School

74 pages

7 m, 10 w, 1 flexible, extras

Mrs. Brown has moved to Hoke's Bluff to study rural school life. She's used to schools equipped with state-of-the-art computer labs and up-to-date technology. At Hoke's Bluff, however, high tech is an intercom system consisting of an aluminum can with a piece of string attached. On the first day of school, the sheriff shows up looking for leads to cow-tipping pranks. Her study of "these people" may be more than she bargained for. But as relationships are built, Mrs. Brown not only teaches her students a few lessons, but she learns a few of her own. And when C...

41 pages

13 m, 11 w, 4 flexible, extras, much doubling possible

Every month many look to their calendars and start counting down the days until the next holiday. But what about those who are working behind the scenes to make these holidays great? What about the everyday problems of Cupid, leprechauns, and the New Year's Baby? Do we ever stop to think about their needs? Their wants? No! And that's why they're on strike. Journey through the bizarre, strange, and riotously funny underbelly of the holiday world as the icons we all know and love go on strike in this comedy. See what happens when hunters try to shoot down Rudol...

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...

58 pages

Flexible cast. With doubling 8 m, 4-5 w, 1 child.

In this retelling of Edmond Rostand's play, "Cyrano de Bergerac," Roxanne is smitten by the superficial charms of a handsome young soldier, Christian, who is new to Paris. When she tells her three friends of her "love" for this dashing fellow, they are eager to give advice on the budding romance. Roxanne is oblivious to the love Cyrano feels for her. While they have been close friends since childhood, she has never considered him in a romantic way. Cyrano and his rival Christian form a strange alliance in order to win Roxanne's heart. Even as their guard unit...

76 pages

13 m, 13 w, doubling possible; optional scene with children plus three flexible characters

The fun all begins when a rich businessman named Billy offers a considerable sum of money to a struggling matchmaking company providing its owners, three lovely sisters, can find his friend a perfect match within a week's time. Naturally, the sisters are extremely excited about this, especially since their company has suffered a host of problems from software issues to mismatched couples. But the generous offer doesn’t look so rosy when they meet Billy's friend, Bubba, an illiterate hick who knows absolutely nothing about the intricacies of dating a woman. No...

63 pages

2 m, 4 w

Nola goes back to her parents' home after a disagreement with her boyfriend, Quincy, to sort through her problems in peace and quiet. What she finds instead is a circus of confusion. Her mother is dealing with repairs and redecoration of the house; her father refuses to help and escapes to work; and an energetic neighbor helps watch over Aunt Maggie, their somewhat vague relative who recently moved in after possibly poisoning her own cat ... and her late husband. Between the hidden money that turns up missing and Qunicy's arrival and bout with food (?) poison...

64 pages

6 m, 12 w

Life isn't easy for a fashion designer who can't needle her way into a designing job. Alexandra Daniels, better known as Lexie, is stuck stitching at the famous House of Van Gore, where her friend, Mona, works in the stockroom yearning for her big break on Broadway. Although the fashion shows they work on are colorful, their lives are dull - until the late Mr. Van Gore makes a "spirit's visit" asking the two to help solve his murder. They only half-heartedly agree until Miss Rushton, the house's secretary, turns up dead in the workroom. Now, Lexie and Mona, w...

80 pages

Flexible cast of 20 (min. 5 m, 5 w)

Remember your first day of high school, your first zit, your first blind date? Relive them all with this collection of 15 scenes ranging from the sadness of encountering one's first taste of prejudice to that wonderfully primal feeling of being first in line! And to glue the scenes together is the ultimate high-brow poet. This play will provide your cast and audience with many chances to reflect on their own experiences, from the warm and fuzzy, to the downright embarrassing, to the poignant and touching. Casting, sets, and costumes are very flexible.

36 pages

7 m, 7 w, 2 flexible, extras and doubling possible

Katie and Max Grimm are tired of having to listen to their mom’s bedtime stories about fluffy hamsters and magic smiles. When they tell her they've outgrown them, she asks for one more chance to tell the best bedtime story ever. Their dad, who loves to write zombie fan fiction, overhears and wants in on the challenge to tell the "King of Bedtime Stories"! Katie and Max have some tricks up their sleeves, however, since telling their own scary stories at summer camp. Zombie bunnies! Evil scientists! Gloomy gamma rays! Post-apocalyptic survivalists! One thing is...

36 pages

4 m, 9 w, 4 flexible, doubling possible

Chelsea is throwing a party while her parents are away, or so she thinks. When uninvited guests start showing up, including her grandma with gout-ridden episodes, a stern police officer with neighborhood complaints, Bonnie and Clyde-like outlaws, and even last year’s grads, Chelsea ends up with a different type of bash all together. And that’s not even including a sleepwalker and paranormal activities. This wild and crazy party is 35 minutes of escalating, nonstop hilarity!

