is soon joined unexpectedly by Kara, who is apparently looking for a prom committee meeting. However, w...

20 pages

4 w

A teenage girl has been arrested after a car accident and charged with DUI. Four of her peers who were with her earlier that night arrive at the small-town police station. Julie, restlessly belligerent, is frustrated with Lindsay, who sits silent and brooding. Soon, Erin, who is impulsive, and Jen, a natural follower, join them. The girls wait anxiously, speculating about what the police already know...and what they will find out. A series of admissions and revelations force the girls to re-evaluate themselves and their role in the events, as an already tense...

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...

40 pages

2 m, 2 w (playing 18 roles)

Freedom Riders is set in 1961 as two young women from Harvard try to decide if they should join the Freedom Rides of the 1960s. As you travel along you will meet Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, W.E.B. Dubois and many others who fought both for and against our nation's struggle for Civil Rights. Experience sit-ins and lunch counters and the dark days of Jim Crow. Learn the history as four performers bring this struggle alive though the words of historical figures, song, and recreations. The struggle for Fr...

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 ...

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...

45 pages

3 m, 11 w

What happens when a high schooler brings a pistol to biology class? In this tense drama, Wesley, a 17-year-old boy with a handgun, holds 13 of his fellow students as voluntary hostages as he tries to come to grips with the events that brought him there. In the 24 hours that follow, the tension of the stand-off outside mixes with the casual attitude of the students inside. By the end, we see these rich characters relate their own experiences with violence, parental authority, peer pressure, high school and the pains of outgrowing childhood. Finally, too, we le...

32 pages

3 m, 3 w

"All you have to do is look in his eyes and you can see the wheels turning a million miles a minute. Problem is, not too many people take the time to look for his eyes, past his arms and legs. Sometimes, even me." These are Danny Osgood's thoughts concerning his brother, David,who is entering mainstream high school despite his physical handicaps. When Danny is mistakenly given the credit for David's poetry, friends and family are forced to realize that they, too, need to look past the handicap to the young man within. A poignant, powerful award-winning play.

26 pages

5 m, 3 w

"Along with success comes a reputation of wisdom." But all the wisdom that Sally has learned from her school successes don't prepare her when her life seems to fall apart. After she gets an F on a paper, is harassed by the school's popular jock, and learns her parents are getting a divorce, she contemplates suicide. Her thoughts about dying are revealed in familiar quotations she repeats - quotations other students think she is writing for an English paper. But then the most unlikely person helps Sally find that "Everything is possible, including the impossib...

56 pages

With doubling: 4m, 4w, plus ensemble to play various small roles

When Mandy Kate, a young slave girl, overhears a threat to sell her brother-in-law Robert, she rushes to warn her sister Sarah. The family plans to escape together, but Mandy Kate is inadvertently left behind when trying to help another slave, Old Job. Together the old man and young girl must set off on their own. They disguise themselvesOld Job as a woman (Josephine) and Mandy Kate as a boy (Abe)and are initially helped by a clever country boy and his eccentric elderly aunt. Mandy Kate and Old Job are later guided through several stops on the Underground Rai...