School

41 pages

5 m, 8 w, 4 flexible, extras (including a few children from the audience)

In this adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's beloved tale, all of the town's children gather round a traveling storyteller to hear the story of a wayward little fairy girl. When an old woman wishes on a magic flower, her heart's desire for a child of her own literally blossoms before her eyes. Her magical little girl, only a few inches high, is named Thumbelina, and although the friendly child is very helpful around the house, and very kind to the nearby forest creatures, she just doesn't feel as if she fits in. A gossipy Frog Lady convinces Thumbelina tha...

37 pages

5 m, 8 w, 12 flexible

In this one-act play, tragedy meets fantasy, myth meets reality. A fairy-tale world winds itself around the real drama of one little girl’s battle with cancer and her family’s anguish. As they struggle to cope with her prognosis and desperate treatment, the fairy tale characters from the little girl’s book play out their own drama. Will an evil sorceress and her dark creatures succeed in pulling Princess Caroline away from her beloved family and prince? Will little Cora’s experimental cancer treatment save her? In our imaginations, the villain is always slain...

33 pages

3 m, 3 w

Inspired by the short story by Richard Connell. In this updated version of a classic thriller, corporate headhunters give new meaning to the term "hunting." Throughout the Zaroff Corporation's long history, success is based on finding the right employees. Four professionals are invited for an interview at Zaroff's headquarters. After a gourmet meal and cordial introductions, the potential employees realize that this would be the perfect job with the perfect salary. The human resource manager of Zaroff then tells the potential employees that they are all compe...

71 pages

Flex. cast, approx. 10 m, 19 w, extras

Just sit right down and enjoy a tale - a tale that combines parts of Fantasy Island, Treasure Island, and Gilligan's Island. Now you've got some idea of what's in store when you're lagooned. In this sequel to Tim Kelly's ever popular play, "Don't Rock the Boat," some favorite characters do their best to survive on a weird atoll in the South Pacific, the home of cannibals, jungle drums, and nasty wildlife including a gorilla! They don't realize the island is actually part of Fantasy Tours, an organization that stages shipwrecks for clients willing to pay the p...

23 pages

Widely flexible cast of 10 or more

OK, teens, listen up. If you want to drive a car, go to college/grad night/prom, get a class ring or new clothes, you're going to have to - find a JOB! All the fun, frustrations and foibles of part-time jobs are explored in these scenes and monologues, from making a hamburger (first the lettuce then the onion!), to figuring our what garbled language is being spoken in the drive-thru, to presenting a phone sales pitch before the person hangs up with a thud! There are also some moments of comic fantasy as teens try to picture their dream job, as surfer and comi...

31 pages

2 m, 2 w, 5 flexible

Leaping llamas! "The Fourth Wall," a play within a play, begins as a murder mystery, but the murder victim won't keel over. The playwright forgot to give the characters names, and a rude audience member keeps interrupting the show. Even the ending of the play stinks! Everyone is supposed to die and then the character Death is supposed to do an interpretive dance. Thankfully, the audience's agony is cut short halfway through when the actors break character because Death accidentally kills the Host and then leaves the set to move his car. Without Death, how can...

72 pages

6 m, 11 w, extras

Sanders is very upset. The budget for his opening show of the new theatre season is being cut by eighty percent. This particular play is to be an epic retelling of the timeless classic, "Cinderella," an expensive show that includes grand costumes, elaborate sets, and high-priced special effects. But how is he expected to pull off such a spectacle with practically no money? To add insult to injury, Sanders learns that the reason his budget is cut is because Mrs. Brakes, the executive director of the theatre, and her pal Bonnie, the president of the board of di...

