School

28 pages

4 m, 4 w

In order to save his darling Lily Lackamoney from the clutches of the rapscallion J. Tamarack Gargle, the hero, Balderdash Trustworthy, goes to the city to find the necessary money. Gargle, determined to have the fair damsel, employs the dirty work of Maxine Mascara to throw Balderdash into the river. However, just as the preacher is pronouncing Lily and Gargle man and wife, Balderdash enters in a blaze of glory! One act.

68 pages

7 m, 5 w, and 7 flexible

Deep in the heart of West Virginia, there’s a little hillbilly town called Gizzard, and in that town you’ll find Leroy’s Clip n’ Dip… the world’s first beauty parlor/auto garage. Now, folks in Gizzard aren’t exactly beating the Clip n’ Dip’s door down, so to pass the time, Otis Hooper and his mechanic buddies Crisco, Clyde and Floyd, have started a band called Truck Stop Chili. Clementine (Otis’s sweetheart.) and her beauty parlor pals, Mazola, Darlene and Helga the masseuse, all grit their teeth, cover their ears and tolerate the racket, until the day Hollyw...

44 pages

7 m, 11 w. Much doubling possible.

The terrible waste of war never seemed more contemporary than in these quintessential tragedies by Euripides set before and after the siege of Troy. Far from being “historical dramas,” they speak to any generation embroiled in conflict. We see up close and firsthand that war is the most pitiful—and most poetic—of human activities. In the first play, "Iphigenia at Aulis," the Grecian army waits to embark on the conquest of Troy. The army’s commander, Agamemnon, has been forced to offer his young daughter, Iphigenia, as a martyr to ensure victory. Valiant effor...

64 pages

8 m, 6 w

What happens when two villains in a melodrama meet? The action begins when an English Vicar returns home from doing missionary work in America. Unbeknownst to him, he has brought back a map to a thriving gold mine in California. The Vicar is followed across the pond by the villainous Bart Lovelace and his accomplices who are trying to find the map. Meanwhile, an English villain, Agamore Primrose, has been courting one of the Vicar’s lovely daughters in hopes of gaining a small but handsome inheritance should the Vicar succumb to an untimely accident. During t...

20 pages

3 m, 6 w, some doubling possible

Adapted by Philip Lerman From the classic by Euripides. Troy lies in ruins after its defeat by the Grecian army. All the men have been killed, and the women wait to be transported to Greece, as slaves or concubines. Hecuba, Troy’s former queen, learns the disposition of her surviving family from the Grecian soldier Talthybius. In parting scenes with her daughter and with her son's widow, Hecuba’s spirits are lifted by the courage of these young women. After a blunt exchange with Helen, whose illicit romance with Hecuba’s other son Paris led to Troy’s destruct...

39 pages

6 m, 11 w, 1 flexible

Babysitter Ariel Watson is watching the 13-year-old triplet daughters of a famous scientist and his wife. What Ariel does not know is that the triplets have a time-traveling device in their bedroom, which brings copies of themselves out of a parallel universe. Soon there are nine girls in the house and then twelve. Ariel does not believe what is happening, until the visitors begin telling her, a piece at a time, that her future self has had a terrible “thumb accident.” By the end of the story Ariel is frantic to get to the future and stop herself, much to the...

25 pages

6 m, 4 w

Edgar Allan Poe is called an American literary genius and here are three of his short stories dramatized for Reader's Theatre. “The Masque of the Red Death" is a fantastic tale of how, after half the people of his country have died, Prince Prospero gathers knights and ladies to his castle and locks the doors to avoid the devastating “red death” disease. In "The Cask of Amontillado" we find that if a man seeks revenge, there are many ways to do it. In "Lionizing" Poe mocks authors who get recognition when they write nothing but trivia and nonsense in flowery a...

87 pages

6 m, 8 w, 4 flexible

Julie, an event planner, has been tasked with organizing a soccer conference at her uncle's run-down hotel. However, no one has registered, so Julie faces being fired. Dan, who has a crush on Julie, asks his sister Effy to pretend to be a world-famous soccer player at the conference to help sell registrations and save Julie's job. Effy is a wannabe actress who looks just like the person she is asked to portray, but she knows less than nothing about soccer. As Dan tries to keep Effy's identity secret, interference from an uptight bellhop, a bitter rich lady, t...

57 pages

8 m, 12 w, 1 flex

The Wicked Witch has finally been caught and hauled into the Court of Once Upon a Time to stand trial. She's accused of casting a spell on Sleeping Beauty, attempting to poison Snow White, kidnapping Rapunzel, and trying to eat Hansel. Red Riding Hood heads up the prosecution with the Evil Stepmother of Cinderella fame serving as the defense attorney. The Three Little Pigs act as bailiffs, while Jack the Giant Killer is the guard. The judge? None other than the Fairy Godmother. The Wicked Witch's alleged victims are witnesses for the prosecution, along with t...

