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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The Old Woman Lost at Sea
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 8-11 actors possible (suggested casting: 6F, 3M, 2 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Take care of your own little boat, and let others take care of theirs. That’s what Chelsea’s mother Martha taught her as she grew up. But she also remembers the cost, and she can’t look away when she sees someone drowning, like her mother can. When the seas turn stormy for Martha’s own boat, she refuses to come aboard a bigger ship crewed by people different from herself—and they can onl... -
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... -
My Brother's Gift (one-act version)
Length: 40-50 minutesCast Size: 5-15 actors (suggested casting: 5F, 3M, 2 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Based on the remarkable true story of Heinz Geiringer -- neighbor and friend of Anne Frank -- we follow the story of a young artist and loving brother living in unconscionable circumstances. A trained musician at only 15 and now forced to live in hiding and silence, Heintz turns to painting and poetry to express his everyday terror but hope of the future. Through Heinz's inspired paintings, nostal... -
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... -
The Chips are Down
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 10-30 actors (suggested casting: 8F, 3M, 5 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
In 1951, the Red Scare is in full swing, and it migrates to a private girls’ school in New Hampshire when one teacher is suspected of being a Communist. Charged by the administration to find out the truth, Rachel, the daughter of the cafeteria manager, must challenge her own beliefs to figure out the meaning of justice. -
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... -
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... -
Anne of Green Gables (one-act)
Length: 25-30 minutesCast Size: 7 actors (5F, 2M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Jon Jory brings his theatrical magic to this spirited one-act adaptation of L.M. Montgomery's classic coming-of-age drama. After a mix-up at the orphanage, Anne comes to live with Marilla and Mathew Cuthbert instead of the boy they were expecting. After turning everyone's life upside down, will they be able to civilize wild Anne or grow to love her vivacity and joy of life? This short adaptat...
