63 pages
5 m, 7 w
World-famous author Charles Dickens falls asleep during an interview with London Times reporter Edwina Drood. He dreams a variety of his characters as passengers aboard a ship heading to England, but they are now in a future he doesn't quiet understand. Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella are luring Uriah Heep into a trap. Mr. McCawber is running from Madame Defarge, to whom he owes money. Captain Fagin tries to avoid the crewman Oliver Twist, who has become very adept at pickpocketing. Nancy, the barkeep, and Belle, the barmaid, are hiding secrets...
72 pages
Flexible cast of 32
Those wild and loveable Ozark hillfolk, the Hawleys, decide to pay a surprise visit to their California cousin, Charles "Chicory" Seabury, and his snobbish wife, Josephine. They couldn't have picked a worse time for Josephine is planning an exclusive reception for visiting royalty. After trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the relatives, Josephine decides they'll have to attend charm school. When that fails, she locks them in their rooms. But the clever hillbillies, led by Gram Hawley, are not so easily put off. On top of it all, Josephine realizes someone ha...
83 pages
9 m, 14 w, 3 flexible, some doubling possible.
Luke needs to come up with money to pay the mortgage on the family ranch, and fast. His three friends offer to help him open up a dude ranch, and he knows he has no choice but to accept their generosity. At first, Luke is a little leery over the whole plan, but how hard can it be to teach a few city folk about life on a ranch? But things start to go wrong when his quirky guests arrive. There’s Aspen and Ariel, two hillbilly sisters who can’t keep their hands off of Luke’s friends Nash and Nolan. Next to arrive are Martha, Mercy, and Grace, who want a final ou...
23 pages
(3 m)(2 m, 1 w)(1 m, 1 w)
Too much sugar this Christmas season? This trio of 10-minute plays provides the perfect antidote, a fun and funny twist to the holiday season. In "Another Turn of the Scrooge," (3 m) the old curmudgeon we all know and love pays the price for his first good deed as his life takes yet another Christmas turn. In the second play, "The Man Who Shot Santa Claus," (2 m, 1 w) a man on trial for killing Santa Claus is defended by a slick lawyer, who argues that Santa had it coming! In the final play, "Gift of the Magi - The Untold Story," (1 m, 1 w) reality sets in ju...
57 pages
10 m, 18 w, 4 flexible, doubling possible
It's 1927 and the 42nd Street Orphanage for Girls in New York is a bleak place. The McGrew Sisters, who head the orphanage, are mean and stingy to the teenage girls in their charge. Enter a new orphan, young Ginny Hobbs, with a trunk full of "magic" -- costumes and props from the vaudevillian circuit her late parents used to work. As the girls perform a few skits, two con artists form a plan. They'll get the girls to do an original show called "Broadway Lullaby," get it fully insured, and when it flops, collect all the money. But the girls have other plans! T...
60 pages
7 m, 10 w
Baby-sitting the three Taylor kids isn't a job, it's a matter of survival of the fittest. They delight in terrorizing their newest sitter, explaining their secluded home is haunted by a ghost, and that an "ax murderer" has just escaped from jail and is heading their way. Adding confusion is a dizzy aunt, who pays a surprise visit; the dad's boss, whom the kids knock out thinking he is the escaped convict; the boss' domineering mother; and the sitter's offbeat boyfriend, who wants to "rescue" her. The kids lay a trap for the convict and bring about a hilarious...