24 pages

3 m, 3 w, 6 flexible

Tomorrow is opening night at The Grand Old Theatre and Mastermime, a notorious criminal who distracts audiences with entrancing mime routines and then disappears with their valuables, has defaced the theatre marquee and is terrorizing the stagehands. Will hard-boiled detective Stanton Ovation and his earnest sidekick Deputy Hammet Upp capture this mute but expressive villain before he steals self-absorbed celebrity actress Ima Starr’s diamonds? Or is there more to this case than it seems? Ima’s talkative assistant Roberta, who was a forensic scientist before ...

24 pages

8 flexible

Anyone who has tried to cancel their service with any tech company will sympathize immediately with Meghan. On her way to work one morning she decides to quickly drop off the cancellation form she filled out from the company’s website, but of course it turns out to be much more complicated than that. She is drawn into a process involving an increasingly bizarre set of characters who hamper, confuse, intimidate and even threaten her in their efforts to keep her as a customer. When Meghan’s best friend is brought to the office in tears with instructions to illu...

37 pages

11 characters, 4-6 ensemble

It’s 1851 and a young man walks into a Nantucket pub inquiring about how to board a vessel and go to sea on an adventure. What he finds is not the inspiring advice he bargained for. Ishmael, a hardened veteran of the sea, tells a cautionary tale of foreboding and woe about his own first-time voyage on the infamous "Pequod" under the maniacal leadership of Captain Ahab. As the story unfolds, the young man plays the role of Ishmael and is fully immersed in the retelling of Melville’s classic tale. Will the young man listen to the warning or will he choose to ve...

32 pages

3 m, 4 w, 8 flexible, some doubling possible

Princess Beauteous is the ultimate grand prize winner and gets to marry Prince Absurdly Handsome on his reality TV show. On the journey to the prince’s kingdom, she and her lazy servant, Falada, get hijacked by Repulsa, a hideous, desperate-to-be-famous peasant girl. Repulsa tricks the princess, switches places with her, and even has Falada’s head cut off. (But don’t worry, he’s okay. He’s just a little decapitated.) The arrival of the hideous new fiancée and her beautiful servant throws the reality show into a hilarious fiasco. But all ends well…at least for...

31 pages

8 m, 8 w

As Christmas day approaches, a young girl asks her father for a story. He spins a delightful tale about a little girl named Betsy who makes a wish to have Christmas every day of the year. Her wish comes true. At first it is all very exciting, with Santa's visit, the opening of packages, the singing of carols, and the arrival of the cousins for dinner. But soon the daily repetition wears thin. Santa is too exhausted to deliver presents and goes to sleep in Betsy's living room. The carolers have no energy to sing, all of the forests are cleared of Christmas tre...

30 pages

5 m, 7 w, or with doubling 5 m, 4 w

Adapted By Bobby Keniston from Robert Browning's poem and Thornton Wilder’s playlet, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.” Roland, a warrior and perhaps the son of a king, has reached the Dark Tower. After years of eschewing death, he seeks nothing but sweet release after lifetimes of wandering the Earth. At the Dark Tower, he is confronted by Three Sisters, each in her own window. While the Amber Sister taunts him, and the Silent Sister pities him, the Dark Sister encourages him to release his burdens by sharing his life story. As Roland travels through hi...

20 pages

5 flexible parts

Three students have been hired to take care of Mr. Patterson's purebred dog for the weekend at his estate while he is out of town. The kids, a bumbling lot at best, stick the dog in the yard so they can watch a game on TV and have the stuffy butler serve them lots of snacks. But when they hear about a dog run over down the street and can't see Mr. Patterson's dog in the yard anywhere, they start to worry. At that moment, Mr. Patterson calls to say he's coming home early. The pandemonium that follows makes this a play of non-stop laughter.

66 pages

7 m, 13 w, plus 5-8 radio callers

Radio station manager Clay Davis learns that an heiress was poisoned at the secluded island resort where his girlfriend works. He goes to warn her but is trapped there with all the other guests. Then, not only does an elegant Countess disappear, but so does a withdrawn, mysterious maid. Murder suspects include the annoying neighbor who wants the island sold out to developers; the grouchy, inept handyman; and the burly, brainless new pool man. And who will be the next victim? Will it be the over-eager staff dietician; the unpublished mystery writer; the once-f...

64 pages

5 m, 14 w, 1 flexible part

If you're ready for some hard-nosed action, spying, deceit involving a stolen painting, a shady real estate deal, and an auto repair shop that's more a chop shop, stop in at the convent of St. Fermilda. The Sisters of Faith, Hope, and Charity are in the midst of all kinds of intrigue and they're not even sure how they got there! But don't think because they took vows of reverence and poverty that they'll let some hard-nosed hoods get the best of them. After all, the Sisters have work to do for the poor in this rundown neighborhood, and they're bound and deter...

