One-Act Plays Suitable for High School One-Act Play Competition
(Under 40 minutes)
Remembering Margot- Adapted from the full-length version for the High School One Act Play Competition
Cast: 8-13 (Cast of 8: 6 female, 2 male; Cast of 13: 11 female, 2 male)
Running Time: 35 minutes
High School One Act Play Competition, Margot Frank, Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne frank, Holocaust, teenage actors
A new look at Margot Frank based on recently discovered photographs. She was more than the bookish, shy sister than people thought. She was vibrant, athletic, flirtatious, and a strong protector of her family.
Excerpt
My Brother's Gift
Cast: 5-11 (Cast of 5: 3f, 2m) (Cast of 11: 6f, 3m, 2 male or female)
Running Time: 35 minutes
High School One-Act Play Competition, Holocaust, the power of art, Heinz Geiringer, Eva Schloss
Synopsis: SYNOPSIS: Anne Frank’s family and Heinz Geiringer’s family were neighbors in Amsterdam. After both Heinz and Margot were “called up” to work in a Nazi Labor camp, they went into hiding at roughly the same time. Anne Frank left a diary showing the difficulties of growing up in hiding. Heinz Geiringer left over twenty paintings and a book of poetry which show us both his hope for the future and the terror of the time. Heinz loved the arts. A trained musician, Heinz turned to painting and poetry to utilize his time. He painted on tea towels, pillowcases and any surface that he could find. The paintings vary from a nostalgic love of the life he once led to the fears that were now part of his everyday existence. . From the tender age of fifteen to seventeen, Heinz created a body of work that exists to this day. After liberation, Otto Frank formed a close friendship with Fritzi Geiringer and Eva. As the survivors of their respective families, they understood each other. When Otto was given Anne’s diary, Fritiz (Mutti) and Eva set out to recover Heinz’s (and Pappy’s) paintings. The play covers the power of art under unconscionable circumstances and how art is part of our collective humanity to cope, to heal and to hope. The play uses projections of Heinz's paintings for the set.
To read full script contact: Stage Partners
Not in Our Town
Cast: 11-15 (2 females, 3 males, 6 male or female) (for 15: 4 females, 5 males, 6 male or female)
Running Time: 40-45 minutes
High school theatre, large-cast teen performers, Christmas, Chanukah, peace, white supremacy, docudrama
In Billings, Montana, a brick was thrown into the bedroom of a five-year-old boy. His crime? Having a decal of a menorah in his window. The play chronicles the hate crime and townspeople reaction to it - which was to put a menorah in the homes of anyone who dared. This was the start of the "Not in Our Town" movement and how one city combated hate.
Excerpt
Contact: Pioneer Drama Service
Play the Hand that's Dealt
Cast: 11 (5f, 4m, 1 m or f)
Running Time: 30 minutes
High school theatre; large-cast, teen performers, school lockdown, drama, high school one-act festival
A school lockdown precipitates a nerve-wracking showdown in a classroom left without a teacher. Perfect for the high school one-act competition. All teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Playscripts
Anansi, the Clever Spider
Cast: 8 (1m, 2f, 5 m or f)
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set of levels
Comedy, folk tale, young performers, theatre for young audiences, high school one-act festival
2nd Place, Nantucket Short Play Contest
Anansi must outwit the Sky God in order to control the stories of the world and give them to his people. A farcical and faithful adaptation from the Anansi folk tales of West Africa. Adult and/or teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Eldridge Plays and Musicals
Casting Juliet/The Call Back Serio-comic - 20 minutes
Cast: 3f (3-6f possible with both plays)
Running time: 20 minutes
Unit set
Serio-comic, teen performers, backstage theatre play
Things are seldom what they seem at an audition ... twists and turns in a pressure-cooker situation.
