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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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  • Soundscapes, a one-act drama play script by Claudia Haas and Sarah Kraning - Stage Partners

    Soundscapes (one-act version)

    Length: 35-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 9-30+ actors (suggested casting: 5F, 2M, 9 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    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...
  • Finding Corey Taylor - one-act version - Stage Partners

    Finding Corey Taylor (one-act)

    Written By: Tracy Wells
    Length: 40-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-25 actors (suggested casting: 25 any)
    Genre: Dramedy, Comedy
    Synopsis:
    Corey is lost. It’s the day of her high school graduation and her unsigned yearbook confirms what she already suspects…no one knows who Corey Taylor is. And how can she blame them when Corey hardly knows herself? When her best friend, Reese, suggests a road trip across America to meet other people named Corey Taylor, Corey reluctantly agrees, and embarks on the trip of a lifetime, hoping that...
  • 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 Hitchcockian thriller.   
  • The Inexplicable Chaos Factor of Mia Gregory - Stage Partners

    The Inexplicable Chaos Factor of Mia Gregory

    Written By: Emily Hageman
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 8-20 actors (suggested casting: 5F, 3M)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    Liv is one of the most brilliant teenage mathematicians in the country, but she does not understand her best (and only) friend Mia. Like, at all. And now, she's doing this stupid play to try to figure it out. An incredibly moving and empowering story about the chaos we create, and the order we can find in it.
  • Barn Wood and Blue Roses - Stage Partners

    Barn Wood and Blue Roses

    Written By: Jacquelyn Priskorn
    Length: 30-40 minutes
    Cast Size: 7-20 actors (suggested casting: 3F, 7 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    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...
  • The Secret Garden - Stage Partners

    The Secret Garden

    Adapted by Erin Detrick from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
    Length: 45-55 minutes
    Cast Size: 12-48 actors (4F, 5M, 3 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    Orphaned young Mary Lennox finds herself in the charge of a mysterious uncle, in a mysterious house, on the desolate moor in England. Bored and lonely, she starts exploring the gardens and uncovers a secret that has been kept for ten years. But why is everyone here keeping secrets? And who is crying in the house late at night? As spring arrives, the power of nature begins to unlock a beautiful new...
  • The Jungle Book - Stage Partners

    The Jungle Book

    Adapted by Jon Jory from the stories by Rudyard Kipling
    Length: 35-40 minutes
    Cast Size: 15-30 actors (suggested casting: 20 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    This thrilling and fun-filled adventure is brought to the stage by the theatrical master Jon Jory who has crafted an accessible, flexible, and easily-staged version for all ages! When a human child named Mowgli is taken and raised by a family of wolves, he must learn the ways of the jungle. Fortunately he has the wise panther Bagheera and friendly Baloo the bear by his side. But soon Mowgli finds...
  • The Lost Art of Finding - Stage Partners

    The Lost Art of Finding

    Written By: Alan Haehnel
    Length: 25-30 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-30 actors (suggested casting: 15 any)
    Genre: Dramedy, Comedy
    Synopsis:
    Say what you will about Sophie, she is focused. On Something, a crucial Something, and she won't give up until she has It. A pushy salesman, a mob of celebrity hounds, the celebrity himself, even a well-meaning, potential friend will not distract Sophie from her quest. This large cast, gender-flexible one-act will both entertain and intrigue, inviting viewers to question what their particular Some...
  • The Silent Sentinels - Stage Partners

    The Silent Sentinels

    Written By: William Prenetta
    Length: 40-50 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-30 actors (suggested casting: 19F, 7M)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    It is 1976 and the leaders of the ERA movement are just three states short of their dream of legal equality for women. Kate O’Halloran, barely in her 20s and not interested in feminism, has snagged an interview with suffragette legend and ERA proponent Alice Paul, aged 93. Arriving at her small cottage in Connecticut, Kate, unbeknownst to Paul, has no desire to discuss the ERA but to uncover the...
  • Spoon River, a one-act play adapted by Jason Pizzarello from the poems by Edgar Lee Masters

    Spoon River (one-act version)

    Adapted by Jason Pizzarello from The Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
    Length: 35-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 8-26 actors (suggested casting: 13F, 13M)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    Former citizens of a mythical Midwestern town speak from the grave of the day-to-day hopes and dreams of their lives. Touching, anguished, and contemptuous, their voices and stories weave together in this fresh new take on a modern American classic. You won't forget what you've heard from these distinctively small-town folk as they evoke universal themes of hope, despair, and love. (A full-length...
10 Items