68 pages

5 m, 11 w, extras as patients

If ever there was an emergency, it's the emergency room at Calamity University Hospital! The two on-duty doctors have been mysteriously shipped out of the country; essential medical supplies keep disappearing; and four student nurses, whose grades are so low they had to get down on their hands and knees to read them, have been assigned there. Add to the mix a nurse who gets hysterical over a split fingernail; a student who accidentally glues herself to her desk; and a professor who tries to freeze-dry himself for posterity. The student nurses may not know how...

63 pages

6 m, 7 w

See the butler and maid help the Cummings pack. See the butler and maid escort the Cummings out the door. See the butler and maid turn to each other and embrace because they are actually two aspiring actors, Billy and Wendy, who now have the Cummings estate to themselves! One week of acting rich! Unfortunately for them, they won't be alone and they aren't the only ones acting. For all kinds of weird and hilarious reasons, the neighbor is posing as a cleaning lady; the Cummings' daughter is acting like a family friend; the jewel thief is acting like a long-los...

67 pages

14 m, 14 w, doubling possible

When the wimpy chess club members take on the football in-crowd and the local ruffians, hold on to your hula hoops! In this 1950s malt shop setting, supernerd Julius Caesar Abercrombie, captain of the Mighty Armadillo Chess Club, is accidentally hypnotized, and upon a particular signal, thinks he is the star quarterback of the high school football team. It's a lucky thing, too, because the real quarterback, Bobby Diamond, has promised the local ruffians that he will throw the big game if they will not hurt a young runaway girl. Meanwhile, the president of a v...

74 pages

5 m, 5 w, 5 flexible (doubling possible)

Mr. and Mrs. Moss are the proud new owners of an old abandoned inn which they immediately want to restore and turn into a nightclub. Unfortunately, they're so busy overseeing suspiciously inept repairmen that they pay little attention to the local legend that tells of a treasure hidden somewhere on the estate. So when a severe storm develops forcing an unusual assortment of guests to stay the night along with the questionable workers, it doesn't take a genius to guess a murder will take place. With no help available, the hapless hosts take it upon themselves ...

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...

71 pages

Flex. cast, approx. 10 m, 19 w, extras

Just sit right down and enjoy a tale - a tale that combines parts of Fantasy Island, Treasure Island, and Gilligan's Island. Now you've got some idea of what's in store when you're lagooned. In this sequel to Tim Kelly's ever popular play, "Don't Rock the Boat," some favorite characters do their best to survive on a weird atoll in the South Pacific, the home of cannibals, jungle drums, and nasty wildlife including a gorilla! They don't realize the island is actually part of Fantasy Tours, an organization that stages shipwrecks for clients willing to pay the p...

54 pages

Flexible cast of 20 or more

In Jujuba, it really is a jungle out there! The veerry English Prof. Schmoo is on safari to find an ape named Dr. Teecha. Teecha is studying a purple wild man of the jungle, Zartan, the Grape Man. The discovery of the yodeling Zartan could provide the missing link between man and ape! But it's not easy finding a missing link in a jungle filled with cannibalistic natives or a bunch of loony pirates hunting for treasure. The safari party itself is pretty weird, including Schmoo's whiny daughter; Jungle Guide Clyde, who keeps getting lost; the reporter who is al...

64 pages

5 m, 7 w, and 3 flexible, extras

Here's a charming, fantasy romp of fairies, elves, and sprites and their adventures--and misadventures--in love. And it's all happening at the same time of Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream.”  The sprites of Shakespeare’s fairy kingdom are awaiting the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. The fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania, should bless the upcoming wedding, but have been locked in a dispute over custody of an Indian changeling child for nearly two years. The sprites clamor to rekindle old flames and enco...

72 pages

18-33 speaking roles + extras

Being a teenager is stressful enough, but it’s even worse when there is a dance on the horizon, and you don’t have a date. Four groups of students deal with the looming dance in their own way. Some conduct scientific social experiments, and others have to learn to dance. One girl finds out she is apparently “spoken for” (although she has no idea by whom), and another just locks herself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. With a little help from their friends and some “hip” parents, these students try to figure out if it is even possible to learn “How to ...

56 pages

8 m, 8 w, 4 or more extras as female pirates

While evading her wedding and overbearing fiancé, Lizette de Champlay, a headstrong French woman, leads her ladies to a British merchant ship. Once aboard, the ladies upset the sailors and their disciplined captain, Roger Thornwood, convincing him to hunt for treasure on an island home to a fierce band of female pirates. As Roger and Lizette begin to fall for each other, Lizette’s fiancé and her father follow them to the island, only to be captured by the pirates. What follows are battles of the heart and sword as everyone searches for their treasure.

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...