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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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  • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Your Teachers (but were afraid to ask) - Stage Partners

    Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Your Teachers (but were afraid to ask)

    Written By: Jason Pizzarello
    Length: 30-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 12-50 actors (suggested casting: 20 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    Finally your timeless questions about teachers will be answered through a series of hilarious revelations -- from a gameshow revealing your teacher's teenage years to a battle of core subject teachers vs. electives... By the end you'll know why teachers drink so much coffee and what to do if an unexpected encounter occurs in public.
  • My Fellow Students - Stage Partners

    My Fellow Students

    Written By: Beanie Stone
    Length: 30-45 minutes
    Cast Size: 5-30 actors (suggested casting: 3F, 2M, 10 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    Hoping to win reelection against charming, clueless challenger Michael P., Class President Janie opens her office to any student with a pressing concern. Unfortunately, she is totally unprepared for the onslaught of impossible, absurd, and hilarious problems her fellow students hurl her way. Janie started this election determined to keep her job; now she's just trying to get through this day witho...
  • 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...
  • No Substitutes - a one-act comedy by Don Zolidis

    No Substitutes

    Written By: Don Zolidis
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 8-25+ actors (suggested casting: 16 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    It's usually a pretty low-key day when you get a substitute teacher, but not so for Miss Florence's class. The "cool" assistant principal is using them as guinea pigs to try out a series of new prospective subs, from a wannabe inspirational teacher, to a conspiracy theorist, to a border collie. It's almost enough to make you want to quietly finish your work!  You never know who's going to sho...
  • Don't Wake the Dragon

    Don't Wake the Dragon

    Length: 30-40 minutes
    Cast Size: 12-35 actors
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    A mundane school day is hilariously upended in this wild homage to Eugene Ionesco’s classic Rhinoceros. When a fierce and deadly dragon flies over a school, the teachers are rightly alarmed. However, thanks to social media and other influences, the dragon inspires a mass popular movement. Soon students and faculty alike are wearing tails, roaring, and inciting chaos! The only person who seems to...
  • The Quiz That Almost Killed Me - Stage Partners

    The Quiz That Almost Killed Me

    Written By: M.G. Davidson
    Length: 25-30 minutes
    Cast Size: 11-30 actors (suggested casting: 2F, 4M, 10 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    A student journeys through space, time and a hilariously idiotic Dickensian theatrical landscape to discover the importance of studying for a quiz. Entertaining for students from the past, present, and future. School was never so terrifying.  (​If you like This is A Test by Stephen Gregg, consider The Quiz That Almost Killed Me.)
  • The Scarlet Letter (one-act version) - Stage Partners

    The Scarlet Letter (one-act version)

    Adapted by Carrie McCrossen from the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
    Length: 35-40 minutes
    Cast Size: 10-25 actors (suggested casting: 6F, 6M, 1 any)
    Genre: Drama
    Synopsis:
    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...
  • The Semi-Amazing, Sort-of-Sensational, Almost Unbelievable Christmas Spectacular! - Stage Partners

    The Semi-Amazing, Sort-of-Sensational, Almost Unbelievable Christmas Spectacular!

    Written By: Jon Jory
    Length: 30-35 minutes
    Cast Size: 15-48 actors (suggested casting: 3F, 3M, 14 any)
    Genre: Comedy
    Synopsis:
    What happens when a school tries to put on a Christmas Spectacular for the bargain price $11.50? You get a ton of elves, a spirit of Christmas, a visit from the little match girl, Jacob Marley and a partridge in a pear tree. It may be low on budget, but it's high on laughs as we watch the Christmas characters we know and love hilariously collide in this Christmas disaster for the ages.
9 Items