26 pages

10 m, 9 w, 2 flexible

In this fast-paced, technology-saturated world, can teenagers really survive without laptops, i-pads, cell phones and other mobile devices? Has high-speeding texting replaced face-to-face communication? Do apps substitute for thoughtful conversation? From breaking up on Facebook, to in-class research, to real-time dating advice, this play delves into the world of teens to see how they navigate with (or - gasp! - without) technology. "Screenagers" is a humorous look at how technology is shaping the way we socialize, communicate, and—hang on, I’ve got a call co...

48 pages

1 m, 2 w, 10 flexible, 1 offstage voice

Ten dim-witted people have been invited to an old house on Dunce Island with the ultimate purpose, unbeknownst to them, to be murdered. Apparently, because of his or her dumbness, each was responsible for the earlier death of someone else. Now, one by one, they themselves are done in according to a silly nursery rhyme hanging over the fireplace. Because they’re not the brightest bulbs in the box, the poor victims are murdered rather easily by such things as vacuum cleaner hoses and live alligators. After several murders take place, they become suspicious of e...

37 pages

4 m, 8 w

At the end of the 1940s an old theatre building is about to be torn down. As the theatre's acting troupe is packing up the props, costumes and set pieces, an old magician's trunk is wheeled onstage. Suddenly, members of the company are turning up dead. Margaret, the director's assistant, is the only witness to these crimes, seeing with her own eyes how Eve was strangled, Madigan bludgeoned, and Stan shot. Yet no one will believe her, especially when there is no trace of any of the bodies! This edgy, film noir-style mystery earned straight superiors from the j...

31 pages

6 m, 5 w, extra flexible roles

World War II lingers on. The unspeakable operations in the death camps are slated for closure, but there is still time for one last train to deliver prisoners before the Americans arrive. Two young German soldiers, Hans and Eric, are sick at heart and know their country is in ruin. They are assigned to assist the loading of the last car. Eric is shocked when he hears Anna, a childhood friend, call out to him for help. But Anna doesn’t have her papers, and no matter what Eric says to his superiors, he cannot convince them it is wrong for her to be there. Hans ...

62 pages

6 m, 17 w, 1 flex.

Based on the classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll is back for a second year of teaching science at Devon Academy after leaving his position as head of surgery at Guy’s Hospital under mysterious circumstances. He continues with his private research at the school, enlisting Head Girl Jackie Utterson as a lab assistant. Frightening things begin to happen, beginning with an attack on a student who was sneaking off the school grounds. Utterson is dismayed to find that another person is also assisting in the lab— the terrifying Mr. Hyde. When beloved...

72 pages

5 m, 6 w, extras as campaigners

Politics can be murder! It's election night and all the friends and supporters of mayoral candidate Matthew Kensington are throwing him a surprise birthday/campaign party. But there's one surprise no one suspects. An aide is found stabbed in the back with the birthday cake knife! Clues and suspects abound in this frenetic political satire that leaves the audience wondering just who they CAN trust. Great fun for all, with campaigners canvassing the audience as to whom they'll vote for. Not only can the audience question the suspects, but they even get to vote ...

58 pages

6 m, 6 w, 16 flexible, extras if desired

Follow Prince Tamino in this hilarious tale as he travels to the castle of the evil Sarastro to save the princess Pamina. Along his magical journey he meets a wild cast of characters including Papageno, the three muses, the Greenbird, the spirits, and the fabled Queen of the Night. Armed with a magic flute given by the queen, Tamino is ready to take on Sarastro. Once inside the castle our prince and his friends face monsters, magic, and a test to free his beloved Pamina. Fast-paced dialogue and hysterical characters enchant this large-cast play based on the o...

63 pages

7 m, 11 w

Not many people like Sam Slaughter, the world's most successful but most reclusive mystery writer. He's just fired the aging star of his radio mystery show, "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night," and he's two-timing another star with a brainless showgirl. He's also yelled at his butler, his agent, and the show's producer. To make matters worse, a woman from his past shows up with some incriminating evidence. But before Sam can pay off the blackmail she demands, he is kidnapped and shots are fired in the night. It all happens at his isolated mansion where the radio...