Scripts by Title
B-D
Bad Seed
by Maxwell Anderson
The scene is a small Southern town where Colonel and Christine Penmark live with their daughter, Rhoda. Little Rhoda Penmark is the evil queen of the story. On the surface she is sweet, charming, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, admired by all her elders. But Rhoda's mother has an uneasy feeling about her. When one of Rhoda's schoolmates is mysteriously drowned at a picnic, Mrs. Penmark is alarmed. For the boy who was drowned was the one who had won the penmanship medal that Rhoda felt she deserved.
Cast: 7 M, 5 F
Balm in Gilead
by Lanford Wilson
In an all-night coffee shop on New York's upper Broadway, the riff-raff, the bums, the petty thieves, the lost, the desperate of the big city come together. At the core of the play are Joe and Darlene, two young people who would seem to have the strength and the need to transcend the turmoil and ugliness of the life in which they found themselves—but are, instead, crushed by it. But their loss is quickly absorbed in the maelstrom, as the others go on desperately seeking the joy and release and purpose in life which will, most certainly, continue to escape them.
Cast: 16 M, 8 F
Barefoot in
the Park
by Neil Simon
Paul and Corie Bratter are newlyweds in every sense of the word. After a six day honeymoon, they get a surprise visit from Corie's loopy mother and decide to play matchmaker during a dinner with their neighbor-in-the-attic Velasco, where everything that can go wrong, does.
Cast: 4 M, 2 F
Becket
​
by Jean Anouilh
Never have Anouilh’s characteristic intelligence and irony been employed with more telling effect than in this drama of the tragic relationship between King Henry of England and the introspective intellectual who had been his dearest friend, but who became his implacable enemy when intrigue raised him to the hierarchy of the church.
Cast: 24 M, 4 F
Bell, Book, and Candle
by John VanDruten
Gillian Holroyd is one of the few modern people who can actually cast spells and perform feats of supernaturalism. She casts a spell over an unattached publisher, Shepherd Henderson, partly to keep him away from a rival and partly because she is attracted to him. He falls head over heels in love with her at once and wants to marry her. But witches, unfortunately, cannot fall in love, and this minute imperfection leads into a number of difficulties. Ultimately, the lady breaks off with her companions in witchery, preferring the normal and human love offered her by the attractive publisher.
Cast: 3 M, 2 F
Biloxi Blues
by Neil Simon
When we last met Eugene Jerome, he was coping with adolescence in 1930's Brooklyn. Here, he is a young army recruit during WW II, going through basic training and learning about Life and Love with a capital 'L' along with some harsher lessons, while stationed at boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1943.
The second in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Neil Simon's trilogy which began with Brighton Beach Memoirs and concluded with Broadway Bound.
Cast: 6 M, 2 F
Black Elk Speaks
by Christopher Sergel
Black Elk lived the experience of the Native American people from the moment before white people entered his world through the end of Indian independence at the massacre of Wounded Knee. His unique eloquence and that of his cousin Crazy Horse make this play a very special event. The play moves quickly and with mounting excitement through this history and through a vision of life as it once was for the Indian, and as it could be for all people.
Cast: 36 M, 4 F
Blithe Spirit
​
by Noel Coward
The smash comedy hit of the London and Broadway stages, this much-revived classic from the playwright of Private Lives offers up fussy, cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine, re-married but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife, the clever and insistent Elvira who is called up by a visiting “happy medium,” one Madame Arcati. As the (worldly and un-) personalities clash, Charles’ current wife, Ruth, is accidentally killed, “passes over,” joins Elvira, and the two “blithe spirits” haunt the hapless Charles into perpetuity.
Cast: 2 M, 5 F
Blue Denim
by James Leo Herlihy
and William Noble
A retired army officer living in Detroit has a 15 year old son who finds that he is about to become a father. The youngster feels helpless; he has never been close enough to his parents to go to them for help. When he does, at a friend's urging, he cannot make himself understood. This simple yet universal situation encompasses the terrible insecurity of youth, and the equally terrible failure of parents who realize too late that they don't know their own children.
Cast: 3 M, 3 F
Born Yesterday
by Garison Kanin
Harry Brock has come to a swanky hotel to make crooked deals with government big-wigs. He has brought with him the charming but dumb ex-chorus girl Billie. The young, idealistic magazine reporter Paul Verrall agrees, for a salary, to educate Billie. He finds Billie has a natural honesty and a frank streak in her, and she begins to learn about history, politics, and what Harry really is and what he wants. As Billie readies to leave Harry for a new life of her own. Harry's reaction takes the only form he knows: physical violence.
