You're Making A Scene!
This dynamic collection of 25 stand-alone scenes and monologues is a perfect resource for classroom, competition, or stage. The diverse material was carefully selected from playwright Bryan Starchman’s most popular shows. From playful monologues, such as “The Lunch Lady Cometh," to the more profound “And I Did Nothing,” this book provides material relevant to teenagers. Scenes include options for two to five, mostly gender-flexible actors, and use minimal sets and costumes. All of the scenes have been deftly edited so that it is not necessary to be familiar with the original play. Some additional titles include: “Five Thousand Years in Five Minutes,” in which a narrator reviews the history of Western theatre with humorous outcomes; “You’re Driving Me Crazy,” when a dad tries to teach his daughter to drive; and “Save the Last Dance for Me,” when sweethearts find themselves in an argument. So dive in, get creative, and have fun! (The scenes on reproducible pages may be produced in class royalty free, but a reasonable royalty fee is due when performed in front of an audience. Application at end of book.)
Productions
Behind The Scenes
Dear teachers and directors:
As a classroom teacher myself, I often struggle to find scenes to assign to my students as “in class assignments” so they can practice student direction, blocking, memorization, characterization, lighting, etc. One of my goals in writing You’re Making a Scene was to compile a diverse collection of stand-alone scenes and monologues that classroom teachers can use and students truly want to prepare for in class performances. My second goal was to offer scenes that could be used in competitions by traveling high school theater groups. Many of these scenes have been requested as “cuttings” after a school has produced the entire show. These are great for competitions because there are minimal sets and costumes, so with the right actors and direction they can be produced virtually anywhere. Finally, for those drama teachers out there who are looking for a night of scenes to produce for the community, you’ve come to the right place. Simple sets, diverse subject matter, and you get to pick and choose which scenes you want to present and in what order. Pick up to 6 scenes or scenes and monologues for a one-act show. Or, pick up to 12 scenes or scenes and monologues for a full length show (you can choose more but I think any more than 12 might get a little lengthy). You choose the scenes. You choose the order. You choose when you want intermission! It’s that simple. If you’ve got a class of 4 to 40, this à la carte system of building your own show is the perfect way to put on a low cost, high profit show that will entertain audiences of all ages. Feel free to visit www.histage.com to check out my plays in their entirety.
~Bryan Starchman