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  Conning Kirby

Farce by Michal Jacot

69 pages

4 m, 3 w


Ray Chambers is a sales executive whose company invests in small businesses to franchise them. His target this time is surly Kirby Muldoon, the owner of Kirby's Pizzeria. Kirby has taken a vacation to a mountaintop lodge to work on his anger management. Ray, with the help of his fiancée Julie and his woman-crazy assistant Tony, schemes to win over Kirby. It’s complicated by Tony's infatuation with Kirby's waitress Lisa and the shrill owner of the lodge, Cyndi, who can't seem to stop shrieking at an unseen handyman. After being turned down the first time, Ray ...

  Code Five

Drama by Marc Holland

24 pages

1 m, 1 w


A male nurse is facing a stalemate after years of sessions with his therapist…until today. Finally, the hole in his mind is filled by the actual memory of moments of terror. His realization? That in keeping a few co-workers and himself alive behind a blocked door, others were killed on the other side of the door while begging to be let in. It is, sadly, a story of a shooting that is all too timely. Here is a play that will open some conversations that we don’t really want to have about an issue we wish would go away. When the evening news no longer leads with...

  Clotheslined at Gumption Gulch

Melodrama by Brian Sylvia

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...

  Child's Play

Comedy by Jacqueline Lynch

67 pages

4 m, 4 w


Margaret Miller is a self-styled "barracuda" literary agent whose new client, Shane Velasco, star of action films, is expected for dinner and contract negotiations. Her routine business meeting becomes a comedy playground when her associate (and ex-husband) Hank shows up with his own client, Madame Guadelupe Montevideo, "world famous" hypnotist. When Margaret insults Guadelupe, she turns her fiery temper and flare for the dramatic on Margaret, hypnotizing her into a shy, five-year-old child. Coping with her growing pains are her roommate Janet, a bored execut...

  Charles Augustus Milverton

Reader Theatre by Al Rodin

19 pages

4 m, 3 w


Charles Augustus Milverton is a blackmailer who preys on women who have at times slipped into indiscretions. Thus Lady Eva Blackwell wrote several imprudent letters to a young squire, which Milverton now possesses, and threatens to release them to her future husband if she does not give him 7,000 pounds. Sherlock Holmes, who agrees to represent her, refuses payment. Instead he and Watson resort to obtaining the letters by burglarizing Milverton's home. While doing so, they surreptitiously witness his meeting with a veiled woman whose letters had been sent by ...

  Cats, Cooks and Chaos Three Stories by Saki

Comedy Satire by Burton Bumgarner

85 pages

Flexible cast


Author H.H. Munro, also known as Saki, wrote about upperclass English society before the first World War and satirized its foibles with dark humor and acid wit. Playwright Burton Bumgarner has updated and Americanized three of Saki's stories, dramatizing their impish ironies, exquisite mischief, and O'Henry-like twist endings. All three stories, which are played before one basic living room set, may be presented for a full evening's entertainment, or each can be presented separately. (See individual listings in the One-Act Section.)

  The Catch

Comedy by John W Rutherford

75 pages

8 m, 10 w, extras and voice-overs


Katie Grove has been recruited to the exclusive private Coolidge Academy because of her incredible talent as an ace softball pitcher. But not everyone is happy to have her onboard, especially a prima donna pitcher who has no intentions of allowing Katie to replace her. Katie soon discovers the Academy’s athletics program is a front for an illegal gambling ring, headed by the most popular guy on campus and his two bumbling friends. Katie must work through a series of issues that will challenge her ideas about love, sportsmanship, and integrity. The Lockers, wh...

  The Blind Spot

Drama by Steven Stack

28 pages

4 m, 3 w, 1 flexible, extras


This drama tells the story of the last days of high school student Luke's life, and the repercussions felt by those who play a role in what happens to him: his teacher, the bully, the most popular girl in school, and his best friend. Luke finds himself overwhelmed by years of not feeling good enough, a feeling that finally reaches a breaking point. The decision Luke makes will have repercussions for everyone around him for the rest of their lives. This story, though, isn’t just about Luke: it's about all of them, all of us, and the struggles that we all carry...

  Blind Spot

Classic by Burton Bumgarner

34 pages

6 m, 5 w, 1 flexible, doubling possible


Based on the story by H.H. Munro (Saki). Wealthy Uncle Lulworth eagerly awaits the next meal from his uncommonly skilled, but foul-tempered cook, Mrs. Sebastian. His niece, Ellen, visits him shortly before dinner after their aunt's funeral. As executor of the estate, Ellen has run across a series of letters to the aunt from another relative, Uncle Peter, who died years earlier under mysterious circumstances. Through re-enactments based on the letters, we learn Uncle Peter was a despicable human being and was probably killed by a "common" criminal, perhaps som...

  Betsy's Flag

by Walter Vail

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...

  Ben Franklin Invents America

Drama by Will Huddleston

59 pages

Ensemble of 7 - 20+


Ben Franklin has gathered his apprentices together to make a play that is the story of his life and how it parallels the beginning of a new country. The apprentices are inexperienced but very eager. One will get to play Ben as a boy, “Little Ben”; another will be the young and daring “Middle Ben.” And of course, “Big Ben” will be played by Ben himself, who will also take a few other juicy roles! The great moments of his life are enacted including the creation of “Silence Dogood,” a wildly popular fictional female letter-writer who mocks all of society and ste...

  Beach Blanket Murder

Comedy by Jacqueline Lynch

51 pages

6 m, 5 w, 2 flexible


Life is not so cool lately for Debbie Dawn, the teen starlet whose fantastic movie career suddenly seems empty and shallow. Even her screen boyfriend, Troy, wonders why he must be a teenager in love, especially now that he's 26. The real problems, and the fun, begin when Debbie's no-good manager plots her murder to cover the fact he's lost all her money on shady business deals. An inept hit man gets himself pummeled, knifed, and shot just trying to get near Debbie. Her beach house is more like a madhouse because "TV Sock Hop" host Del Murdock arrives to broad...

  Bandits of Love

Comedy by Pat Cook

60 pages

7 m, 6 w, extras


Coming to your theatre! All the fast-paced action, all the cockeyed characters, all the romance you'd ever want and still have room for popcorn. Return with us now to those thrilling days of silent movies when anything went and usually took most of the scenery with it. Can B.B. Tackett, one step ahead of the police, make his next movie? Will Freddie Thurlow find true love with the daughter of a fruit vendor and will she be the apple of his eye? And just who brought in a stuffed hamster, anyway? Wisecracking their way through one scrape after another, our litt...

  As You Like It

Shakespeare by C. Michael Perry

56 pages

Flexible cast of about 30


This delightful adaptation updates the action to 20th century New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration! It has been edited for time and archaic expressions, but otherwise the language is the same. The through-line is still very evident as Shakespeare's comment on the classes and pastoralism. Included in the oversized script are four original songs, New Orleans jazz style, which use Shakespeare's poems as the lyrics, with the suggestion of a grand finale of "When the Saints Go Marching In." The costumes are modern day but still very much in the style of Shakespeare ...

  Arranged Marriage

Comedy by Gary Arms

42 pages

2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible


Ronald Schmidt has just left his bride at the altar to attend an urgent meeting at Dr. Shaw's office. Diana Henderson has left her bridegroom at the altar to attend the same meeting. Both hope it's about inheriting the late doctor's fortune, but all that the two strangers find are Shaw's ashes in an urn and Shaw's assistant. To qualify for their legacy, he says, they must be handcuffed for twenty-four hours. Once alone, they argue, then kiss and eventually break the handcuffs. The assistant returns with the jilted bride and bridegroom, the ones left at the re...