School

56 pages

12 m, 15 w

Sammy Sunnyside, world-renown comedian, wants to retire and give his famous joke chest to the most deserving of his relatives. The chest is almost priceless since it contains all of Sammy's comic material since his career began. Sammy and his shy but trusted attorney, Dagwood, dress themselves as kindly old ladies and show up at Sammy's birthday party attended by lots of other relatives and uninvited guests. In disguise they hope to find out who really wants to carry on his comical tradition or who just wants his gold mine to sell off. But everything gets scr...

66 pages

7 m, 7 w

West Texas in the late 1800s was wild, lawless, and rife with robbers. And that just suited Judge Roy Bean right down to his socks. But when the Judge reads a dime novel about Buffalo Bill, he figures his story should be told as well. And fortunately for him, the "boys," Hank, Pete, and Ralph, have just found a reporter they want to hang. Freed from the gallows, Butler Boone agrees to write Bean's bio...but at what price? Civilization is about to descend on the little town of Langtry in the form of school marms, pushy mothers, conniving matchmakers and an occ...

80 pages

11 m, 12 w, extras

The Globe actors are rehearsing Shakespeare‘s newest show, "As You Like It," when word arrives that the license has been denied. Forced to be gone for the day to deal with the problem, Shakespeare leaves star actor Richard Burbage in charge. While Shakespeare’s gone, his wife, Anne, and their two daughters arrive to help out. Soon, the elder daughter, Susanna, is falling in love with one of the actors, while the younger daughter, Judith, is trying to ferret out the spy that is trying to sabotage her father’s theatre. Anne, meanwhile, is getting into a power s...

59 pages

10 m, 15 w

There are a few little obstacles with the prom this year. First, it's taking place at an abandoned inn, which not only needs to be fixed up (with a bulldozer!) but is inhabited by the ghosts of a gangster and his moll who are not happy about being disturbed. Next, the kids on the prom committee have dates with all the wrong people and can't stop playing dating roulette. And finally, the love-starved janitor who has been dreaming for 20 years to marry Miss Gray, their teacher, is holding everyone hostage. And you thought not knowing how to dance was a problem!...

18 pages

3 m, 3 w

Distraught at the lack of any stimuli, an old man’s five senses are concerned that he’s dying, which means the end for them as well. As a final tribute, Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell and Taste reminisce about poignant moments they remember from the man’s life. They are joined by Intuition, who senses that the man is not necessarily dying of old age and suggests that they all recount the last stimulus they remember in the hopes that they can figure out what happened. As they put it all together, they realize what has occurred and try to help him…and themselves....

42 pages

Approx. 9 m, 6 w, 3 flexible, extras which can be audience members

With graduation fast approaching, two groups of students of Bellefonte High confront each other in an attempt to influence the next year’s curriculum of the school. With recollections of past bullying, revealed secret lives, hinted-at romances, and numerous quotations from Shakespeare’s most famous plays, these teenagers set up a mock trial to decide if Shakespeare should be studied next year. Like current day Montagues and Capulets, the students do plenty of verbal fencing -- with a little Romeo and Juliet romance thrown in -- to ultimately decide if the Bar...

60 pages

6 m, 6 w

It is New Year's Eve, 1999 in Montana. Because of the forecasted Y2K disasters, the Johnsons are well prepared and eager to start their new lives. They are hopefully awaiting other survivalists to join them in their bunker. However, the others, including the haughty and well-bred Langfords and the common, run-of-the-mill hillbilly Hick family, are not exactly what the Johnsons had expected. Add two uninvited and unseen conspiracy survivalists, and you have a mix of nuts who think the world has ended. Rather than disaster, this adventure turns out to be comedy...

52 pages

9 m, 9 w, 8 flexible, doubling possible

Seeking comfort from her miserable life and an easy ticket to the prince's ball, our heroine Ashenputtel cries out for her Fairy Godmother. The magical matriarch who arrives, however, is a no-nonsense narrator who works her magic by giving lesser-known folktales a playful yet empowering twist. This Fairy Godmother offers no magical pumpkin carriages, but rather spins three separate tales of women from around the world who make their own happily ever after. Story one, from Ecuador, is "The Search for the Magic Lake," which features a peasant girl who must bold...

