Skip to content

Mystery/Suspense/Horror

From murder mysteries to gothic horror, Stage Partners has an exciting collection of suspenseful plays by some of the most exciting playwrights working today. From high schools and middle schools to community and professional theatres, Stage Partners has chilling new plays for every stage.

Browse our selection below and READ EVERY PLAY SCRIPT FOR FREE!

Filter  
  1. Performance Group Community Theatre X
Clear All
Collections  
Performance Group  
Length Type  
Genre  
Sub-genre  
Production/Casting Filters  
Theme  
Cast Size  
Approx. Run Time (min)  
Items 1 - 10 of 20
Go to filters
  • This Murder Was Staged, a murder mystery comedy play script by Patrick Greene and Jason Pizzarello

    This Murder Was Staged

    Length: 100-120 minutes
    Cast Size: 8-25 actors
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    It's opening night of a brand-new mystery play, but just as the killer is about to be revealed, the body of the play's director falls onstage instead. In that moment, the theater becomes an active crime scene, and everyone from cast to crew to even the audience becomes a suspect. But how is the intrepid detective supposed to find the killer when everyone and their mother (literally) has a motive t...
  • The Single Man - A Murder Mystery - Stage Partners

    The Single Man - A Murder Mystery

    Written By: Don Zolidis
    Length: 80-85 minutes
    Cast Size: 15-30 actors (suggested casting: 8F, 3M, 5 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    After a death threat is found on the set of the hit television show, The Single Man, the producers strike upon a brilliant idea: Have suave mustachioed investigator Henri Poisson fill in for the terrified bachelor in order to root out the presumptive killer. But with eight single ladies vying for his attention on the show, will Poisson be able to discover the killer in time? Who will get the rose,...
  • Beware The House on Haunted Hill! - Stage Partners

    Beware the House on Haunted Hill!

    Adapted by Matthew Byrd & Kathryn Funkhouser from the 1959 film House on Haunted Hill, written by Robb White, directed by William Castle, starring Vincent Price
    Length: 85-90 minutes
    Cast Size: 9 actors (suggested casting: 3F, 3M, 3 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    Come to the party…stay if you dare. An eccentric millionaire promises six guests a mysterious prize if they can survive the night at the only truly haunted house in the world. Everyone invited has a few skeletons in their closets though, and screwball scares lurk around every corner. The classic 50s horror movie House on Haunted Hill becomes a campy whodunnit in this low-tech stage adaptation. J...
  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Stage Partners

    The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

    Adapted by Hans Bloedel & Peter Bloedel from the tale by Washington Irving
    Length: 90-100 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-30 actors (suggested casting: 7F, 8M)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    America’s first great ghost story, Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow follows the quirky and superstitious antics of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, who is haunted by the dreaded Headless Horseman. This imaginative adaptation stays true to the world that Irving creates in this American gothic tale, but adds a lyrical quality that further enhances the humor, the magic, and the ter...
  • Ten(ish): Comedies: 10 (or so) minute plays.  Short horror play collection.

    Ten(ish): Horror

    Length: Ten 10-Minute Plays
    Cast Size: Varies by Title
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    It's time for tales of terror to see their day onstage. From horrifying creatures, to long-buried secrets, to the dark visions in your own mirror, nightmares await in Ten(ish): Horror, an anthology of short plays by some of the most exciting playwrights working today.   Ten(ish): Horror is edited by Brendan Conheady and features the following short plays:   Trust...
  • Too Many Detectives at the Murder Mansion (full-length)

    Too Many Detectives at the Murder Mansion (full-length)

    Length: 90-100 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-20 actors (suggested casting: 8F, 9M, 3 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    Sure, you think you've seen this type of murder mystery before. A cast of eccentric characters meet at a mansion, only to become suspects of a murder that a singular genius detective will eventually solve. But what happens when all the suspects are the detectives? Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, and Batman are just a few of the guests. Too Many Detectives at the Murder Mansion is a...
  • Pick Your Poison - Laura Barbieri

    Pick Your Poison

    Written By: Laura Barbieri
    Length: 100-120 minutes
    Cast Size: 9 actors (suggested casting 3F, 5M, 1 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    Pick Your Poison is a murder mystery farce in the style of the “country house murder.” Sir Nicholas Blackburn invites his old friends, acquaintances, and one stranger to visit him at his country estate, but some of them may not live through the weekend. In this audience-interactive play, the audience votes at intermission on which of the eight main characters is the murder, and the winning vot...
  • I Am Frankenstein - Stage Partners

    I Am Frankenstein

    Adapted by John Haman from the novel by Mary Shelley
    Length: 90 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-25 actors (suggested casting: 3F, 4M, 6 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    I Am Frankenstein unearths two creatures who were tortured and abandoned by their makers: Victor’s famous monster, and the teenage writer Mary Shelley herself. A highly theatrical retelling of Shelley's classic, the play adds two principal characters: a haunting chorus known as The Blackbirds, and the troubled Mary Shelley, the story’s creative force. Victor, a promising student obsessed with...
  • SINK! A Titanic Murder Mystery

    SINK! A Titanic Murder Mystery

    Length: 90-120 minutes
    Cast Size: 12-16 actors
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    We begin on the Titanic. An ideal setting for a murder mystery, don't you think? First class. The game afoot: a mystery that must be solved before the ship goes down... And then, something starts to shift... We are actually backstage at a Broadway show based on a Titanic. And one of the actors ends up dead. It's a noir. And then the perception of reality starts to shift again...A traditional locke...
  • Ten(ish): Horror - The Dead Queen Requests The Honor of Your Presence at Dinner by Leah Barker - 10-minute horror play

    The Dead Queen Requests the Honor of Your Presence at Dinner

    Written By: Leah Barker
    Length: 10 minutes
    Cast Size: 3 actors (3F)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
     In a clearing deep in a forest, the Dead Queen sits at a magnificent dining table. As her servant puts the final shine on the glassware, they await the evening’s guest.  This play is part of the short play collection Ten(ish): Horror.
Items 1 - 10 of 20