One-Act Plays
Stage Partners is home to some of the best one-act play scripts for high schools, middle schools, and theatres. From large cast comedies to intimate dramas for competition, Stage Partners' exciting collection of short plays features some of the most popular playwrights in the world.
Browse our selection below and READ EVERY PLAY SCRIPT FOR FREE!
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#VIRAL
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 7-30 actors (suggested casting: 7 F, 4+ chorus, any gender)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
In this ensemble-driven drama featuring an all-female cast, five high school girls recount a cruel locker room bullying incident that is initially cloaked in secrecy, but ultimately goes viral online. What happens next forces the students to question their respective roles in the events that unfolded in that fateful day. A virtual version is also available upon request. -
Soundscapes (one-act version)
Length: 35-45 minutesCast Size: 9-30+ actors (suggested casting: 5F, 2M, 9 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Iris has synesthesia. She has no idea. At first, she simply thinks that everyone sees colors and shapes when music plays, but by the time she's a teenager, it's clear that others don't understand. Struggling to downplay the way she experiences the world, and worrying what it might mean to be different, the young artist is at war with herself until she meets a new friend - and he sees the colors to... -
#Censored
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 7-30 actors (suggested casting: 12 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
In this ensemble-driven drama, a school art fair becomes embroiled in controversy when a student unveils a divisive painting. Students, parents, and teachers must ask themselves tough questions about freedom of speech, appropriateness, what art is supposed to do and "what is the cost of censorship?" -
My First Lockdown
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 10-20 actors (suggested casting: 5F, 5M, 5 any)Genre: Dramedy, DramaSynopsis:
Inspired by true events, a group of theater students have just finished performing a play when the unthinkable happens - the school goes under lockdown. Caught in various rooms throughout the school, the students have to figure out what to do, who to trust, and if they're ever going to feel safe again. (There is a version with more roles available. Contact Stage Partners for details.) -
Pushed
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 10 actors (2M, 8 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
This play is coming soon. Contact Stage Partners to request a prepublication perusal script. Rumor is that Mason Humphrey, a shy and quiet young man, pushed Travis O’Neill so hard into the lockers that he sprained his elbow. Nobody knows why. It shouldn’t be a big deal, right? But suddenly, it kind of is. -
Barn Wood and Blue Roses
Length: 30-40 minutesCast Size: 7-20 actors (suggested casting: 3F, 7 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
When Devon learns that best friend Chelsea has cystic fibrosis, Devon creates a fantasy world for the two of them to live in. They live in their new imaginative world as L'Sea, a woman who becomes a dragon twice a day, and D'Nova, renowned artisan of comical barn wood signs and a magician's apprentice. But Devon has kept a secret, too. And it is about to bring their whole fantasy world crashing do... -
Wild Waves Whist
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 10 actors (8F, 2M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
A young teacher hoping to be hired as a coach at a private boys' school is instead assigned as literature and theatre teacher at its sister school - a private school for girls. There he is charged with the task of directing Shakespeare's The Tempest with his motley crew of adolescent female scholars, a play that effectuates an inner storm for all involved with the production. Wild Waves Whist is a... -
Transfer
Length: 10 - 20 minutesCast Size: 5 actors (suggested casting: 4F, 1M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Bow returns to her senior year of high school after a personal tragedy that no one wants to discuss head-on. But coming back isn't easy – especially not with the presence of a transfer student who is all smiles, light, and brilliance – and taking over every relationship Bow holds dear. A little Black Swan, a little more Hitchcock, Transfer is a sparse, noir-inspired drama t... -
Mirror
Length: 10 minutesCast Size: 3 actors (3F)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
When Juniper purchases an old mirror at a garage sale, she gets more than she bargained for. What awakens when she gazes within? A haunting and evocative play about the demons we try to forget. This play is part of the short play collection Ten(ish): Horror. -
The After (one-act version)
Length: 45-60 minutesCast Size: 14-30 actors (suggested casting: 8F, 4M, 8 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
One bright, blue fall afternoon a shooter walks in Three Roads High School and kills five students and two adults. During the shooting, students in one section of the school put up a makeshift barrier of desks, chairs, music stands -- and a photo of the wall goes viral. In the hours, weeks and months after the wake of another tragedy, students and teachers deal with grief, the media frenzy and unc...