Scripts by Title
The Lit-The Won
The Little Mermaid
by Doug Wright
Ariel, King Triton's youngest daughter, wishes to pursue the human Prince Eric in the world above, bargaining with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to trade her tail for legs. But the bargain is not what it seems, and Ariel needs the help of her colorful friends, Flounder the fish, Scuttle the seagull and Sebastian the crab to restore order under the sea.
Cast: 9 M, 2 F, + ensemble
The Maids and Deathwatch
by Jean Genet
The Maids: Two domestic workers, deeply resentful of their inferior social position, try to revenge themselves against society by destroying their employer. When their attempt to betray their mistress's lover to the police fails and they are in danger of being found out, they dream of murdering Madame, little aware of the true power behind their darkest fantasy.
Deathwatch: Two convicts try to impress a third, who is on the verge of achieving legendary status in criminal circles. But neither realizes the lengths to which they will go to gain respect or that, in the end, nothing they can do will get them what they are searching for.
Cast: 8 M, 3 F
The Many Deaths of Danny Rosales
by Carlos Morton
The Many Deaths of Danny Rosales is a docu-drama based on actual events that transpired in Texas from 1975 to 1977. It deals with the trial of Sheriff Fred Hall who fatally shot Danny Rosales with a sawed off shotgun. Beginning in a courtroom, told through flashbacks, each witness and the defendant relate a different version leading up to Danny’s death. The play will be staged with an ensemble, in the spirit of Bertolt Brecht, and the docu-dramas of the Chicano Theater.
Cast: 7 M, 5 F
The Masque of the Red Death
by Trent Anthony
The red death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal -- the madness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. And the whole seizure, progress, and termination of the disease, were incidents of half an hour.
Cast: 11 M, 6 F, + ensemble
The Member of the Wedding
by Carson McCullers
Winner of the New York Drama Critic's Circle Award, this evocative, poetic drama explores the pains of youth and the meaning of family through the eyes of young Jasmine "Frankie" Addams.
Cast: 6 M, 7 F
The Miracle Worker
by William Gibson
Immortalized onstage and screen by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, this classic tells the story of Annie Sullivan and her student, blind and mute Helen Keller. The Miracle Worker dramatizes the volatile relationship between the lonely teacher and her charge. Trapped in a secret, silent world, unable to communicate, Helen is violent, spoiled, almost sub-human and treated by her family as such. Only Annie realizes that there is a mind and spirit waiting to be rescued from the dark, tortured silence. With scenes of intense physical and emotional dynamism, Annie's success with Helen finally comes with the utterance of a single, glorious word: "water."
Cast: 7 M, 7 F
The Misanthrope (and others)
by Moliere
Alceste, a French aristocrat, raves to his friend Philinte about the corruption of French society. Alceste identifies hypocrisy as one of mankind's worst flaws. Despite Philinte's objections, Alceste insists that truth and honesty, no matter how painful, are essential to true integrity. Philinte contends that honesty must be balanced with manners, arguing that flattery might justly take the place of offensiveness. He believes that human nature should be allowed its faults.
Cast: 8 M, 3 F
The Moonlight Room
by Tristine Skyler
A dark tale of urban adolescence and family life, THE MOONLIGHT ROOM is set in the emergency room of a New York City hospital as two high-school students wait for news on the fate of a friend. As the situation worsens and family members begin to arrive, the play examines the idea of "at-risk" youth and the potential for risk within your own family.
Cast: 3 M, 2 F
The Mousetrap
by Agatha Christie
A group of strangers is stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer. The suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, a spinster with a curious background, an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef, a retired Army major, a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift, and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. Into their midst comes a policeman, traveling on skis. To get to the rationale of the murderer's pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present, and rattles a lot of skeletons.
Cast: 5 M, 3 F
The Music Man
by Meredith Wilson
The Music Man follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian, the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain's fall.
Cast: 10 M, 9 F, + ensemble
The Nerd
by Larry Shue
Now an aspiring young architect in Terre Haute, Indiana, Willum Cubbert has often told his friends about the debt he owes to Rick Steadman, a fellow ex-GI whom he has never met but who saved his life after he was seriously wounded in Vietnam. He has written to Rick to say that, as long as he is alive, "you will have somebody on Earth who will do anything for you"—so Willum is delighted when Rick shows up unexpectedly at his apartment on the night of his thirty-fourth birthday party. But his delight soon fades as it becomes apparent that Rick is a hopeless "nerd"—a bumbling oaf with no social sense, little intelligence and less tact.
