School

87 pages

28 depending on doubling. (7 - 16 m, 12 - 21 w, 11 flexible)

Following his shenanigans up the beanstalk, Jack has built a real estate empire in Goosetown, and now his ambitious mother is determined he should solidify their fortune by developing an amusement park and condo complex. But one property owner is refusing to leave, and Jack soon finds he’s up against more than just the old woman who lives in a shoe and her many clever children. No amount of golden eggs are enough to withstand the growing forces that line up against Jack: Pressures from Old King Cole; a dodgy partnership with the not-so-Noble Duke of York; the...

62 pages

12 actors (5 m, 7 w) and can expand up to 42 (16 m, 25 w, 1 flex)

Hayden Ferovick, a successful female physicist at the height of her career, is tragically reaching the end of her life. The dying woman recounts key moments where her gender had a profound effect on her journey as a scientist and mathematician. Hayden’s story begins to interweave with two women who shared her same struggle over three hundred years ago. Emilie du Châtelet, a colorful, upper crust French scientist, befriended playwright/poet Voltaire and created the definitive translation of Newton’s Principia – but is later wiped from most history books. Mary ...

49 pages

5 m, 3 w, 1 or 2 flexible

What do you get when you put a married couple, a butler, an evil owner of an estate, a local spiritualist, and five ghosts in a mansion overnight? Kenny and Janelle are a determined couple, willing to spend the night in the haunted Gottlieb Mansion to become the new owners. Consuela Gottlieb has other plans, while the ghosts are just trying to get the key to their spirit home. With a group hug at the end, this witty comedy is sure to keep the audience laughing. About 75 minutes. Great show for Halloween or any time of the year.

51 pages

2 m, 3 w

After years of waiting for a traditional marriage proposal, Caroline's had it. When she takes matters into her own hands and plans a "surprise" wedding at her family's vacation home, side-splitting mayhem is set in motion. This wedding, hardly the dream variety, has all the same trappings as a surprise birthday party: secrets, shrewd planning, and timing gone awry. Grudgingly participating in the scheme is her practical best friend and maid of honor, Beth. She questions everything from her bridesmaid dress (which she refers to as a fuchsia tortilla) to the ju...

73 pages

11 m, 13 w, 4 flexible, much doubling possible

Adapted from the novel by Wilkie Collins. It's the late 1800s and young Walter Hartright, on his way to a new teaching position, meets a mysterious woman dressed in white. Terrified, she asks him the way to London and mentions that she once was very happy at the very house Walter is going to. Later, Walter meets his pupils: Marian Halcombe and her half-sister Laura Fairlie, the latter who strongly resembles the woman in white. Walter soon falls in love with Laura, but his happiness is dashed when he finds out her engagement to Sir Percival Glyde has been arra...

67 pages

12 m, 19 w

A dozen young women are gathering to compete in "Miss Hometown America," a beauty pageant whose contestants must be from small towns. In addition, three other girls are there--at least in spirit! After an untimely end, Heather, Hope and Twyla come back to earth as angels and are watching the very pageant they had hoped to be in. They must be there for a reason, but why? As the pageant proceeds, we meet other contestants, including Ursula and her posse who are determined to take the winning and follow-up spots, no matter what. Can the angel trio keep the pagea...

51 pages

8 m, 5 w, 9 flexible, extras

This adaptation, appropriate for middle school and high school students alike, contains much of Shakespeare's original poetry and language but with an additional female role, that of Nerissa, a gentlewoman of the court. The play, a satiric comedy about "romantic" love, features two contrasting couples. There is Benedick, a cad, who has sworn to forever remain a bachelor. But as it turns out, he meets his match when he encounters Beatrice, a strong, intelligent, witty woman. Beatrice doesn't need a man, and she doesn't want one either. Then there is Claudio, t...

61 pages

4 m, 10 w

When movie mogul Mandrake Masterfiend, producer of the schlockiest horror movies in history, invites some of Hollywood's craziest characters to his birthday party, the evening's a killer--literally. That's because he also invites Rona LaMona, the most vicious gossip columnist in the business who writes weekly under the title "The Poisoned Pen," to stir up the pot a bit. Though the actors, designers, and directors of some of Masterfiend's greatest successes enthusiastically reenact some great scenes from his movies, they suddenly find themselves playing suspec...

69 pages

with doubling, 7 m, 7 w

Leo Mintz, a one-time big shot Broadway agent, now represents bird acts, roller-skating kids who recite poetry and flea circuses. However, Leo's problems are just starting when a known gangster Louie DeMarco "persuades" Leo to represent his protege with no discernible talent, the lovely Christine. As if this weren't bad enough, Leo promptly falls in love with her. "They should just type up a label which reads 'East River' and slap it on our foreheads!" scowls Liz, the secretary and bouncer for Leo's agency. Then, to throw everyone off the track, Leo stages a ...

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...

73 pages

8 m, 8 w, 11 flexible parts

Laura Armbruister is posing as her own substitute teacher because the school administration wants to put an end to all this drama nonsense, but they can't close down the upcoming play until they find Ms. Armbruister to fire her. Meanwhile, a fellow teacher and admirer, Steve Clarkson, is doing what he can to help Laura keep her job. But one of the students gets the wrong idea and thinks the two teachers are eloping at lunchtime! The students decide to come up with their own plan to save the show, which includes having the lead, Dave, dress as Ms. Armbruister....

