Product reviews for No Signs of Intelligent Life

"We just completed our fourth Starchman play in the past four years last weekend.  The juniors performed 'No Signs of Intelligent Life' and it went over EXTREMELY well!  Once again I was told 'maybe the best' .... 'love the last four plays' ....  'love the format '... and on and on... Bryan Starchman has the magic touch!  The humor is current and just edgy enough for high schoolers and adults." -- K.S., Arlington High School Play Director

We had so much fun with this script.  It allows a ton of kids a shot at the spotlight and is expandable for however large or small your group is.  The topics of the socially awkward situations hit home with all audiences, and your viewers will be in stitches with laughter.  I highly recommend No Signs of Intelligent Life!

If you have a strong ensemble, this is a great play to showcase MANY talented actors and actresses.  We had a cast of 25, which included 9 actors playing aliens and the rest humans (and the Almighty Voice).  We could have done this show with half as many people if we needed to, but we loved the flexibility to be able to cast a number that worked for us.

This show gave opportunities for multiple students to have short monologues, for seasoned performers to really work on character development, and plenty of smaller roles for students newer to the stage to get acclimated.  The Alien characters were some of the most coveted (and challenging) roles for our students, but there are many human characters across the board of varying sizes that are all great opportunities.  My personal favorite character in the show (Randy), is a very small role with such fantastic potential, and there are many roles like this throughout.

Staging this show was simple, as there aren’t many needed set pieces, and the necessary props are minimal and manageable.  We loved how creative we were able to be with technical elements like lighting and sound.  From a rehearsal standpoint, it was nice to be able to break our schedule down into individual segments, so we got a lot more individual/small group time with our students to really strengthen everyone across the board.

The most challenging part of this show (in a good way) was the Alien characters.  Our goal for our production was for those characters (we had one actor for each of the 9 aliens) to each be their own unique character, while all still obviously being of the same non-human, charming species that they are.  Our students had to work through developing their own character individually, but also work together to ensure the continuity of the Alien species across the entire show.

Overall, this is a really solid piece if you have a strong overall group.  I would probably not recommend this show if you’re looking for showcase only a few strong actors.  It lends itself more to a strong ensemble.

This is perfect for keeping parts fairly equal rather than having a few main leads and then a bunch of "3rd tree from the left" roles for others. Everyone got lines. Everyone got seen. It's also easier to rehearse vignettes with limited time than it is a show with one through-line story. Parents told me over and over how perfect it was for middle schoolers. We did have to adjust some things - we did not have a middle schooler as a "redneck," talking about shooting guns and such. But audiences and kids alike were laughing and enjoying themselves! Highly recommend "No Signs of Intelligent Life!"