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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!

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Items 1 - 10 of 16
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  • In the Forests of the Night - Stage Partners

    In the Forests of the Night

    Written By: Del Martin
    Length: 25-30 minutes
    Cast Size: 13 actors (suggested casting: 13 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    Thirteen students are compelled by their dreams to play a game in the woods to keep a mysterious monster at bay. Not everyone gets to play it again. (If you like The Giver consider In the Forests of the Night.)
  • 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...
  • Moriarty's Daughters (one-act version) - Stage Partners

    Moriarty's Daughters (one-act version)

    Written By: Claire Wittman
    Length: 35-40 minutes
    Cast Size: 11-30+ actors (suggested casting: 11F, 5+ any)
    Genre: Dramedy, Drama
    Synopsis:
    In 1897 New York City, Lucy and Louise Bullard are trying their best to live a quiet life, untouched by the legacy of their father Adam Worth, an internationally infamous conman and art thief whose exploits inspired the character of Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, upon discovering that their father has a third daughter, kept in the care of their aunt, and that the aunt in questio...
  • Moriarty's Daughters - Stage Partners

    Moriarty's Daughters

    Written By: Claire Wittman
    Length: 65-70 minutes
    Cast Size: 11-30+ actors (suggested casting: 11F, 5+ any)
    Genre: Dramedy, Drama
    Synopsis:
    In 1897 New York City, Lucy and Louise Bullard are trying their best to live a quiet life, untouched by the legacy of their father Adam Worth, an internationally infamous conman and art thief whose exploits inspired the character of Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, upon discovering that their father has a third daughter, kept in the care of their aunt, and that the aunt in questio...
  • Night of the Macabre by Tracy Wells

    Night of the Macabre

    Written By: Tracy Wells
    Length: 90-100 minutes (but can be shortened - see description)
    Cast Size: 11-36 actors (suggested casting: 9M, 11F, 14 any gender)
    Genre: Comedy, Drama
    Synopsis:
    A hunt for horror finds four friends at the Museum of the Macabre…a wax museum displaying scenes from short stories by  great authors of Gothic Horror like Poe, Hawthorne, and Irving. But as unnerving as the exhibits - and the stories behind them - are…the real terror for the fearless four comes when the exhibits start to come to life! This easy-to-stage play celebrates great short stori...
  • 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...
  • Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm? - a historical mystery play script by Katherine Vondy - Stage Partners

    Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?

    Written By: Katherine Vondy
    Length: 80-90 minutes
    Cast Size: 9-25 actors (suggested casting: 8F, 8M)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    While wandering Worcester, England in 1943, a teenage boy happened upon the skeleton of an unidentified woman inside the trunk of a large tree. An investigation commenced to determine who the woman was and how she died, but it raised more questions than it answered. Was she a spy? Was she a prostitute? Had she been part of an occult ritual? Theories abounded, but no definitive answers emerged. The...
  • The Hauntings at Cedar Park - Stage Partners

    The Hauntings at Cedar Park

    Written By: Del Martin
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 16 actors, gender flexible
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    Shifting between multiple time periods, we follow two groups of students as they search for a mysterious ghost in blue. They've all heard the legend. And though some don't believe it, for all of the teens who venture into Cedar Park, the legend sure does believe in them. In the end, that's all that matters.
  • 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 16