School

61 pages

4 m, 17 w, 2 flexible

Jimmy Martin's the coolest cat in the class of '63 at Buddy Holly High, until he's turned into a real creep--a classic nerd named Clarence Doogle. And his cool friends are turned into his school supplies! The spell will last until a "fair damsel" asks Clarence Doogle out. All the kids are aware of the Creep's existence, but are shocked when he actually enters the malt shop one day to try to get a date. Meanwhile, three con-ladies pose as Hollywood talent scouts and announce auditions at the malt shop the following day. The thugs kidnap the richest student for...

71 pages

13 m, 12 w, 8 flexible

In this adaptation of Frank L. Baum's book, "Tik Tok of Oz," the Queen begs her old friend Dorothy to take the mechanical man, Tik Tok, and rescue the Wizard of Oz who has been kidnapped! The journey will be long and perilous, but Dorothy will do anything to save her old friend. Along the way, Dorothy and Tik Tok meet other colorful characters, all of whom decide to find the Wizard in the hope that he might be able to solve each of their problems. But even after the kidnapper, Ruggedo, is defeated, the fearful group must enter the Metal Forest to find the Wiz...

64 pages

5 m, 4 w, 6 children

Inspired by the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. Whatever became of that pale, lanky school teacher Icabod Crane after a Headless Horseman threw a pumpkin at him? Ichabod is either really angry at the way he was treated or he's dead. Or, because this is Sleepy Hollow, he may be both! This Agatha Christie-like adaptation is set in the present. The first act is a faithful retelling of the story by Washington Irving with a contemporary Ichabod living in secluded Sleepy Hollow that has not changed in three hundred years. Still consi...

51 pages

6 m, 6 w, 1 flexible

This beloved tale from Hans Christian Andersen gets an original spin when set in the kingdom of Pilsenferfer! The King and Queen think it’s high time their son Prince Albert found a bride and settled down. But shy Albert can’t stop collecting butterflies for his conservatory long enough to find and woo a royal maiden. And really, who needs to go to all that trouble when the lovely Anne, one of the Queen’s maids, shares his passion for butterflies AND sews the buttons on his coat. If only she were from royal linage like the other candidates, including the food...

64 pages

7 m, 10 w

Rhoda Raines desperately needs money to pay the rent on her beauty parlor, so she decides to check out a computer dating service in hopes of finding a rich man to marry her spoiled daughter Olive. She logs on to www.nuptialknots.com., and no sooner than Rhoda can say, "Wash, rinse, and set," prospective grooms are dropping in all over the place. There's a "British aristocrat"; a Hollywood producer; a guy who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt; an old codger; and even an undercover cop. Mix in Ronnie Harper, the owner of the local Kwiki Mart (who really loves Olive),...

56 pages

4 m, 6 w, 17 flexible, extras, doubling possible

Ernie is a lonely old fisherman, without much joy in his life, until he meets an unlikely friend: a mermaid named Breeze. She has just escaped from the cruel underwater kingdom of the idiotic Emperor Tropico and hopes to enjoy her newly found freedom. But just hanging around in Ernie's lagoon isn't enough for her. When she spies Rico, the local heart-breaker, practicing for an upcoming dance competition, Breeze decides to become human and pursue her dream of becoming a dancer. However, there are many obstacles in her way. For one, she must make a deal with th...

48 pages

3 m, 7 w, 2 flex

Poor King Augustus and Queen Regina! Their kingdom is half frozen because of a curse placed on their daughter, Princess Mirabelle, and nobody seems to know how to break the spell. When the Princess’s latest suitor, Prince Tomaso from a neighboring kingdom, is frozen by her touch, matters are no long inconvenient—they’re downright dangerous. Tomaso’s father threatens war if his son is not returned safely. As a last resort, the Queen texts a writer who gives advice in her “Leave It to Lilith” daily column. Lilith says the easiest way to break the curse is to go...

64 pages

9 m, 10 w

Brett Spencer yearns to do more, to be more. So she and her best friend, Nora, form this kind of group thing to help them and their friends get through their senior year of high school without losing their minds. No rules, not even a name, it's just a place to meet and be yourself. Their friends join them - Paige, who tries not to overeat because she feels so empty inside; Juice, just out of a treatment center; Danny, who hangs loose, hangs tough and just hangs on; and others who are seemingly always on the outside looking in at the popular kids...until they ...

