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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#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:
Rumor has it, shy and quiet Mason Humphrey pushed Travis O’Neill into the lockers so hard that Travis sprained his elbow. Nobody knows why, but everyone has an opinion about what should happen next—whether or not they have all the facts. Should Mason be expelled? Did Travis provoke him? What does justice look like here? But there might be a way to cut through all the outrage, if Mason and Trav... -
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... -
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... -
Identity Play; or Who You Are If You Think You Are
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 10-30+ actors (suggested casting: 5F, 5M, 5 any)Genre: Dramedy, DramaSynopsis:
A series of comedic and dramatic vignettes exploring who we are and who we want to be. With endless choices and expectations, do our actions define us or do our intentions? What about our words? What about the way we dress, the friends we keep, or how we act online? Is who we think we are different than how other people see us? In such a complex, face-paced world, it's vital to slow-down, reflect.... -
The Scarlet Letter (one-act version)
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 10-25 actors (suggested casting: 6F, 6M, 1 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
In this new and theatrical retelling of the classic tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter on her chest as punishment for committing adultery in Puritan New England. Throughout time, The Scarlet Letter has endured as a way to examine societal expressions of shame, guilt, and ultimately, redemption. (A full-length version of this play is als...