Cast: 12 M, 4 F
Brighton Beach Memoirs
by Neil Simon
Dreaming of baseball and girls, Eugene must cope with the mundane existence of his family life in Brooklyn: formidable mother, overworked father, and his worldly older brother Stanley. Throw into the mix his widowed Aunt Blanche and her two young (but rapidly aging) daughters and you have a recipe for hilarity, served up Simon-style.
Cast: 3 M, 4 F
Broadway Bound
​
by Neil Simon
Part three of Neil Simon's acclaimed autobiographical trilogy finds Eugene and his older brother Stanley trying to break into the world of show business as professional comedy writers while coping with their parents break-up and eventual divorce. When their material is broadcast on the radio for the first time, the family is upset to hear a thinly-veiled portrait of themselves played for laughs.
Cast: 4 M, 2 F
Brother Goose
by William Davidson
Jeff Adams is an architect by day and general cleaner-upper for his orphaned brothers and sisters by night. Into their hectic midst comes Peggy Winkel, a delightfully vague girl who is supposed to sell hosiery but really brings order, comedy and romance! Jeff mistakes Peggy for the new maid and Peggy, tired of selling hosiery and fond of children, agrees to stay and help out. This comedy is always successful in production and a happy choice for any high school.
Cast: 3 M, 9 F
Bus Stop
by William Inge
In the middle of a snowstorm, a bus pulls up at a cheerful roadside diner. All roads are blocked, and some weary travelers are going to have to hole up until morning. Cherie, a nightclub chanteuse in a sparkling gown , is the passenger with most to worry about. She's been pursued, made love to and finally kidnapped by a cowboy with a ranch of his own and the romantic methods of a headstrong bull. As a counterpoint to the main romance, the proprietor of the cafe and the bus driver at last find time to develop a friendship of their own; a middle-age scholar comes to terms with himself; and a young girl who works in the cafe also gets her first taste of romance.
Cast: 5 M, 3 F
Butterflies Are Free
by Leonard Gershe
Young Don Baker, hero of his mother's children's book series, "Donny Dark" has been blind since birth, his overprotective mother following his every move. Don finally decides to take his own apartment in Manhattan and pursue his songwriting ambitions. When she meets his kooky neighbor, sexy actress Jill, Mrs. Baker's controlling instincts go into overdrive with hilariously touching results.
Cast: 2 M, 2 F
By the Sea,
By the Sea,
By the Beautiful Sea
​
by Joe Pinaturo +2 more
This is an anthology of three one-act plays by three separate authors. DAWN looks at sibling rivalries and marital discord. DAY follows a gardener at the beach and some potentially bad decisions. DUSK looks at three people trying to break free from prisons of their own making.
Cast: each show is 1 M, 2 F
Cards, Cups, and Crystal Ball
by David Campton
Flora, Dora and Nora Weerd make a living telling fortunes. When we first meet them, they are barely scraping along with hardly enough money to pay their only servant, Jessie. In fact, they have barely enough to finance the leaves in the bottom of a teacup. Actually, they are dreadful fortunetellers, and then along comes the mysterious Lady M. She wants news of the future and she wants it right away.
Cast: 5 F
Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams
In a plantation house, a family celebrates the sixty-fifth birthday of Big Daddy, as they sentimentally dub him. The mood is somber, despite the festivities, because a number of evils poison the gaiety: greed, sins of the past and desperate, clawing hopes for the future spar with one another as the knowledge that Big Daddy is dying slowly makes the rounds.
Cast: 8 M, 5 F, 2 boys, 2 girls
Cat's-Paw
by William Mastrosimone
Victor is the head of a group responsible for a bomb attack at the White House in which 27 people have been killed. He has a television news reporter led to his lair so she can tell the world why he has done what he has done. When the reporter asks if he feels any guilt about the death of the 27 innocent people, he replies that hundreds of innocent people die every hour because of what mankind is doing to its water supply and do the people responsible feel guilt for this? The cat and mouse game between the young woman reporter and Victor gets more and more tense, leading to a shocking and violent conclusion.
Cast: 2 M, 2 F
Catch Me
if You Can
​
by Julian Fellowes
Seeking fame and fortune, teenager, Frank Abignale, Jr., runs away from home to begin an unforgettable adventure. With nothing more than his boyish charm, a big imagination and millions of dollars in forged checks, Frank successfully poses as a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer – living the high life and winning the girl of his dreams. When Frank's lies catch the attention of FBI agent, Carl Hanratty, though, Carl pursues Frank across the country to make him pay for his crimes.