Cast: 5 M, 2 F
The Odd Couple
by Neil Simon
This classic comedy opens as a group of the guys assemble for cards in the apartment of divorced Oscar Madison. And if the mess is any indication, it's no wonder that his wife left him. Late to arrive is Felix Unger, who has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious, depressed, and none too tense, Felix seems suicidal, but as the action unfolds, Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together with hilarious results as The Odd Couple is born.
Cast: 6 M, 2 F
The Odd Couple (female version)
by Neil Simon
Unger and Madison are at it again! Florence Unger and Olive Madison, that is, in Neil Simon's hilarious contemporary comic classic: the female version of The Odd Couple. Instead of the poker party that begins the original version, Ms. Madison has invited the girls over for an evening of Trivial Pursuit. The Pidgeon sisters have been replaced by the two Constanzuela brothers. But the hilarity remains the same.
Cast: 2 M, 6 F
The Old Lady Shows Her Medals
by J.M. Barrie
Mrs. Dowey is entertaining three other charwomen at tea; they are all proud of their sons in the army (1914 1918). The curate arrives with Kenneth Dowey of the Black Watch in tow. But Mrs. Dowey has no son; she only pretends after seeing Kenneth's name in a newspaper. Since he has no family, he agrees to spend his leave with her and Mrs. Dowey has the long wished for experience of mothering a boy. When Private Dowey does not return, the old lady puts away his effects and bravely sets out to work.
Cast: 2 M, 4 F
The Oresteia
by Aeschylus
The Oresteia tells the story of the house of Atreus. The first play, Agamemnon, portrays the victorious return of that king from the Trojan War and his murder by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. At the play’s end Clytemnestra and her lover rule Árgos. The work has extraordinary, sustained dramatic and poetic power. Particularly notable are the fascinating richness of Clytemnestra’s deceitful words and the striking choral songs, which raise in metaphorical and often enigmatic terms the major themes—of theology, politics, and blood relationships—that are elaborated throughout the trilogy.
Cast: variable
The Outsiders
by Christopher Sergel
Cherry comes to share a special sensitivity with Ponyboy as she discovers that he remembers poems and needs to watch sunsets. At the same time, Cherry's attracted to the older, tougher Dallas, and in a sense she's caught in the violent space between the Greasers and the Socs. While the Socs appear to have everything, the only thing a Greaser has is his friends. As these young people try to find themselves and each other, the sadness of sophistication begins to reach them. This is a play about young people who are not yet hopeless about latent decency in the midst of struggle.
Cast: 10 M, 8 F
The Owl and
the Pussycat
by Bill Manhoff
In a San Francisco loft, aspiring author Felix focuses his binoculars on a prostitute plying her trade. He complains to the landlord, has her evicted, and finds trouble pounding on his door in the form of Doris, not a prostitute, but an aspiring “model and actress, thank you very much.” She figures he owes her a bed for the night, an arrangement that leads to hilarity.
Cast: 1 M, 1 F
The Perfect Idiot
by Eunice and
Grant Atkinson
This amusing farce written by a young couple who grew up in the professional theatre is exceptionally playable. The high school gang hates the boywonder Dan. They've heard too much about his IQ. They despise his "Smart-Me, Dumb-You" attitude. Then the star athlete Puff is disqualified from all athletic events. Dan has a big problem of his own. His parents won't let him take the college entrance exams as long as he's so unpopular. So Dan offers a trade: he'll tutor Puff if the gang will rally around him and act like friends even if they're not. He's a "perfect" idiot!
Cast: 8 M, 7 F
The Piano Lesson
by August Wilson
It is 1936, and Boy Willie arrives in Pittsburgh from the South in a battered truck loaded with watermelons to sell. He has an opportunity to buy some land down home, but he has to come up with the money right quick. He wants to sell an old piano that has been in his family for generations, but he shares ownership with his sister and it sits in her living room. She has already rejected several offers because the antique piano is covered with incredible carvings detailing the family’s rise from slavery. Boy Willie tries to persuade his stubborn sister that the past is past, but she is more formidable than he anticipated.
Cast: 5 M, 3 F
The Pigman
by F. Andrew Leslie
Bored with school, Lorraine and John search for other activities to fill the time. One of these leads to a meeting with a retired widower, Mr. Pignati, whose hobby happens to be collecting china, glass and marble pigs. Although their contact with Mr. Pignati is instigated by selfish intentions, Lorraine and John soon find themselves drawn into the older man's life. Counterpointed by scenes with their parents, their relationship with "The Pigman" moves steadily and surely from casual visits to deeper involvement to, inexorably, tragedy.
