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One-Act Dramas

From intimate dramas for competition to large cast historical plays, Stage Partners has an award-winning collection of exciting dramatic play scripts for high schools, middle schools, and theatres from some of the most popular playwrights working today.

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

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Items 11 - 20 of 74
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  • Brian the Comet - Stage Partners

    Brian the Comet

    Written By: Emily Hageman
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 8-20+ actors (suggested casting: 2F, 2M, 4+ expandable ensemble, any gender)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    Jude's mom is an astronaut, 254 miles away on the International Space Station, so when her father is diagnosed with lung cancer, Jude is the only one who can take care of him. In the hospital, she meets a boy named Brian who suffers from aneurysms and together, they learn about what they fear, what they know, what they believe, and what they hope for.
  • Back Cover - Stage Partners

    Back Cover

    Written By: Emily Hageman
    Length: 40-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 10 actors (7F, 3M)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    The unexpected divorce of Madison’s parents relocated her to New York City—a place that she has vowed to loathe. Through incredible coincidence, Madison finds a shoebox full of letters belonging to a young woman named Jessica. A connection is formed that will forever change the course of Madison’s life. Narrated by Madison’s older self, Back Cover is a story of loss, courage, humanity, and...
  • #Censored - Stage Partners

    #Censored

    Written By: Maria McConville
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 7-30 actors (suggested casting: 12 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    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?"
  • 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...
  • Tara, Shaped by the Figures - Stage Partners

    Tara, Shaped by the Figures

    Written By: Emily Hageman
    Length: 40-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 11 actors (suggested casting: 6F, 3M, 2 any)
    Genre: Dramedy, Drama
    Synopsis:
    After Tara's best friend Clara dies from a heart condition, she is afraid to get close to the group trying to befriend her at her new school. The figures from history and fiction who Tara loves (including Anne Frank, Annie Oakley, Churchill, Sherlock Holmes, and Captain America) are joined by Clara in guiding Tara through her grief, until she tells her new friends about her loss.
  • My First Lockdown - Stage Partners

    My First Lockdown

    Written By: Jason Pizzarello
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-20 actors (suggested casting: 5F, 5M, 5 any)
    Genre: Dramedy, Drama
    Synopsis:
    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.)
  • The Heart and Soul of Thomas Elegie - Stage Partners

    The Heart and Soul of Thomas Elegie

    Length: 35-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 7 actors
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    Thomas is a very precise pianist who's being pushed by his mom to win competitions for scholarships, he's losing his love of music in the process and it shows in his playing. He meets a new friend at school who reminds him how to have fun with the piano, but when it turns out she's terminally ill he freaks out - this is a relationship he can't "win" -  but ultimately decides to prioritize love of...
  • Yellow Wallpaper adapted by Kathryn Funkhouser from the story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    Yellow Wallpaper

    adapted by Kathryn Funkhouser from the story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
    Length: 35-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 6-30+ actors (suggested casting: 2M, 10F)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    When Eleanor stumbles upon a hidden diary, she unlocks a family secret - and finds that danger lives closer to home than she possibly could have imagined. An ensemble of trapped spirits crack open the door between generations in a theatrical adaptation that wraps the classic psychological horror story The Yellow Wallpaper in a Hitchockian thriller.   
  • 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...
Items 11 - 20 of 74