Cast: 4 M, 3 F, + ensemble
Charley's Aunt
​
by Brandon Thomas
Jack Chesney loves Kitty Verdun and Charley loves Miss Amy Spettigue. They invite the ladies to meet Charley's wealthy aunt from Brazil. Cancelling her visit at the last minute, the millionaire aunt sends the boys into cataclysmic confusion. The problem is solved by drafting their feckless Oxford undergrad pal into a black satin skirt, bloomers and wig. As "Charley's Aunt", this charming frump is introduced to the ladies, to Jack's father and to Amy's guardian. When the real aunt turns up, classic comic confusion ensues.
Cast: 6 M, 4 F
Children in Uniform
by Christa Winsloe
This story achieved international fame as a work of great understanding and tenderness. It is the simple and affecting story of Manuela, a lonely and sensitive child, who is brought to an old-fashioned German girls' school. In an unguarded moment of hilarity she proclaims her adoration for her teacher, Fraiilein von Bernburg. The punishment administered by the tyrannical head mistress of this Prussianized school for what she chooses to regard as depravity leads to a tragic ending.
Cast: 28 F
Children of a Lesser God
by Mark Medoff
After three years in the Peace Corps, James joins the faculty of a school for the deaf, where he is to teach lip-reading. He meets Sarah, a dropout, totally deaf from birth, and estranged both from the world of hearing and from those who would compromise to enter that world. James tries, with little success, to help Sarah. Gradually the two fall in love and marry. At first their relationship is a happy one, as the gulf of silence between them seems to be bridged by their desire to understand each other's needs and feelings, but discord soon develops as Sarah becomes militant for the rights of the deaf and rejects any hint that she is being patronized and pitied.
Cast: 3 M, 4 F
Claptrap
​
by Ken Freidman
We follow two heroes: one a failed writer who never manages to get beyond page one, and the other an actor who never manages to get an acting job. Since Sam the writer is hurting for money, he manages to convince his girlfriend that he can take care of the funeral services for her father, hoping to ingratiate himself with the widowed and wealthy mother. Only, he conducts it in a fast-food joint that you have to see to believe. When Harvey the actor stumbles in thinking he’s auditioning for a role, all hilarity breaks loose.
Cast: 2 M, 3 F
Closer
​
by Patrick Marber
Dan, an obituary writer, meets Alice, a stripper, after an accident in the street. Eighteen months later, they are a couple, and Dan has written a novel inspired by Alice. While posing for his book jacket cover, Dan meets Anna, a photographer. Larry, a dermatologist, "meets" Dan in an internet chat room. Dan pretends to be Anna and has cybersex with Larry. They arrange to meet the next day at an aquarium. Larry arrives and so too, coincidentally, does the real Anna. This sets up a series of pass-the-lover scenes in which this quartet struggle to find intimacy but can't seem to get closer.
Cast: 2 M, 2 F
Come Back to the
Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
by Ed Graczyk
In a small-town dime store in West Texas, the “Disciples of James Dean” gather for their twentieth reunion. Now middle-aged women, they were teenagers when Dean filmed Giant two decades ago in nearby Marfa. The ladies’ congenial reminiscences mingle with flashbacks to their youth; then the arrival of a stunning-but-familiar stranger sets off a series of confrontations that smash their delusions and expose bitter disappointments.
Cast: 1 M, 8 F
Curtains
​
by Rupert Holmes
Curtains is parody of 1950s "whodunnit" theater mysteries, where a lone detective, Lieutenant Frank Cioffi, investigates a series of murders that take place place behind the scenes of a fictional 1950s cowboy musical, Robbin' Hood. The cast of Robbin' Hood is forced to stay inside the theater while Boston police detective Frank Cioffi unravels the mystery, getting involved with the show and falling in love with ingenue Niki Harris in the process.
Cast: 8 M, 5 F
Crimes of the Heart
by Beth Henley
The scene is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of their grandfather who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried at thirty and facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg, the middle sister, who quickly outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach. Their troubles, grave and yet, somehow, hilarious, are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by the awkward young lawyer who tries to keep Babe out of jail while helpless not to fall in love with her.
Cast: 2 M, 4 F
Cymbeline
​
by William Shakespeare
Focusing on innocence and jealousy, Cymbeline is the tale of the earliest days of what would one day become Great Britain.