35 pages

2 m, 2 f, 7 either

Portrayed in a fantasy-based courtroom we see ominous “Judgement” begin the Trial of Existence. Every 100 years the “Forces of Chaos” can choose to test humanity and a single candidate is chosen to stand trial. Should this candidate fail, all mankind will cease to exist. While Michael and the “Representatives of Order” see the best in all of us, they must quickly name a candidate and in finding Erin, they put their faith that she is the one to represent us all. The test is 24 hours of challenges in pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. If at a...

45 pages

6 m, 4 w, 8 flexible parts, and a flexible jury (doubling possible)

Mrs. Dafney Dill has been accused of murder and is about to go to trial in a small-town courtroom, complete with a snoozing judge, a good-ol' sheriff, and a jury of confused country folks. As the prosecution presents its case, it doesn't look good for Dafney. Witnesses and evidence mount, and worst of all, the judge is in a hurry to get home to some glazed rhubarb his missus has fixed. It's up to the naive and ill-prepared B.V. DeBriefs, Dafney's court-appointed public defender, to save her. Through the twists and turns of the legal system, justice is finally...

34 pages

8 m, 6 w, extras, doubling possible

This re-creation of Robert Louis Stevenson's well-loved action classic will delight audiences of all ages and can easily be taken on tour. Young Jim Hawkins finds a treasure map and the adventure is on. If crossing the ocean is not adventuresome enough, Long John Silver and his band of pirates plan to take over the ship and steal the treasure for themselves. With the help of a castaway named Ben Gunn and a group of islanders, the pirates are defeated in battle and the treasure is recovered by Jim and his friends. About 40 minutes.

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 ...

59 pages

6 m, 7 w

The drama is based on an actual trial that occurred in Franklin County, Virginia in 1851. Indiana Choice, a black woman, claims that she and her three children are free. She sues Gresham Choice, her alleged owner, for not only her freedom but that of her three children. Gresham, a prominent citizen with political aspirations, denies Indiana is a free black. The events of the trial are recalled by Margaret Oxley who attended this trial as a child. Oxley is especially fond of Jubal Early, the lawyer for Indiana. As the trial progresses, a variety of witnesses a...

60 pages

Flexible cast (minimum 6)

Ever wonder why people whistle in a graveyard? Because it scares away the bogeyman. Here's a little gang of stories that, far from scaring the bogeyman away, invites him in and sets a place for him at the table! Listen, gentle reader, while the Caretaker introduces spooky tales from the haunted graveyard that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat and sometimes have you laughing out loud when some of the spectres don't behave exactly as they should. Watch as one couple decides what to do with an old uncle who vowed he'd come back from the dead, and wa...

59 pages

27 parts, approx. 10 m, 15 w, 2 flexible

The irrepressible Tom Sawyer, his best buddy Huck Finn, and many other beloved characters created by Mark Twain come to life in this all-American adventure. When the two boys are accused of stealing Becky Thatcher's gold necklace, and with even Aunt Polly and the Widder Douglas doubting them, Tom and Huck decide to take off for the swamp. The real culprit, Herman Cornwallis, is delighted to see them run away so he can have more time with Becky. In the swamp the boys meet up with Mary Meechum, thought to be a witch. The three accidentally overhear the suspicio...

37 pages

4 m, 6 w, 1 flexible

Adapted from the short story by H.H. Munro (Saki). When an old friend invites Jake, a science writer for a newspaper, to spend a weekend at a gathering of prize-winning scientists, he sees a way to write an impressive article and move on to being a sports writer, his real goal. At the gathering we meet a botanist, who has invented a rapidly growing vine that the Defense Department can use as a weapon of mass destruction; a systems engineer, who has invented a new software language only engineers can learn; a physicist, who has written a textbook that is a com...

21 pages

3 m, 2 w

High school senior Eric Nilsson is a patient in the hospital when, late one night, his three closest friends sneak in to visit. There's Bruce, the class genius; Shawn, the class clown; and the lovely Jenny, who brightens any room she's in. But their jokes and antics do little to lift Eric's spirits. It is only when they talk about their drinking before the car accident all four of them were in that Eric finds the courage to face the question why he alone survived. This play is a favorite with SADD chapters.

65 pages

Large, flexible cast

In Act One, "Voices From the Titanic," the stage comes alive with the passengers and crew who address the audience directly. We see the magnificent, "almost unsinkable" ship through the eyes of both the first-class and third-class passengers. When the ship's lookout, Frederick Fleet, spots the iceberg, all the officers are called upon to carry out the most dreaded command Capt. Smith ever had to issue: "Get the lifeboats ready!" The ending is an emotional powerhouse as the cast recites name after name of those who survived ... and those who did not. In Act Tw...