Excerpt
Contact: Eldridge Plays and Musicals
Next Actor Please
Cast: 10 (7f, 3m)
Running time: 35 minutes
Unit set
Comedy, high school one-act festival, teen performers, high school theatre
A director's audition for Romeo and Juliet goes awry as she has to contend with a delusional secret agent, the Swamp Shiek, a conniving gypsy and a Shakespearean dictator. It makes the actress-who-has-panic-attacks and the irritable homeless guy seem almost normal. All teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Heuer Publishing
Romeo and Beatrice and Toto, Too - 30 minutes - comedy
Cast: 8 (4f, 2m, 2m or f)
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
Comedy, high-school one-act, mash-up, teen performers
Mrs. Quince, a member of the "Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare Society" receives a mysterious copy of a play claiming to be an early work of Shakespeare. She decides to produce it and that is when "anything and everything goes wrong." The show ends with a rambunctious production of Romeo and Beatrice. Adult or teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Heuer Publishing
A Guide to the Teenage Zone
Cast: 12-17 flexible casting
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
High school one-act, middle and high school performers, comedy
A light-hearted look at young teenagers who are part-children and part-emerging adults. We follow a day in the life of a group of young teens as they stumble through their day, interact and try to figure out their emerging selves. All teen performers.
For more information contact: Dramatic Publishing
The Tailor
Cast: 8 (5f, 3m) Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
Jewish folktale, young performers, young audiences, high school one-act competition
2nd Place, Marilyn Hall Awards, Beverly Hills Children's Play Writing Contest
A fast-paced story of a simple life of a tailor. The plays travels through twenty years of Moishe's life as he stitches his way through earning a living, marriage and raising children. The Tailor snips and cuts and sews and presents the threads of a life well-lived to his audience. Mixture of adult and young performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Dramatic Publishing
Shakespeare Unbound
Cast: 9-10 (1 optional) (6f, 3m, 1 m or f; "optional" character is a male)
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
Comedy, middle school and high school, high school one-act, Shakespeare, magical realism
One of my most popular plays - it received 265 productions in its first three published years.
"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy." Shakespeare wrote it and indeed his words come to pass in an enchanting story that brings his characters to life through torn pages of a book. As the Witches from Macbeth meet Katherine and Petruchio from The Taming of the Shrew, chaos erupts and there is trouble getting the characters back into the book.All teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Dramatic Publishing
Scheme Space
Cast: 2m, 5f
Running Time: 30 minutes
One split/unit set
teen performers, drama, cyberspace, high school one-act competition
A one-act play for teens about scheming in cyberspace. Events go "viral" after an inappropriate photo is posted in cyberspace.
Excerpt
Contact: YouthPLAYS
Cast: 8-13 (Cast of 8: 6 female, 2 male; Cast of 13: 11 female, 2 male)
Running Time: 35 minutes
High School One Act Play Competition, Margot Frank, Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne frank, Holocaust, teenage actors
A new look at Margot Frank based on recently discovered photographs. She was more than the bookish, shy sister than people thought. She was vibrant, athletic, flirtatious, and a strong protector of her family.
Excerpt
My Brother's Gift
Cast: 5-11 (Cast of 5: 3f, 2m) (Cast of 11: 6f, 3m, 2 male or female)
Running Time: 35 minutes
High School One-Act Play Competition, Holocaust, the power of art, Heinz Geiringer, Eva Schloss
Synopsis: SYNOPSIS: Anne Frank’s family and Heinz Geiringer’s family were neighbors in Amsterdam. After both Heinz and Margot were “called up” to work in a Nazi Labor camp, they went into hiding at roughly the same time. Anne Frank left a diary showing the difficulties of growing up in hiding. Heinz Geiringer left over twenty paintings and a book of poetry which show us both his hope for the future and the terror of the time. Heinz loved the arts. A trained musician, Heinz turned to painting and poetry to utilize his time. He painted on tea towels, pillowcases and any surface that he could find. The paintings vary from a nostalgic love of the life he once led to the fears that were now part of his everyday existence. . From the tender age of fifteen to seventeen, Heinz created a body of work that exists to this day. After liberation, Otto Frank formed a close friendship with Fritzi Geiringer and Eva. As the survivors of their respective families, they understood each other. When Otto was given Anne’s diary, Fritiz (Mutti) and Eva set out to recover Heinz’s (and Pappy’s) paintings. The play covers the power of art under unconscionable circumstances and how art is part of our collective humanity to cope, to heal and to hope. The play uses projections of Heinz's paintings for the set.
