School

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...

22 pages

2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible

Four speech and drama students and their coach are preparing for a tournament. Charles is the team's supremely confident extemporaneous speaker. Patty is the group's entry into the category of original oratory. Cathy is both a debater and, at least in her own mind, a talented actress. And then there's Chris Higgins, a former football player whose mother is forcing him to participate in public speaking as a way of overcoming his stuttering problem. Unable to join in the athletics that used to bring him glory, he's reluctantly joined this group, a group which h...

28 pages

6 w, 11 flex

Bethany, a stressed out student, is trying to complete a school project with two less-than-helpful classmates. The three students are taken by surprise when Bethany’s phone and all of its widgets come to life. The trio soon finds themselves trapped inside of a bizarre video game filled with talking widgets, not-so-magical creatures, and a friendly chicken. Can they beat the game, return to reality, and learn how to work together more effectively along the way?

80 pages

8 m, 12 w, extras

Zounds! It's the 25th century and that dastardly villain, Snivelling Snidely Backlash, is stealing a farm from some old people because he knows that under the soil there's some of the richest rocket fuel ever discovered. With it he can control the galaxy! Space Cadet Bob hopes to pay off the farm's mortgage with his latest invention, a rocket that goes sideways. Enter the lovely heroine, Rosa Budd, fresh from the Metropolis City Poor House and Collection Depot For Used Space Suits. Pity poor Rosa as she's tied to the rocket and almost launched to another plan...

36 pages

7 m, 4 w, plus ensemble

Here is a retelling of Shakespeare's tale of the decline of an honorable man into darkness, a study of how far an individual is willing to go in the pursuit of power. This adaptation includes new scenes between Lord and Lady Macbeth and uses an interactive ensemble to play a variety of roles. Only the director’s imagination will be the limit for this piece. It can be staged as elaborately or as simply as desired. The truth is in the words. It was written to be performed at any venue, any time period, and with a multi-cultural cast. Movement, music, and passio...

55 pages

29 or more characters, much doubling possible.

Incorporating the work by William Shakespeare. An eerie traveling carnival, run by the frightening Madame LeBeau, arrives outside of a small American town in the early 1900s. Several children sneak into the carnival and quickly discover a wicked world of darkness and mystery. Trance-like, the townspeople are soon pulled to the tent and end up as characters in the tale of "Macbeth." The Mayor and his wife become Macbeth and Lady Macbeth; Mrs. Cambridge, the local widow, becomes Hecate; and other citizens become Macduff, Banquo, Ross, the Apparition, and others...

59 pages

6 m, 9 w, extras

Based on the story by Mark Twain.  The small town of Hadleyburg is world famous for its honesty, but it is a reputation that has never faced real temptation...until the day a stranger arrives. He leaves a large sack containing gold coins and a note with the last words spoken by an unknown local citizen who had once helped the stranger. Now he wants to find and repay his benefactor. The citizens of Hadleyburg had long boasted that they were incorruptible; however, greed, suspicion, and lying quickly surface. In Twain's true Americana style, the social and mora...

42 pages

5 m, 3 w, 1 flexible

Dinner theater can mean death to an actor's career, or occasionally, an actor. That's what the cast of "Weekend at Withingham's" finds out when the lead of their dreadfully bad dinner theater production dies right before his entrance. But who can help? They would need a great detective. Unfortunately, what they get is a man that is so psychiatrically challenged that he thinks he's Sherlock Holmes and his psychiatrist is Doctor Watson. An audience-participation play full of dual characters, quick repartee and just a touch of deduction, "The Man Who Thought He ...

60 pages

From a large cast of 24 or more to an ensemble cast of 5-6 m, 5-6 w.

Adapted from a novel by John Bennett. Here is an excellent picture of the Shakespearean era from a young person’s point of view without being about the Bard himself. Young Nick is so enamored of the theatre that when his strict father forbids him from attending, Nick runs away from his home in Stratford-upon-Avon. When a disreputable actor, just released from jail, discovers Nick’s beautiful voice, he calls him Master Skylark and forces him to perform with his troupe. Nick's captors treat him well, but he longs for freedom and his home. His voice eventually b...

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...

27 pages

2 m, 2 w, ensemble cast of 4-15 flex

Boy Meets Girl! Boy Loses Girl! But will Boy get Girl back again? Nothing is that easy. Through Barbara and Walter, co-narrators, a boy and girl demonstrate love – from the basic Neanderthal beginnings, to the use of Shakespeare to describe it, then to the Dark Ages, World War II, and into the future – all while an ensemble cast brings humor and action onto the stage. This fast-paced one-act play provides flexibility as any number of actors can be a part of the chorus or perform one of the many smaller roles.

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...

72 pages

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

Combine the drama of Shakespeare with the craziness of high school! Jane, a nerdy-looking new student, is all but ignored by the in-crowd. They're too involved with trying to get parts as extras for the movie that's going to be filmed there. Little do they know Jane is really the pampered, glamorous teen soap opera star, Tiffany! She's undercover to prove she can act and hopefully earn the lead in the movie. In drama class, Jane is teamed up with Tim, the class bookworm. They look like losers...until they do their Shakespeare scene. That threatens posse leade...

81 pages

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

Jane, a nerdy-looking new student, is all but ignored by the in-crowd. They're too involved with trying to get parts as extras for the movie that's going to be filmed at their school. Little do they know Jane is really the pampered, glamorous teen soap opera star, Tiffany! She's undercover to prove she can act and earn the lead in the movie. In drama class, Jane is teamed up with Tim, the class bookworm. They look like losers ... until they play the parts of Romeo and Juliet! That threatens posse leaders Clarissa, Shelley, and Mary, and everything explodes! O...

30 pages

7 m, 4 w (or with doubling, 4 m, 3 w)

Adapted from the original play by Moliere. Monsieur Argan is an imaginary invalid. Indeed, he is a hypochondriac suffering pains in every part of his body. He wants his daughter, Angelique, to marry the stupid son of a doctor, and not Cleante, the man she truly loves. Argan's second wife, Beline, would like to put Angelique in a convent. But through the tricks and hijinks of Toinette, the maid, and Beralde, Argan's brother, all of the schemers are exposed and in the process the cast and the audience have had a rollicking good time.