66 pages

Widely flexible cast

A father tells his young daughter a story of Ebenezer Scrooge on his terrifying and exhilarating journey to discover the true meaning of Christmas. But we do not realize until the end that the characters in this adaptation are more real than ever before. The covetous old miser who finds his heart turns out to be the little girl’s Great-Uncle Scrooge, and her father is Tiny Tim, an even kinder, more insightful soul as an adult than he was as a child. This unique adaptation, infused with popular Christmas carols, is sure to make your audience feel alive with ho...

55 pages

Flexible cast of 14 or more

Timeless Tales: A Hans Christian Andersen Quartet weaves together four of Hans Christian Andersen's best-known stories in an exciting and flexible format. Narrated by Andersen himself, the play introduces us to the master storyteller from Denmark, providing background information on his childhood and the circumstances leading to the publication of his plays. After the "Prologue," the actual dramatization of the tales begins. They include: "The Princess and the Pea," "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," and "The Ugly Duckling." This last...

57 pages

Multi-racial cast of 7 m, 7 w, 6 flexible

Jim and Lillian Fowler are having a dinner party to welcome their daughter home from college and meet her fiance. Lillian's brother, Walt, a physician, is also there, even though he and Jim get under each other's skins, especially when Walt needles Jim about losing a recent election to become prosecutor because of his conservative racial views. When Janice and her fiance David arrive, the strain increases as the idealistic young law student from "up North" treats the Wycrofts, the family who works for the Fowlers, as equals. The Wycrofts are already uneasy, f...

30 pages

6 m, 8 w

A group of students from the late '60s are suffering through "time-out" suspension in school. A dreaded teacher, Miss Pruette (who is never seen on stage), lectures them on the seriousness of their infractions. If they only knew the consequences of their actions, they would act differently. She'd sure like to show them their future. Suddenly, a group of students from the '90s enters for in-school suspension and they bear a striking resemblance to the first group. It soon becomes apparent to the first group that these social renegades are their children! As th...

65 pages

Approx. 5 m, 9 w, 6 flexible, extras, doubling possible.

Lulu's on a quest to marry Justin by Monday to outwit her former best friend Beth who plans to marry on Tuesday. Lulu hires a novice wedding consultant, whose office is a tiny converted bathroom, and in a frantic few days they deal with a florist who goes bankrupt, a jeweler who insists that she buy the world's ugliest wedding ring, and a wedding cake with "Happy Birthday, Vern" written on it. Even all the chapels are booked, so her ceremony will take place in a bingo hall presided over by the building's janitor. Lulu declares that her bridesmaids keep her ma...

67 pages

5 m, 11 w

You are invited to the most offbeat wedding of the season, where murder takes center stage and all the guests are suspects. Neither the groom's parents nor the bride's former boyfriend want the marriage to happen. The family lawyer has a little something up his sleeve and it might involve an enigmatic guest who dies mysteriously before revealing who she really is. When the lawyer is also murdered, amateur sleuth Miss Peabody conducts an investigation punctuated by the traditional wedding events in which the audience can also participate, such as throwing the ...

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...

36 pages

With doubling: 2 m, 4 w.

Before putting "Through the Looking Glass" down on paper in 1860s, Lewis Carroll told a colleague’s young daughter, Alice Liddell (the real Alice in the books), the story of talking chess pieces. The novel, of course, was a sequel to his earlier one, "Alice in Wonderland." This play is set in the early 1920s as a now elderly Alice Liddell reflects on the telling of the story. Faithful to Carroll’s expression of childhood fears of growing up, this adaptation keeps the Victorian charm and merriment by maintaining Carroll’s scenes intact. The audience is transpo...

27 pages

8 m, 4 w

The clever short story, "The Three Strangers," by English Victorian writer Thomas Hardy, has been skillfully adapted to a rural Appalachian setting. On a snowy winter's afternoon, a farmer and his wife are celebrating the christening of their infant daughter with friends and family. The party is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger, a poorly-dressed man seeking shelter from the cold. Soon a second stranger appears. This man is finely dressed but pompous and offensive. The guests are impressed by the humility of the first man, and angered by the arrogance ...

60 pages

7 m, 8 w, extras

Here is our version of the Dumas classic. Young D'Artagnan seeks to become a musketeer, or at least see if that brochure about Paris is true. In the city for less than ten minutes, he finds himself facing all three of the musketeers when they are charged by Rochefort and the Cardinal's Guards. This spoof of seventeenth century France pulls out all the stops and is full of outrageous characters from a lying Cardinal who's into magic to Milady DeWinter who cannot get rid of her mother. Throw in a narrator, several star-crossed lovers, a race on stick horses and...

25 pages

3 m, 4 w

Combine three guys on a hiking trip who think they've found their uncle's mountain cabin with three gals who know the cabin is part of their all girls' summer camp and you've got fun and confusion. The teens could get the problem worked out if only the camp counselor, Miss Keegle, would stop popping in, and if they could ever get Bunkie, one of the guys, to wake up and realize the girls are not a dream!