To read full script contact: Stage Partners
Not in Our Town
Cast: 11-15 (2 females, 3 males, 6 male or female) (for 15: 4 females, 5 males, 6 male or female)
Running Time: 40-45 minutes
High school theatre, large-cast teen performers, Christmas, Chanukah, peace, white supremacy, docudrama
In Billings, Montana, a brick was thrown into the bedroom of a five-year-old boy. His crime? Having a decal of a menorah in his window. The play chronicles the hate crime and townspeople reaction to it - which was to put a menorah in the homes of anyone who dared. This was the start of the "Not in Our Town" movement and how one city combated hate.
Excerpt
Contact: Pioneer Drama Service
Play the Hand that's Dealt
Cast: 11 (5f, 4m, 1 m or f)
Running Time: 30 minutes
High school theatre; large-cast, teen performers, school lockdown, drama, high school one-act festival
A school lockdown precipitates a nerve-wracking showdown in a classroom left without a teacher. Perfect for the high school one-act competition. All teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Playscripts
Anansi, the Clever Spider
Cast: 8 (1m, 2f, 5 m or f)
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set of levels
Comedy, folk tale, young performers, theatre for young audiences, high school one-act festival
2nd Place, Nantucket Short Play Contest
Anansi must outwit the Sky God in order to control the stories of the world and give them to his people. A farcical and faithful adaptation from the Anansi folk tales of West Africa. Adult and/or teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Eldridge Plays and Musicals
Casting Juliet/The Call Back Serio-comic - 20 minutes
Cast: 3f (3-6f possible with both plays)
Running time: 20 minutes
Unit set
Serio-comic, teen performers, backstage theatre play
Things are seldom what they seem at an audition ... twists and turns in a pressure-cooker situation.
Excerpt
Contact: Eldridge Plays and Musicals
Next Actor Please
Cast: 10 (7f, 3m)
Running time: 35 minutes
Unit set
Comedy, high school one-act festival, teen performers, high school theatre
A director's audition for Romeo and Juliet goes awry as she has to contend with a delusional secret agent, the Swamp Shiek, a conniving gypsy and a Shakespearean dictator. It makes the actress-who-has-panic-attacks and the irritable homeless guy seem almost normal. All teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Heuer Publishing
Romeo and Beatrice and Toto, Too - 30 minutes - comedy
Cast: 8 (4f, 2m, 2m or f)
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
Comedy, high-school one-act, mash-up, teen performers
Mrs. Quince, a member of the "Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare Society" receives a mysterious copy of a play claiming to be an early work of Shakespeare. She decides to produce it and that is when "anything and everything goes wrong." The show ends with a rambunctious production of Romeo and Beatrice. Adult or teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Heuer Publishing
A Guide to the Teenage Zone
Cast: 12-17 flexible casting
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
High school one-act, middle and high school performers, comedy
A light-hearted look at young teenagers who are part-children and part-emerging adults. We follow a day in the life of a group of young teens as they stumble through their day, interact and try to figure out their emerging selves. All teen performers.
For more information contact: Dramatic Publishing
The Tailor
Cast: 8 (5f, 3m) Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
Jewish folktale, young performers, young audiences, high school one-act competition
2nd Place, Marilyn Hall Awards, Beverly Hills Children's Play Writing Contest
A fast-paced story of a simple life of a tailor. The plays travels through twenty years of Moishe's life as he stitches his way through earning a living, marriage and raising children. The Tailor snips and cuts and sews and presents the threads of a life well-lived to his audience. Mixture of adult and young performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Dramatic Publishing
Shakespeare Unbound
Cast: 9-10 (1 optional) (6f, 3m, 1 m or f; "optional" character is a male)
Running time: 30 minutes
Unit set
Comedy, middle school and high school, high school one-act, Shakespeare, magical realism
One of my most popular plays - it received 265 productions in its first three published years.
"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy." Shakespeare wrote it and indeed his words come to pass in an enchanting story that brings his characters to life through torn pages of a book. As the Witches from Macbeth meet Katherine and Petruchio from The Taming of the Shrew, chaos erupts and there is trouble getting the characters back into the book.All teen performers.
Excerpt
Contact: Dramatic Publishing
Scheme Space
Cast: 2m, 5f
Running Time: 30 minutes
One split/unit set
teen performers, drama, cyberspace, high school one-act competition
A one-act play for teens about scheming in cyberspace. Events go "viral" after an inappropriate photo is posted in cyberspace.
Excerpt
Contact: YouthPLAYS