School

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...

75 pages

Large, flexible cast

Six separate stories of the macabre will test your goosebump factor. In "Effigy," members of a high school football team learn a gruesome lesson when school spirit is carried too far. In "Voices in the Attic," a sleepy father tries in vain to assure his kids that the sounds they keep hearing are only in their imagination. But can the boys' imaginations make an attic stair creak or turn a doorknob? In "Night-Screamers," why do the children who live in the ancient apartment complex on the edge of town have so many nightmares? One tale makes use of sign language...

72 pages

3 m, 9 w

The Peaceful Glen Memorial Players are about to mount a new production, but this time, it's a fight for their lives. It's not just the usual hand-to-hand combat between board members Duncan and Hope for the last donut. This time the company is about to lose their building. According to the late Archibald Donnelly's will, they could keep the building as long as they do "quality productions." Oh, they have tried, in their own left-field way, to do the classics. "Isn't it true," family heir Blair Beesley asks, "that you did 'Twelve Angry Men' with five actors an...

50 pages

6 m, 6 w

Miss Duncan, the Stratford High School drama teacher, has always wanted to direct "Hamlet," but from the very start her production is doomed. The lead actor is a prima dona who exasperates his peers. The other actors are either jealous that they weren't cast in different roles, or clueless. On opening night the costumes still haven't arrived, the makeup is lost, and the actor who is to play Horatio calls from the hospital just before his emergency appendectomy. A member of the cast has a cousin who is a professional actor who recently performed in "Hamlet." W...

69 pages

6 m, 5 w

Two young innkeepers, Alex and Rolly, are struggling to make a success of a once-elegant hostelry in the Hamptons, but it's tough, especially with the owner Lucinda Pickle breathing down their necks. Of course it doesn't help that the hotel's permanent resident, Mrs. Prescott, collects pet mice; that the hotel chef, Cookie, is given to bursting into tears and resigning; and that a petty criminal, Willis the pickpocket, is looking for a place to hide out. When Hollywood horror movie producer Julian K. Silverblatt checks in with his vain bodyguard and his sneez...

73 pages

4 m, 4 w, 3 flexible, numerous extras

Young, gifted opera singer Christine Daae has just filled in for La Carlotta, the reigning prima donna, to a stupendous ovation at the Paris Opera. Christine has been tutored by an instructor whom she thinks of as the "Angel of Music." She convinces him to let her see his hidden world, for she realizes he is the feared "Opera Ghost," though he tells her his real name is Erik. Reluctantly, he takes her to his lair where she sees the wonder of a world that totally revolves around music. Curious, she pulls off the mask he wears and sees the hideous visage beneat...

56 pages

8 m, 8 w, 4 or more extras as female pirates

While evading her wedding and overbearing fiancé, Lizette de Champlay, a headstrong French woman, leads her ladies to a British merchant ship. Once aboard, the ladies upset the sailors and their disciplined captain, Roger Thornwood, convincing him to hunt for treasure on an island home to a fierce band of female pirates. As Roger and Lizette begin to fall for each other, Lizette’s fiancé and her father follow them to the island, only to be captured by the pirates. What follows are battles of the heart and sword as everyone searches for their treasure.

66 pages

7 m, 13 w, plus 5-8 radio callers

Radio station manager Clay Davis learns that an heiress was poisoned at the secluded island resort where his girlfriend works. He goes to warn her but is trapped there with all the other guests. Then, not only does an elegant Countess disappear, but so does a withdrawn, mysterious maid. Murder suspects include the annoying neighbor who wants the island sold out to developers; the grouchy, inept handyman; and the burly, brainless new pool man. And who will be the next victim? Will it be the over-eager staff dietician; the unpublished mystery writer; the once-f...

63 pages

6 m, 7 w

See the butler and maid help the Cummings pack. See the butler and maid escort the Cummings out the door. See the butler and maid turn to each other and embrace because they are actually two aspiring actors, Billy and Wendy, who now have the Cummings estate to themselves! One week of acting rich! Unfortunately for them, they won't be alone and they aren't the only ones acting. For all kinds of weird and hilarious reasons, the neighbor is posing as a cleaning lady; the Cummings' daughter is acting like a family friend; the jewel thief is acting like a long-los...

56 pages

5 m, 9 w, 3 flexible, plus extras

To prom or not to prom? That is the question! The student body leaders at Lowzund High bicker and argue about various prom themes. They finally decide to combine all of their ideas into one to create a medieval-futuristic-under-the-sea dance. But when self-proclaimed drama-geek, Dante Allegro, is rejected by the arrogant, text-messaging-obsessed cheerleader, he uses his persuasive abilities to cancel the whole event. Now, the noble-hearted student body president, Beatrix Holiday, must come up with a scheme to rescue what she believes is the defining moment in...

71 pages

5 m, 6 w, 18 flexible or with doubling 3 m, 3 w

Snow day! In this collection of hilarious scenes we see how an unexpected day off from school can be an answer to a prayer…or not! Sweethearts Mark and Jessica aren’t feeling very sweet when, after a whole night of decorating the gym, the winter homecoming dance is canceled. Meanwhile, Paul is thrilled to get an invitation from Mary to go sledding, if only his overprotective mother will chill. Then there’s poor Julie – will she ever figure out how to get her tongue unstuck from the frozen flagpole? Woven throughout the many scenes, Trenton, a student, and Mr....

46 pages

4 m, 8 w, 2 flexible, extras

Stan is a social pariah. He is beaten up at the school bus stop, never chosen for any team, and ignored every day at lunch. Then Chloe enrolls at the school. Being called names? No problem. She has flippant retorts and happily collects the offensive epithets in a notebook. Someone in her face? Her dad taught her how to physically twist a bully’s arm. Amid her tough, cool exterior, however, she also has compassion. Stan and Chloe become allies and gradually fall in love, and as is often the case with first loves, they feel as if everything good in their world ...

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...

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...

69 pages

9 m, 16 w, and extras

Wealthy but ditzy Patricia Smitherton-Smatherton and her granddaughters realize something is very wrong when movers begin to repossess the furniture. Perkins, the perfect butler, tries to tell madam the problem lies with Stan D. Mann, her unscrupulous business manager. They don't believe him until they learn Stan plans to sell their house to a flashy Hollywood producer. The girls decide the only way to come up with the mortgage money is to send their grandmother away and turn the mansion into "Disco Dawg." They decorate the place in the current "groovy" `70s style, and everyone who's any...