School
Days of Our (School) Lives
Comedy by Jack Nuzum
58 pages
8 m, 9 w, 5 flexible, extras
It's half-time at the big basketball game but Trish, Joannie, and Crystal ignore their pep squad duties to gossip about the latest surprising developments at their school. The new female teacher seems to have a persistent five o'clock shadow and the English Department has taken over the administration. The new leader, Mr. Dickens, is a Shakespeare fanatic who is in league with the evil custodial staff, who in turn spend their time collecting gum wads and blackmail evidence on the teachers. All the classic conventions of soap operas are here: memory loss, mist...
Forgetting April
Drama by Reid Conrad
29 pages
7 m, 12 w
Stanley, an aspiring American writer vacationing in Paris, creates a wonderful assortment of characters to escape the recent downturn in his relationship with April. On the sidewalk of a busy café Stanley encounters several intriguing women, foreign spies, and an angry gendarme, but none can help him forget April. Even his buddy Art is of no use, running off with the April character Stanley has created. Can the real April bring Stanley back to reality? Your audiences will delight in the explosion of colorful characters and the imaginary efforts of Stanley to ...
Louisa's Little Women
Classic by Beth Lynch and Scott Lynch-Giddings
75 pages
6-12 m; 9 w; 6 or more women as extras
By itself, the sweetness and wholesomeness of "Little Women," the story of a tomboy and her three sisters coming of age during the Civil War, might be a little too saccharine for a cynical modern audience. But this warm, intelligent play is grounded by scenes from Alcott's real life, as a daughter of an abolitionist father, as a published author in a male-dominated business world, as a volunteer nurse during the war, and as a suffragette. Woven into her novel, we see just how radical these independent girls were for their time.
Ho Hum High
Comedy by Robert Frankel
72 pages
Flexible cast, approx. 9 m, 13 w
At Hollister Hummelforth High, better known as Ho Hum High, the geeky trigonometry teacher carries around a rubber chicken, the science teacher talks to her pet shrimp, and the principal is straight from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. No wonder the kids only show signs of life when they're placing bets on who will fall asleep first. So when Hal, the slowest, most naive student in school, assumes Pete's flat 7-UP is really "smart juice," Pete plays along. When the principal sees the "effects" of the juice on Hal and other students, he thinks the spark of learning h...
Echoes From the Titanic
Drama by Pat Cook
35 pages
15 m, 7 w, extras, much doubling possible
The survivors of the Titanic disaster tell you in their own words about their escape to lifeboats in this adaptation of the 1912 Senate hearings, which began just one day after they arrived from their fateful trip. "We have nothing to conceal," proclaims White Star Lines President Bruce Ismay, but then has to explain why he was able to get in a lifeboat. Hear Fifth Officer Lowe's report why some lifeboats were not completely filled when they departed and why he fired a pistol to control the crowds. As parts of their testimony are re-enacted, we begin to see t...
Life on the Mississippi
Classic by R Rex Stephenson
64 pages
Company of between 18 - 35 actors
Here is a combination of three of Mark Twain's books blended into one story that continues Huck and Tom's great adventures. Huck and Tom are called to Arkansas because something mysterious is happening to Uncle Silas. As only Huck and Tom can, they set about solving the mystery that involves twin brothers, the maniacal Widow Dunlap and her nere-do-well son. This story is as poignant and humorous as Huck Finn, but without any of the racial overtones that in some areas has made Twain a controversial author. About 90 minutes.
Trial of the Wicked Witch
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
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...
Murder Box (Full Length)
Mystery by Reid Conrad
71 pages
4 m, 8 w, 4 flexible
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, and no one will believe her! Can she solve the mystery, or at least convince her fellow cast and crew about the sinister happenings, before the entire company is doomed? And when ghosts from the past mysteriously return, will former victim...
Candy Land
Children Melodrama by Kevin Stone
40 pages
5 m, 6 w, 8 flexible, 6 children
It is business as usual at the Mega-Bite Candy Company. Pop Tart is stirring the chocolate, Stretch is headed for the Taffy Room, Cookie the Clown is preparing to host a tour of young school children, Jan and Dean are experimenting with new flavors of candy, and--most significantly--Graham Cracker is looking for Kandy Kane. As Graham searches for Miss Kane and attempts to propose, Grimsley Krumkake, a dastardly villain posing as a vat inspector, enters with his dopey sidekick, Bink. Thus is set in motion a fiendish plan to take over the world, beginning with ...
Nosferatu: Legend of Dracula
Horror by L. Don Swartz
76 pages
21 characters. 6 to 8 men, 8 to 10 women,
No modern-day monster can equal the chill factor than that of Dracula and his nosferatu, the undead who must feed on the blood of the living to exist. Their lust, shown only in the darkest hours, haunts even the bravest of us mortal souls. This adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel is done with a sure and steady hand by frightmesiter L. Don Swartz. We encounter Dracula's horror from his centuries-old castle in Europe, to the ship he travels on, and finally to his new feeding grounds near an English asylum. When Dracula causes the death of a young woman named...
The Elder Pendragon
Drama by Brent Holland
33 pages
6 m, 6 w, 4 flexible, extras
Years before he would ascend to become the legendary king, Arthur is called on by Merlin to defend the kingdom from a cataclysm that threatens to destroy the world. In a desperate mission that is led by Arthur’s older brother Marcus, eight brave souls set out to combat the ancient evil that has plagued the world for centuries. The brothers and noblemen experienced in warfare, along with Guinevere and Lady Gaian, are tested as they encounter Gatekeepers, Seductresses, and other demons who know the humans’ most primal weaknesses. A...
The Haunting of Will Shakespeare
Comedy by Claudia Haas
58 pages
5 m, 14 w, 1 flexible
Enroute to London, young Will Shakespeare has a fanciful encounter in the woods outside of Stratford. In the space of one night, he finds himself chased by a young maiden, haunted by witches, bedazzled by spirits and enchanted by a group of rag-tag actors. Yearning to be an actor in London, he is in turn stopped by all in his path. The young maiden wishes to deter him from a low, base theatrical life. The witches mean to turn him into a playwright so he can write about their escapades and free them from the woods. Turning to the spirit world, the witches summ...