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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Antigone in Munich (one-act version)
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 8-40 actors (suggested casting: 6F, 5M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Sophie Scholl was a member of the White Rose Society in Nazi Germany which encouraged passive resistance against the totalitarian government. Antigone in Munich chronicles her coming of age and development from bystander to witness to activist -- inspired by Sophocles' Greek tragedy Antigone which asks “What do you do when the laws of man contradict the laws of God?” (A full-length vers... -
Silenced on Barbour Street
Length: 40-50 minutesCast Size: 21-35 actors (suggested casting: 15F, 7M, 5 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
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... -
Tara, Shaped by the Figures
Length: 40-45 minutesCast Size: 11 actors (suggested casting: 6F, 3M, 2 any)Genre: Dramedy, DramaSynopsis:
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. -
Antigone: 3021 (one-act version)
Length: 35-45 minutesCast Size: 14-24 actors (suggested casting: 2F, 1M, 20+ any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
It's the year 3021 and Thebes has just been through a bloody civil war. Chancellor Creah has decreed that anyone who buries the body of the traitor Polyneices will face the death, but Antigone is determined to bury her brother, no matter the penalty. She brazenly breaks Creah’s law and broadcasts her crime on the public cloud. Now Creah must decide if she will bend to the will of the people or p... -
As If, Cassandra
Length: 40-45 minutesCast Size: 9-20 actors (suggested casting: 9F, 2M, 4+ any)Genre: Dramedy, DramaSynopsis:
Everybody's whispering: Something's wrong with Cassie. She walked out on her squad mid-routine; won't help her mom put up Christmas decorations; suddenly wants to back out of prom plans. Well, Cassie hears taunts about how fate is inescapable in every cheer, her mom doesn't seem to notice it's February, and she's haunted by premonitions of something terrible that will happen if prom night continue... -
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... -
The Trojan Women
Length: 25-30 minutesCast Size: 13-21 actors (suggested casting: 10F, 3M, 3 non-speaking men)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Euripides' classic tragedy follows the fate of the women of Troy after their devastating loss in the Trojan War. Brought to the stage by theatrical master Jon Jory, this taut, accessible adaptation with a flexible, large female cast is the perfect one-act drama for competition. -
The Girl with the Golden Hand
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 9 actors (7F, 2M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Lolo is just your average teenager, until one day she suddenly acquires a Midas-like gift that turns everything she touches into literal gold. Sounds like a dream come true, right? Except she has to wear an oven mitt over her hand at school, her dad is using her as his own personal money mint, and she can’t even hold her boyfriend’s hand without accidentally killing him. With the help of her b... -
Edgar: A Ghost Story
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 6-20 actors (suggested casting: 4F, 2M,)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
A first-year high school drama teacher arrives at school to find her auditorium haunted. Against this backdrop, a terminally ill girl falls in love for the first time with a troubled boy as she works against time to stage a tender, autobiographical play. A love-letter to high school theater, Edgar explores the realms of the living, dead, and dying with humor and grace. The play features virtually... -
My Extraordinary Life That Almost Was
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 8 actors (6F, 2M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
As Cass’s birthday approaches, her parents reveal to her a shocking family secret: they’re superheroes. Genuine, real-life superheroes with almost limitless powers and abilities: flight, superhuman strength, invisibility, and even immortality. When she turns 18, Cass can become a superhero, too—but she has to choose it. The catch? She’ll lose the ability to experience human emotions like e...