72 pages

6 m, 5 w

Early morning July 1, 1863. Gettysburg, Pa. As thousands of troops from both North and South amass for what will become one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, five teenagers from several local farms escape to the safety of the surrounding hills. There's the level-headed Eliza and her little sister, Justine, who's strong-willed; Georgina, whose mother has sheared her hair to make her look like a boy; and Rachel and Jeremiah, a brother and sister from a wealthier family. As they witness the horrors of battle over the next three days, the teens are force...

59 pages

Flexible cast, approx. 7 m, 9 w, extras

Jenny is excited to be reunited with her friends Dee-Ray and Robert at school after a long summer. But there's trouble. Ms. Fishfac, the new science teacher, is coming down hard on the class, handing out outrageous assignments that only a nerd, like Max Pine, would love. Jenny decides to fight back, from organizing the "Glee Club," where the class makes weird sounds and other disruptions, to convincing Mrs. Fishfac to stage a challenge between Max and Robert. Robert, a quiet student, wins by using his hidden gift, a photographic memory, but their triumph is s...

68 pages

10 m, 12 w, 5 flexible, doubling possible

Caesar is sent back to earth in human form to find out what true love is all about. His job: make sure Diana Flinchart, a sophomore at Rome College, is happy. Diana is pledging a sorority headed by Lisa Lennox, the campus goddess who is going with Dexter, the "Big Man on Campus." Diana's father, the dean of the college, equates happiness with lots of friends, particularly Dexter. Imagine how happy he is when Dexter asks Diana to the spring formal. Of course, sparks fly when Lisa finds out and when Caesar learns Dexter's real motives for asking Diana out. The ...

80 pages

17 m, 15 w, 4 flexible. With doubling 9 m, 10 w.

The life of the poor country lad, Pip, changes one day when an unknown benefactor sees that the young man is brought to London and made a gentleman. But who is behind Pip’s “great expectations,” and why is it kept a secret? By the time Pip learns the truth of his circumstances, he has gotten involved with some fascinating people and undergone a vital change of character. This adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic is an excellent choice for schools in that it stays true to the novel, including the amusing theatre scene in which a humorous heckler wreaks ha...

32 pages

5 m, 9 w, extras, doubling possible

High school students Mike and Shelly are breaking up. Later, Shelly sees Mike at a party with his new girlfriend and between her depression and a few too many drinks, allows herself to be coaxed outside by an unscrupulous guy. Things go too far in the bushes and Shelly is date-raped. When she returns to school on Monday, she has a reputation and school officials want to get to the bottom of the rumors they have heard. With characters immediate and believable, this play is powerful, timely and significant.

68 pages

11 m, 12 w, 3 flexible

Soapy Smith, a real outlaw of the West at the turn of the last century, has stolen the deed to Captain Billy's Skagway Saloon and is holding it for ransom. The price? Marriage to Miss Molly May, the daughter of Billy's late partner. The beautiful Miss Molly, in love with Titus Trueheart, the local hero, refuses until the unlikely day Soapy can clean up the town. Soapy asks his Seattle "associate," Venus von Trapp, to haul up a shipment of brides to help civilize the town. But when they turn out to be pickpockets and thieves, Soapy demands that Molly teach the...

57 pages

Flexible cast of 15, extras, doubling

Adapted from the novel by Mark Twain. Sir Boss, a computer wiz, is transported back in time to the age of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. After proving his "magic" is more powerful than Merlin's, Sir Boss begins to modernize Camelot. The new TV station has Morgan La Faye as chief newscaster and Merlin as the "predictor" of the weather; the Knights of the Round Table form a basketball team, the Camelot Pacers; and everyone is getting e-mail. All goes well until King Arthur and Sir Boss travel through Camelot, disguised as peasants, so the King ...