School

72 pages

9 m, 16 w, 7 flexible, 6-12 optional

When millionaire Peter Graham dies, he leaves most of his estate to his daughter, Popper; something for his two sisters and brother, and a whopping $5 million endowment to the football program run by his old friend, Coach Cougher. There's a catch, though: Coach must successfully steward Peter's beloved Blue Skies Community Theatre for one year in order to earn the money! Coach's first job is to direct the first play, "Frankenstein." And what would you do when the locals don't turn out for tryouts, er, auditions? That's right, Coach brings in football players ...

34 pages

Flexible cast from 18 (with doubling)

The stage comes alive with passengers and crew of the Titanic, speaking to us directly about the disaster. We see the magnificent vessel through the eyes of both the first class passengers and the third class. When 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 à and those who did not. Representational sets. (Excerpted from the full-length play, "Tit...

54 pages

4 m, 3 w

Welcome aboard the "Oh, Suzanna" and set sail to beautiful Antigua...if you dare! Join Captain Krunch and his lovely daughter Leisel in this wacky sea adventure where you, the audience, are also the passengers. Problems start when the "Oh, Suzanna" gets trapped in the Bermuda Triangle and attacked by a crew of lost seventeenth-century pirates. Lockjaw Lenny and his motley crew of buccaneers plan to take over Captain Krunch's vessel, but things begin to go awry when Leisel and Lockjaw fall in love, their furtive meetings not unnoticed by Lockjaw's buccaneers. ...

59 pages

5 m, 4 w

Adapted by Pat Cook From the short story by Oscar Wilde. Hiram and Lucy Otis can't wait to move into their pastoral English manor house...just as soon as the ghost moves out. That's right, Canterville Hall comes complete with a howling, green ghoul, but only if Sir Simon (the ghost) can remember to bring the green mist with him. This classic Oscar Wilde tale spins the Otis family through a maze of dithering maids, blustering bosses and an English realtor who's always looking for a free lunch. The mystery unfolds amid flashes of thunder and disappearing guests...

26 pages

6 female speaking roles, unlimited female ensemble

Set in the realm of Purgatory, the all-female cast of Desdemona, Emilia, Juliet, Lady Macbeth, and Ophelia explore the roles women choose in their pursuit of love and self-identity. Taking its inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, this visceral play allows powerful actors to reach heightened levels of awareness as they grapple with the ideas of an individual’s purpose in their mortal life and the ramifications it carries over into the immortal world. About 40-50 minutes.

28 pages

5 m, 8 w

Although Elizabeth Bennet wishes to marry for love, her parents and suitors see the matter entirely in terms of wealth and status. Then there's Mr. Darcy, whom Elizabeth keeps at more than arm's length for his rudeness and arrogance. Will there ever be a match? Will anyone ever show compassion for Mrs. Bennet's poor nerves? Will Elizabeth be forced to remain in the poverty-stricken filth in which she has been brought up? A perfect choice to perform in conjunction with English literature studies, or any time for that matter. Simple staging. All in under an hou...

36 pages

8 m, 6 w

A group of outcast high school students in a small Texas town have formed “The Losers’ Club.” On homecoming evening, these 12 students kidnap the star football player, Joe Taylor, and homecoming queen nominee, Tawny Harris, who have ignored, bullied, and ridiculed members of the club for years. Lead by Trenton, a 17-year-old Goth, the club members put the condescending Joe and Tawny on trial for “crimes committed against their fellow students.” Each member of the “jury” details how he or she has been harassed by Joe, Tawny, and their friends, and how their li...

19 pages

2 m, 3 w

Josh has a box in his basement containing a number of objects that have meaning for him. As he takes them from the box characters appear who seem to know him, and yet not know him; characters from the past who are still, for Josh at least, very much in the present. Jane, Chloe and Rob don’t know each other, but they all know Josh, and as the story progresses we learn the awful fate they all share, as he moves through the ritual which seems so familiar to him. The appearance of Leah, Josh’s sister, seems at first to comfort him, but then agitate him. Despite L...

42 pages

5 m, 4 w, 4 flexible, extras

Dreamy young lovers Lelio and Silvia must keep their love a secret from their fathers, who are fierce rivals. Will a scheme featuring the loveable Arlecchino (whose main occupation is taking money from others) and a quartet of bumbling bandits save the day? Middle and high school actors will revel in this fast-paced, uproarious one act complete with screwball antics and a cast of madcap characters including two saucy servants, a lovable miser, and a host of zanies. It is this type of slapstick humor that makes the performance style of commedia dell'arte a per...

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...

28 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 flexible

An evil banker, Char Cole, wants the land the church sits on to build a casino. He sends a bogus mortgage bill demanding the church pay a $10,000 balloon payment to scare the congregation in to selling him the property for a fraction of what it is worth. Church members hurriedly decides to submit a secret barbecue recipe to a contest in hopes of winning the huge cash prize. They even open a barbecue restaurant in the church to raise money. Meanwhile, Miss Phit, the bumbling church secretary, is constantly getting the bulletins and newsletters wrong, sending m...

68 pages

7 m, 6 w, extras. Doubling possible.

The classic story of two emotionally-stunted children who discover, through their love for a garden, and the teachings of a boy of the English moors, that the key to happiness lies in caring for others. The story opens as two British officers in India discover 10-year-old Mary Lennox alone, her parents having just died in the cholera epidemic. She is sent back to England to live with an uncle, Archibald Craven, whom she doesn’t know, in the foreboding Misselthwaite Manor. His son Colin is sickly and bedridden and his cries can be heard echoing down the dark h...

63 pages

9 m, 9 w, extras, doubling possible

Here are three updated tales of horror. "The Monkey's Paw," by W. W. Jacobs, tells the story of a family destroyed by a grisly talisman that promises to grant three wishes. When a college-aged daughter is crushed while chiseling a huge marble tombstone, her parents wish her alive - at first. "The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe, is set in a contemporary prison where clinical experts delve deep into a killer's scarred psyche, only to discover that the motiveless murder is anything but. "Midnight Wax," by L. Don Swartz, is the story of an ambitious reporte...

67 pages

11 m, 14 w, extras

Tom Butterworth is determined to be the youngest cruise ship captain in history - even if this means sailing on a converted gunboat named "Vengeance" with a crew of rejects from Maritime High School, and a trio of girl singers who are passing themselves off as a famous show biz act. The engineer is seasick, the cruise hostess is pulling her hair in frustration, and a gung-ho nurse is practicing giving hypos by stabbing anything that's handy. And the passengers, well, they're a pretty unusual bunch! There's a fabulous Hollywood star, Honey Hotchkiss a clumsy p...

32 pages

2 m, 3 - 4 w, 1 flexible

Joel Pulley, a struggling comic book artist, has his narrow world turned upside down when an over-eager stray dog shows up at his door… repeatedly! This excitable canine is unwavering in his pursuit to be Joel’s best friend. And Joel, not exactly an animal lover, is just as unwavering in his attempts at getting rid of the dog, especially after a messy fiasco between the dog and Taylor, Joel’s shallow new girlfriend. It isn’t until the escape-artist canine is almost run over in the street by Monica, a vet, that things change… for everyone. She convinces Joel t...