Cast: 6 M, 3 F
The Potting Shed
by Graham Greene
An unwanted son returns to his father's death bed. His mother will not permit him to see his father in his last moments, and he is estranged from every member of the family. Why? The key apparently is an event in the potting shed when he was 14 years old. The son has no recall on the subject; his mother is silent; the psychiatrist meets a stone wall. The widow of the old gardener sends them to the church where his uncle is pastor, and at a family Christmas reunion, the son pieces together the true secret about what happened in the potting shed.
Cast: 6 M, 5 F
The Price
by Arthur Miller
Two brothers meet, after a sixteen-year estrangement, in the attic of the family residence, where the old furniture is to be disposed of. The first is a policeman who sacrificed his education and probably a career as a scientist to care for his ruined, invalid father. The other, who arrives late, is an eminent surgeon who walked out on the demands of family to concentrate on medicine and personal success.When the surgeon arrives, the brothers take a little time for amenities and feeling each other out before the basis of their long alienation and mutual bitterness emerges into short, blunt, enraged accusations.
Cast: 3 M, 1 F
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by Jay Presson Allen
Miss Brodie is a teacher, a formidable figure who molds young minds to her form. And what’s more, she is so intensely interesting that the girls admire her above all else. But Miss Brodie is not honest. She prevaricates and then tells the girls to do as she tells them, not as she does herself. She is having an affair with the music teacher and has had one with the art teacher. A fantastic letter which some of her students write in her name to her lover falls into the headmistress’ hands.
Cast: 4 M, 15 F
The Private Ear
by Peter Shaffer
The boy has invited to his hovel for dinner a girl he met at a concert. In the interim he has romanticized her as another Venus, and not to appear gauche, he has asked his man about town friend to coach him. When the girl arrives, she is a very common sort and he is awkward to the point of clumsiness, and destroys the mood. She slaps him for trying to kiss her forcibly. She departs, and he returns to his record, now badly scratched, and the curtain descends on a broken love song.
Cast: 2 M, 1 F
The Rocky
Horror Show
by Richard O'Brien
In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad and Janet, stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker and a creepy butler. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named "Rocky."
Cast: 7 M, 3 F, + ensemble
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
by Lorraine Hansberry
This is the probing, hilarious and provocative story of Sidney, a disenchanted Greenwich Village intellectual, his wife Iris, an aspiring actress, and their colorful circle of friends and relations. Set against the shenanigans of a stormy political campaign, the play follows its characters in their unorthodox quests for meaningful lives in an age of corruption, alienation and cynicism. With compassion, humor and poignancy, the author examines questions concerning the fragility of love, morality and ethics, interracial relationships, drugs, rebellion, conformity and especially withdrawal from or commitment to the world.
Cast: 5 M, 3 F
The Sea Gull
by Anton Chekhov
This is a precise translation of the classic story about life, love, theatre and the disappointments they hold for this passionate, imperfect cast of characters: Irina, a fading, middle-aged actress; Trigorin, a moderately popular author who realizes his own failure to achieve 'greatness', and Irina's muddled and melancholy son Konstantin, who is lovesick over beautiful Nina, an aspiring actress. Enchanted by the lure of the older, debonair Trigorin and obsessed with becoming an actress, Nina runs off with him to the city where she bears his child and becomes just another would-be of the stage. She returns to the provinces, deserted by Trigorin, and again rejects Konstantin's professions of love.
Cast: 8 M, 6 F
The Silver Cord
by Sidney Howard
This scathing drama of "mother- love" gone awry portrays the lengths to which widowed Mrs. Phelps will go to keep her "boy's" attachment to- if not love for, her. Though son Robert ultimately gives up a devoted fiancee and holds fast to the "silver cord" of affection for his mother, firstborn David brings home Christina, a woman who is not so easily dissuaded by The Widow Phelps' machinations in the name of love.
Cast: 2 M, 4 F
The Spitfire Grill
by James Valcq
and Fred Alley
A feisty parolee follows her dreams, based on a page from an old travel book, to a small town in Wisconsin and finds a place for herself working at Hannah's Spitfire Grill. It is for sale but there are no takers for the only eatery in the depressed town, so newcomer Percy suggests to Hannah that she raffle it off. Entry fees are one hundred dollars and the best essay on why you want the grill wins. Soon, mail is arriving by the wheelbarrow full and things are definitely cookin' at the Spitfire Grill.