64 pages

Widely flexible cast (16-40 actors)

Here is a collection of stories to make your blood turn cold. "Urban Legends" starts with a whirlwind tour that covers many of the famous and infamous urban legends we’ve grown up hearing and fearing. It then delves deeper, dramatizing full stories in chilling detail. In “The Survivor” we meet the sole survivor of a plane crash who has lost his only love, but while the other bodies have been retrieved, hers will never be found. “On Second Hand” features a young man who has a close call with death and suddenly his life is literally flashing before his eyes. “W...

69 pages

4 m, 6 w

Even though lovely young Julia works hard, she and her aunt will not be able to afford to keep their humble home, which sits at the edge of a garbage dump. If they lose their home, they’ll also lose the treasure Julia’s papa buried somewhere on the property that would take care of all their needs. (Hero Dan would ask his parents for money to help Julia, but alas, he too is an orphan.) As they try yet again to figure out the special riddle to the treasure’s location, a German Mennonite detective appears on the case and is soon followed by two old ladies with l...

41 pages

3 m, 2 w

Texas was never this fun - or this deadly! Jonas Carmody, President and Founder of Carmody Oil, is dead of natural causes at the age of 78, leaving an estate valued in excess of $30 million. The heirs apparent are in for a big surprise when they gather together with his friends and business associates for a memorial dinner in his honor. Unbeknownst to his eccentric family, a surprise reading of the will is on the menu, and murder is certain to be a la mode! As the story unfolds and the family unravels, it seems everybody wants more than their fair share. But ...

71 pages

7 m, 9 w, 25 flexible, doubling possible

Adapted from the stories by Rudyard KiplingHere's an energetic dramatization of the classic tale of Mowgli, the man-cub, who was abandoned as a baby in the jungle and raised by wolves. With Baloo, the bear, and Bagheera, the panther, as mentors, the growing boy has no trouble avoiding Shere Khan, the tiger, who wants to eat him. But when his two protectors leave him alone in the jungle to test his mettle, Mowgli suddenly finds he's got more trouble than he knows how to handle. The monkeys kidnap him and haul him off to the Forbidden City. Then two hyenas, who...

47 pages

Large, flexible cast. Approx. 20 actors.

In pageant, verse and fearsome argument the gods on Olympus set the great Perseus myth in motion. When the Oracle tells the human king, Acrisius, that his grandson will kill him, the old miser locks his daughter, Danae, up in a tower guarded by fearsome dogs. Zeus comes to her and devours the dogs and soon Perseus is born. Acrisius locks mother and baby in a chest and sets it afloat on the sea. The gods see the chest safely to the isle of Seriphos where Perseus grows into a local hero. The jealous king sends him on an impossible quest: to bring in the head of...

56 pages

3 m, 2 w (playing three roles)

Why would Hollywood soap opera star Ava Eveready check into a decrepit inn like Henry Cabot's lodge on a stormy night when the phone lines are down and the only road to town will soon wash out? Because her calculating husband Robert planned it that way so he could poison her. Also along for the ride are Ava's secretary with whom Robert is involved, and Ava's identical twin sister, Eva. But everything about Robert's well-rehearsed plan goes wrong. And bumbling Sheriff J. T. Malden, Cabot's good buddy, is right there to confuse the plot even more when he falls ...

71 pages

Flexible cast from 10 to 40

If drama has always taken a back seat to athletics at your school, it's time to bring all those sports nuts into your theatre. From baseball to football to tennis to chess and beyond, you'll find scenes about every aspect of sports -and life - the good, the bad, the ugly, and the funny! Pick and choose from 18 scenes to create a show that's just right for your team. You'll laugh at scenes like "Competition," "Coaching School," and the hysterical new game show, "Face Off." You'll be taken by scenes as "Teamwork," "Finding Time," and the offbeat "Adult Games," ...

62 pages

5 m, 5 w, 3 flexible parts, and extras

Would you like to hear the legend of Robin Hood? If your answer is "I Sherwood," then hitch up your gauntlets and get ready to laugh. You see, it's a little-known fact that the famous English bandit was a bit of a klutz. As a kid he practiced with a bow and violin instead of a bow and arrow, so naturally to fight the king's injustices he needed his famous band of women. Women? That's what you get when you send Little John to do the recruiting! But just as the ladies are persuaded that after they steal from the rich they have to give the goodies to the poor, R...

90 pages

Flexible cast of 13 to 40

When Fred is forced to go to the library to do a report, he meets the Book Master, a magical character who introduces him to some of the most popular fictional characters ever created. Before his eyes, sections from several great books are acted out. You can choose whichever 6 to 8 scenes of the 9 included to comprise a full evening's entertainment. Scenes include "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Little Women" (Americana); "Jane Eyre" (Gothic); "Dracula" and "The Monkey's Paw" (horror); "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "A Thousand and One Arabi...

