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. Sub-genre Adaptation X
  2. Sub-genre Historical 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 16
Go to filters
  • 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...
  • Monster - Stage Partners

    Monster

    Written by Don Zolidis
    Length: 35-40 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-25 actors (suggested casting: 4F, 3M, 6 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    A reimagining of the lives of some of the greatest literary masters in history and the inspiration behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Brought to you by veteran playwright Don Zolidis, experience a monster story like you never have before.
  • Silenced on Barbour Street - Stage Partners

    Silenced on Barbour Street

    Written By: William Prenetta
    Length: 40-50 minutes
    Cast Size: 21-35 actors (suggested casting: 15F, 7M, 5 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    On July 6, 1944, a fire roared across the top of the 48-foot high tent during the matinee performance of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, claiming the lives of 144 spectators. In this ensemble driven drama, 15 victims of this tragedy must face their guilt and deepest fears in order to escape from a sadistic ringmaster who has trapped them in a mysterious circus purgatory. Part h...
  • 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...
  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (one-act) adapted by Hans Bloedel and Peter Bloedel

    The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (one-act)

    Adapted by Hans Bloedel & Peter Bloedel from the tale by Washington Irving
    Length: 40-50 minutes (the playwrights also allow additional cuts for time, competitions)
    Cast Size: 8-30 actors (suggested casting: 7F, 8M)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    This play is coming soon. Contact Stage Partners to request a prepublication perusal script.  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...
  • 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...
  • 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 Hound of the Baskervilles (one-act) - Stage Partners

    The Hound of the Baskervilles (one-act)

    Adapted by Jon Jory from the story by Arthur Conan Doyle
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 7-11 actors, gender flexible
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    The game is afoot in this swift one-act adaptation of one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most beloved novels. When the body of Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the moors, surrounded by the footprints of a gigantic hound, his friend Dr. Jenna Mortimer fears an old family legend has returned to terrorize the countryside. Concerned for the safety of the heir to the Baskerville estate, Mortimer...
Items 1 - 10 of 16