Cast: 3 M, 4 F
The Story
by Tracey Scott Wilson
An ambitious black newspaper reporter, Yvonne Wilson, goes against her editor, Pat Morgan, to investigate a murder and finds the BEST story…but at what cost? Wilson explores the elusive nature of truth as the boundaries between reality and fiction, morality and ambition become dangerously blurred.
Cast: 2 M, 7 F
The Three Sisters
by Anton Chekhov
This poignant story of three provincial sisters who long with all their hearts to go to Moscow is classic theatre which has featured many of the world's great actresses and actors in the roles of Olga, Masha, Irina and Vershinin.
Cast: 9 M, 6 F
The Threepenny Opera
by Bertolt Brecht
When Macheath marries young Polly Peachum, her father is enraged. Jonathan Peachum controls the beggars of London, and he strives to get Macheath hanged. Unfortunately for him, the chief of police is an old friend of Macheath’s.
Nevertheless, Peachum exerts considerable political influence, and eventually Macheath is arrested and imprisoned. He escapes, only to become imprisoned once more. Luckily, a hard-riding messenger from the Queen arrives at the last minute to pardon Macheath and to issue him a baronetcy.
Cast: 11 M, 4 F, + ensemble
The Whale
by Samuel D Hunter
On the outskirts of Mormon Country, Idaho, a six-hundred-pound recluse hides away in his apartment and slowly eats himself to death. Desperate to reconnect with his long-estranged daughter, he reaches out to her, only to find a viciously sharp-tongued and wildly unhappy teen. Big-hearted and fiercely funny, The Whale tells the story of a man's last chance at redemption, and of finding beauty in the most unexpected places.
Cast: 2 M, 3 F
The Trysting Place
by Booth Tarkington
Four couples simultaneously rendezvous in the same hotel lounge, but the situation is humorously complicated before each man meets his proper partner. A classic, well made comedy by one of America's most popular writers.
Cast: 4 M, 3 F
The White Liars and Black Comedy
by Peter Shaffer
The White Liars: depicts a fateful encounter between a down-and-out fortune teller, a rock musician, and his agent. The agent bribes the fortune teller to fake some hocus-pocus over a crystal ball. The trickery entangles each of them in a dense web of mendacity.
Black Comedy: The fussy neighbor, Harold Gorringe, returns just as a blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness and Brindsley is revealed. Unexpected guests, aging spinsters, errant phone cords, and other snares impede his frantic attempts to return the purloined items before light is restored.
Cast: 2 M, 1 F / 5 M 3 F
The Wiz
by William F. Brown
A beloved Broadway gem, The Wiz infuses L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with a dazzling mix of rock, gospel, and soul music. This timeless tale of Dorothy’s adventures through the Land of Oz is a fun, family-friendly, modern musical
Cast: 6 M, 5 F, + ensemble
The Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum
Dorothy Gale, a young girl living on a Kansas farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, dreams of escaping her mundane life (“Over The Rainbow“). The family’s mean neighbor, Miss Gulch, threatens to impound Dorothy’s cherished dog, Toto, so Dorothy and Toto run away. They meet up with kindly Professor Marvel, who subtly convinces Dorothy to return home. Suddenly a cyclone hits, and Dorothy and Toto, seeking shelter in the house, are transported to the Land of Oz.
Cast: 5 M, 3 F, + ensemble
The Wizard of Oz (non-musical)
by Anne Coulter Martens
When the lights go up and Dorothy finds herself in the land of Oz—being hailed by the Munchkins for saving them from the Wicked Witch of the East—it is a pretty bewildering experience for a little girl from Kansas. But Dorothy bravely sets out to find a way back home and soon meets noble friends: the Scarecrow seeking brains, the Cowardly Lion who wants courage and the Tin Woodman who desires a heart above everything. These brave adventurers share terrifying experiences in a play designed for ease of production.
Cast: 8 M, 13 F
The Women
by Claire Booth Luce
The author carries us through a number of varied scenes and shows us not only a somewhat unflattering picture of womanhood, but digging under the surface, reveals a human understanding for and sympathy with some of its outstanding figures. The plot involves the efforts of a group of women to play their respective roles in an artificial society that consists of vain show, comedy, tragedy, hope and disappointment.
Cast: 35 F
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (and others)
by Ray Bradburry
The summer's heat is depressing in the Mexican ghetto, but six men of similar height find a solution to all their problems—a $60, pure-white suit. They each pitch in $10 and buy the wonderful "ice cream suit." They set up rules and schedules for the actual wearing of the suit as they each make their dreams come true. It is not until the fat and sloppy sixth member has his turn that all their happiness is put in jeopardy.
Cast: 12 M, 2 F