52 pages

Flexible casting: 2 - 6 m, 8 - 17 w

Alden and Sidney find themselves developing an unlikely friendship having been marked as outcasts by the “in crowd” at school. We see through their eyes what it is like to be ridiculed and picked on, what it feels like to have your “friends” turn on you because of one simple misstep. But just when life seems most bleak, enter a hero: a quirky, awkward, fun-loving, larger-than-life, sure-to-make-you-laugh superhero for the new millennium: Empathy Girl! Though unable to fly, lacking superstrength or speed, and a little hypoglycemic, Empathy Girl isn’t without a...

60 pages

Flexible cast of 10 or more

This adaptation has kept alive the monsters and dragons that inhabited the original poem. However, it is told from the point of view of a Scop (Shope), a teller of tales, who had traveled and fought with Beowulf. The Scop is now a prisoner of the Saxons and while a prisoner tells this tale of courage to a priest who eventually agrees to preserve it by writing it down. The tale the Scop tells is substantially the same as the poem we know, however, the Christian ethic is removed and the tale is presented, as the playwright believes it originally was, with the g...

70 pages

Minimum cast of 13 with doubling: 6 m, 6 w, 1 flex

Dusty Junction is in big trouble! The roaming outlaw Ugly Monroe is terrorizing the citizens. First he shoots stable owner Joe and steals his boots; next he shoots the sheriff and steals his badge; and then he shoots the doc and steals his stethoscope. As the loyal community struggles to hold itself together, timid Deputy Shawn needs to step up and prove he is not Deputy Nancy-boy! He is bolstered by Marlene, the kindly saloon owner; Mindy Sue, his fiery sweetheart; and even Bobby Joe, the cute little boy…er, girl…well, child. The final straw breaks when Ugly...

57 pages

5 m, 4 w, 3 flexible, 5-7 kids or adults dressed as kids

At Jim Dandy's Dandy Dude Ranch for Children, nasty city kids learn good manners and improve their self-images. The Dandy ladies, including the lovely young Melody Dandy, are running the ranch while Jim Dandy is serving an undeserved prison sentence. Trouble is, the ranch is close to the future railroad line and villain Rash von Sphincter is determined to have it. Rash tricks the gals into letting him manage the ranch, turning all the dude children into brats, ruining the ranch's reputation, and (hopefully) forcing Mrs. Dandy to sell. All is saved when our he...

59 pages

Flexible cast, approx. 7 m, 9 w, extras

Jenny is excited to be reunited with her friends Dee-Ray and Robert at school after a long summer. But there's trouble. Ms. Fishfac, the new science teacher, is coming down hard on the class, handing out outrageous assignments that only a nerd, like Max Pine, would love. Jenny decides to fight back, from organizing the "Glee Club," where the class makes weird sounds and other disruptions, to convincing Mrs. Fishfac to stage a challenge between Max and Robert. Robert, a quiet student, wins by using his hidden gift, a photographic memory, but their triumph is s...

60 pages

4 m, 6 w, 3 flexible

Two inept detectives, Cagney and Lacey, have been put in charge of protecting an unusual family at a safe house until the mother, Elvira Bytes, can testify against a ruthless crime mob. The police are unaware, however, that Elvira, her husband Barnabas, and their three kids are vampires! The parents are trying to change the family ways but it isn’t easy with sarcastic teenage daughter, Scarlett, who uses a voodoo doll, and teenage son, Jason, who thinks he is also a werewolf. Only the youngest daughter, Raven, wants to be normal. When she brings home a new fr...

52 pages

9 m, 9 w, 8 flexible, doubling possible

Seeking comfort from her miserable life and an easy ticket to the prince's ball, our heroine Ashenputtel cries out for her Fairy Godmother. The magical matriarch who arrives, however, is a no-nonsense narrator who works her magic by giving lesser-known folktales a playful yet empowering twist. This Fairy Godmother offers no magical pumpkin carriages, but rather spins three separate tales of women from around the world who make their own happily ever after. Story one, from Ecuador, is "The Search for the Magic Lake," which features a peasant girl who must bold...