51 pages

2 m, 2 w, 10 either (expandable to 20)

Magic, mayhem, and madness unfold in this classic story of love, revenge, and forgiveness. Based on The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Bitterroot is a modern adaptation set in the American West. Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been stranded in the Montana wilderness for twelve years. When fate brings Prospero’s evil brother to Montana, Prospero must decide whether to exact his revenge or forgive his enemies. But can Prospero accept that his daughter wants to marry the son of an enemy? And can he forgive himself for th...

59 pages

8 m, 14 w

When Max Holsten sets out for work leaving behind his briefcase and an unfinished breakfast, his quaint 1950s family is besieged by a series of misunderstandings that fester into conspiracy theories and suspicions. The extended family Max and his newlywed wife, April, have been living with are no comfort. April’s sister June has an obsession with pulp-fiction intrigue and leads April to assume the worst about Max. Making matters murkier, Grandma May, the aged and easily confused matriarch of the family, misstates all the facts. Max’s seemingly simple oversigh...

88 pages

Widely flexible cast of 45 characters. (3 m, 6 w, 36 flexible)

Andy would do anything for his sister. Perhaps even end the world. This post-apocalyptic dark comedy of wishes gone wrong takes the audience on a wonderfully bizarre, humorous, frightening, and surprisingly heartfelt journey.  Along the way there are British zombies, a mind-reader, a trickster who only wants a good story, hip vampires, a hero who both slays and saves, and multitudes of other oddities. 

But at its heart, the play is about family, f...

58 pages

11 m, 23 w, doubling possible

High school student Chloe seems to have everything together. She is a soccer player, a dancer, and a top student. But under the surface, the pressure is mounting. Her mom and brother need help at home, the school projects pile up, and even her friends pressure her to start dating. She doesn’t want to disappoint anybody, but in her effort to please everyone, her world begins spinning out of control. As the various responsibilities build up around her, she creates and deploys multiple versions of herself – the Chorus – in an effort to be "everything to everybod...

50 pages

6 m, 3 w

Hard times have come on Gumption Gulch and Grandma Gertie Parker is forced to open a clothes-washing service to earn extra money. Even Sheriff Gideon Gumption is “moonlighting” (though the term has him totally baffled) at the stagecoach office and a local lunch spot. Grandma Gertie’s old nemesis has sent her two boys, Luther and Ulysses Bragg, to town to put Gertie’s laundry service out of business as payback for an old feud. Add in a possum-farming brother and sister couple (Elrod has a serious case of “the anxieties”), a blacksmith who dreams of being a com...

64 pages

8 m, 4 w, 4 flexible, doubling possible

Far from being a demure woman quietly sewing a flag, the epic life of Betsy Ross and her survival during the Revolutionary War and the British occupation of Philadelphia is brought vibrantly to life in this full-length play. It is a romantic story of heroism against the background of a great, world-shattering war for independence. The story is told through the eyes of John Claypoole, boyhood friend of Betsy's, in love with her from the start, who is also a soldier in Washington's army. Wounded at Germantown, John became a sailor and ended the war in the Briti...

54 pages

5 m, 7 w, optional extras

It is Petrea’s birthday slumber party, but she doesn’t feel like celebrating because she will soon be going away to boarding school. Her girlfriends play a hypnosis game to make her feel better, but are then shocked to find that Petrea really believes she is Peter Pan! When a group of boys arrive to crash the party, everyone becomes involved in a charade of Neverland characters, gender-bending their way through a scene with boys pretending to be mermaids and fairies and girls acting as pirates and the “lost boys.” Only a clever boy, disguised as Wendy, can sn...

67 pages

5 m, 11 w, 7 flex, 4 kids. Doubling is possible.

When Cassidy Tyler heads back to her hometown of Farmland, Indiana, she is determined to tell the truth about the boyfriend she has been writing about in her blog and magazine column. But before she can confess to her family, her editor arranges for a suspended sports writer, Jason, to play the part of this fictional boyfriend. She is determined to throw him out, but her family loves him, her old boyfriend hates him, and she finds herself more attracted to him than she wants to admit. But at her sister’s graduation party, the fake romance is exposed in front ...

67 pages

5 m, 10 w, and 5 - 10 flexible

Connor's summer is off to a rough start: the camp bus almost crashes, his cabin mates don't trust him, and the girls on the other side of the camp constantly outsmart him. But when he and his friends Tasha, Parker, and Kimberly investigate the mystery surrounding the "Ghost of Dead Billy," they begin a hilarious adventure that is worlds away from a typical campfire story. This haunted camp comedy with a sci-fi twist has it all: ghosts, aliens, robots, plant zombies and, of course, dodgeball.

44 pages

4 m, 3 w

Two married couples pool their resources to buy a diner in the middle of the desert. Excited and enthusiastic at first, they come to realize their dream isn’t turning out to be the success they wanted. Unable to afford to fix the diner’s broken sign or pave the dusty parking lot, the hoped-for customers continue to drive by without stopping. Inside the diner, with failing equipment and dwindling funds, the two couples discover they can’t even sell the building for a portion of what they paid for it. They are about to give up in desperation when a handsome, ch...