Plays of Social Significance

22 pages

2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible

Four speech and drama students and their coach are preparing for a tournament. Charles is the team's supremely confident extemporaneous speaker. Patty is the group's entry into the category of original oratory. Cathy is both a debater and, at least in her own mind, a talented actress. And then there's Chris Higgins, a former football player whose mother is forcing him to participate in public speaking as a way of overcoming his stuttering problem. Unable to join in the athletics that used to bring him glory, he's reluctantly joined this group, a group which h...

15 pages

2 m, 4 w

Ryan's drinking at the school dance leads to a fatal car accident, leaving his family and friends to deal with the aftermath. His sister, Megan, is flooded with anger and grief, lashing out at everyone. She places blame for Ryan's death on herself and others. Ryan's girlfriend, Pam, suggests counseling, an idea Megan's mom supports as a final bid to keep the family together. The powerful dialogue of this play rings true and sends a message not only about the dangers of drinking and driving, but about dealing with grief. An excellent play for contest use.

35 pages

2 w

Tina has fallen hard for Greg, an upperclassman, but her best friend, Margie, is worried about the relationship with its subtle and not so subtle bullying. Greg meets Tina after every class, gets her to quit the soccer team because it takes too much time away from him, and basically manipulates her to do exactly what he wants to do. Soon his controlling personality leads to violence, and Tina's family gets a restraining order against him. But he's determined to see Tina one more time. With Margie as our narrator, we see how a girl's youthful dream of love can...

28 pages

1 m, 2 w

Katherine Bourgeois, a senior at college, has flunked algebra, a course she needs to graduate. She complains to Dr. Hoffmann, the chairwoman of the math department, who tells Mr. O'Leary, Katherine's instructor, to go over the final exam and give her another test. Mr. O'Leary tries to do this, but Katherine evades the work - she apparently has something else in mind. What is she really offering him for a grade? When Dr. Hoffmann returns, a sobbing Katherine accuses Mr. O'Leary of sexual harassment. Dr. Hoffmann offers Katherine an incomplete, but she’s not in...

20 pages

4 m, 2 w

Here is a perfect play to introduce children to the Underground Railroad. Designed as a Reader’s Theatre, "The Silent War" is a story of three slaves – and eight little mice – who escape to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Uncle Amos, Belle, and Buck Henry, all slaves on a Kentucky plantation, didn’t plan to escape until they met Zakary, a Bible salesman and abolitionist. He shows them the way to cross the river into Ohio and from there travel north to other stations. Along the way, the three slaves are helped by other dedicated abolitionists including...

51 pages

3 m, 3 w, 1 flexible

The biographer of the story of Berendina (Diet) Eman is interrupted by Diet herself as he begins a lecture about the Second World War and Nazi resistance in occupied Europe. Diet explains that her efforts to hide Jewish people were not unique, but were undertaken by many ordinary people. To explain, she begins to tell the exciting stories of her Resistance work. As she does, her younger self appears and narrates stories in ways which occasionally vary from the descriptions offered by her older self. In addition, her fiancé, Hein Sietsma, appears, and all thre...

44 pages

4 m, 4 w, extras

Sam and Billy are two wheelchair-bound kids who have been mainstreamed into a regular high school. Billy is a poet who, under under the pseudonym of "Minotaur" for half man, half beast, exchanges romantic e-mails with Miranda, one of his classmates. Sam is a rebel with devastating wit, who fights against the double standards that excludes them from some activities. When Billy reveals who he is to Miranda, she is stunned at first, but they become friends, and he asks her to the prom. Sam attends with a teacher. But when Sam goes to the chem lab to smoke a ciga...

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...

17 pages

3 - 4 m, 2 w

Braz, a soft gray squirrel, easily captures the heart of Ann, a nurturing teenager who wants only to please. “I love you, Ann,” Braz proclaims, “but I need you to do a few things for me. Do you think you could bring me some nuts—cashews are my fav, Ann.” But he really isn’t appreciative of her best efforts: “Peanuts! I thought I said cashews!” he complains. In this allegory Ann makes Braz very happy, seeing to his every demand, but what is this love-professing squirrel doing for Ann? Ann has to think about this when she sits with a boy named James while an en...

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 play deals with a difficult a...

27 pages

2 m, 3w

Davey is a small freshman boy, who's got a crush on his sister's friend, Jennifer. With his idol a professional wrestler, Davey starts on a quest to get pumped up. But his behavior becomes obsessive. He has "bigorexia," a disorder that is a lesser-known counterpart to women's anorexia. Men and boys become obsessed with developing their bodies through controlled diet, body building and, in extreme cases, drugs such as steroids. Davey starts to take an over-the-counter adrenal hormone possibly connected to uncontrollable rage. The only one who believes Davey ha...

16 pages

2 m, 4 w, 3 extras

Average high school student Medley can't keep up with her older sister, Monica, a cheerleader with straight A's and Kevin, a football star and class officer, as her boyfriend. Even Medley's honorable mention award in an essay contest seems small potatoes next to Monica's latest achievements. But everything changes when Kevin, depressed and suicidal, phones and Medley is the only one home. She talks him into calling a crisis hot line, a number she knows intimately as it is scrawled in red lipstick on her bedroom mirror. A play that handles teen suicide in a dr...

38 pages

6 m, 7 w, optional extras

They say Amanda's back. They say she's crazier than ever. And they say Debbie's her next victim. Caught in a whirlwind of gossip Debbie is swept away from her friend Amanda and from her boyfriend Nathan. Valley High School panics and Amanda blows her top. She may blow up the whole school if Debbie doesn't take a stand. Friendship, loyalty, relationships, gossip and the power of peers - these topics are all probed by this thoughtful play. An entangling tale of gossip and truth, prejudice and compassion. 45 - 50 minutes.

50 pages

Resource Book

The thoughts, hopes, fears, dreams - the important things in the lives of teens - are explored honestly in this collection of 18 monologues. For humor, two of our favorites are "Studs," about trying to don a tux for the first time while running late for the prom, and "Bubbacar," about a teen's first car which is so ugly it should only be driven at night. We can all identify longing for Saturdays after tough school days in "Making It to the Weekend," or laugh at the frustration in "The Proper Way to Wear a School Uniform." In addition to those typical "teen pr...

57 pages

2 m, 6 w, 1 flexible

Darby is a senior in high school, editor of the school newspaper, and dating the homecoming queen. Everything in his life is wonderful with one secret exception. Darby has been HIV positive since a blood transfusion he received as a child. His friends learn how to deal first with the news of his infection and then with his death when the virus progresses into AIDS. Full of the humor and romance typical of people their ages, the play ends with a dramatic scene that has garnered standing ovations in prior productions. Interior set.