Cast: 13 M, 2 F
Cyrano deBergerac
by Edmund Rostand
Swordsman, Philosopher, Poet, Raconteur Cyrano de Bergerac is all these things, but none of them makes him happy. What he desires above all is the love of the beautiful Roxane. But his problem is as plain as the nose on his face. Surely he is too ugly ever to be loved?
Cast: 11 M, 4 F
Da
by Hugh Leonard
Middle-aged assimilated American Charlie returns home to his native Dublin to sort through and come to terms with his relationship to this thoroughly beguiling, maddening presence in his life: "Da." Reminiscence gives way to memory and illusion as an adolescent "Charlie Then" is brought back from the past, while the man who is "Charlie Now" grapples with his own mortality and the part of his life that will always be the irrasicible "Da." A great success in its original Broadway production, subsequent revivals have proven this play a classic.
Cast: 5 M, 3 F
Dancing in the End Zone
​
by Bill C. Davis
This drama by the author of Mass Appeal explores the heart of a young man in crisis, inflamed by the people who claim to care for him: his mother, his football coach and his tutor. James Bernard is a star college quarterback whose innocence renders him devastatingly vulnerable. His mother and coach are pushing him to go "professional"; his tutor is concerned over the inherent corruption of organized athletics, believing that football is just another metaphor for war.
Cast: 2 M, 2 F
Dark of the Moon
​
by Howard Richardson
and William Berney
This perennial favorite is based on the haunting folk ballad of "Barbara Allen." Employing a large cast and imaginative settings in the Smoky Mountains, it recounts the story of John, a strange "witch boy" who upon first beholding the beautiful Barbara Allen immediately falls in love. He is given human form to woo and marry her on the condition that she remain true to him. The marriage is consummated and Barbara gives birth to a witch child whom the townspeople destroy in a superstitious frenzy.
Cast: 10 M, 12 F
Deadwood Dick
by Tom Taggart
The lure of the Old West of heroes, of redskins biting the dust, of lily pure maidens and black hearted gamblers, of the never ending "Game of Gold" is still with us. In 1876 Edward L. Wheeler started turning out novels about a Robin Hood of the Black Hills whom he named Deadwood Dick. Overnight Dick became so popular that the series continued for fifteen years. Taking the most exciting situations, the more colorful characters and the most amusing dialogue from these novels, Taggart has fashioned a blood and thunder melodrama.
Cast: 7 M, 7 F
Dear Evan Hansen
by Steven Levenson
When a classmate commits suicide, shy Evan Hansen finds himself at the center of the tragedy and turmoil. In a misguided attempt to comfort the boy’s grieving family, Evan pretends that he was actually good friends with their son. He invents a fabricated email account to “prove” their friendship, and when a fake suicide note makes its way online, Evan finds himself the unintended face of a viral video about loneliness and friendship.
Cast: 4 M, 4 F
Death of a Salesman
​
by Arthur Miller
The story revolves around the last days of Willy Loman, a failing salesman, who cannot understand how he failed to win success and happiness. Through a series of tragic soul-searching revelations of the life he has lived with his wife, his sons, and his business associates, we discover how his quest for the "American Dream" kept him blind to the people who truly loved him.
Cast: 8 M, 5 W
Desire Under the Elms (and others)
by Eugene O'Neil
A drama of Oedipal lust and yearning involving a rebellious farm boy, his tyrannical father, and the father's slatternly new wife.
STRANGE INTERLUDE: A theatrical vehicle for the discoveries of modern psychology, giving outward form to the characters' inexpressible thoughts and feelings.
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA: A trilogy comprising the plays Homecoming, The Hunted, and The Haunted - transplanting the themes of Aeschylus's Oresteia into Civil War-era New England.
Cast: 8 M, 2 F/5 M, 3 F/19 M, 12 F
Detective Story
​
by Sidney Kingsley
Out of the welter of human misery, vice and stupidity there emerges the tragic and moving case of a decent young fellow who has stolen money from his employer. Though a woman who is in love with him comes to his help and the employer is offered everything that has been taken from him, the case has fallen into the hands of McLeod, a hardworking detective whose experience in police work has developed in him a mania for punishing all law breakers.
Cast: 24 M, 8 F
Dino
​
by Kristin Sergel
Dino is a complicated young man who presents a difficult problem to his family, to his girl, to himself. At the age of 17, Dino has just finished a four-year sentence in reform school. His parole officer is a tough, competent and kind man who realizes that something must be done immediately to change Dino before he turns into a full-fledged criminal. This is a play of great relevance for young people.
Cast: 7 M, 11 F, + extras