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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Don't Wake the Dragon
Length: 30-40 minutesCast Size: 12-35 actorsGenre: ComedySynopsis:
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... -
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... -
Places in Five
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 10-30 actors (suggested casting: 4F, 5M, 5 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
The one where an actress stumbles into the role of a lifetime...if only she can figure out what play she's doing. Meta-theatricality knows no bounds in this wacky comedy. (If you like The Actor's Nightmare by Christopher Durang, consider Places in Five.) -
Baby Yoga
Length: 10 minutesCast Size: 7 actors (7F)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
Some mothers always seem to have it all together, and others... not so much. When Chaos Mom and Chaos Baby arrive in a community yoga class for babies and mothers, all pretenses and expectations of what motherhood should be quickly fall apart. Baby Yoga is a hilarious ode to all those moms who are just trying to get through the day. This play is part of the short play collection Ten(ish... -
Some Assembly Required
Length: 10 minutesCast Size: 3 actors (suggested casting: 1F, 1M, 1 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
While attempting to assemble a dresser from a certain Swedish furniture company, a long-married couple inadvertently activate a plot to end the world. Some Assembly Required is a comedy for all those who have battled unintelligible instructions. This play is part of the short play collection Ten(ish): Comedies. -
Justice for Pluto
Length: 40-45 minutesCast Size: 21-45 actors (suggested casting: 4F, 1M, 16 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
It’s time for the “Save Our Solar System” celebration! Tonight, experts from the Globex Corporation will show you how to clean up the planet Saturn by recycling your napkins. You’ll also get to sign a petition to preserve Neptune’s Great Dark Spot, and even sing along to a new pop song demanding a stop to Venus’ acid rain! But nothing compares to the biggest quest of all: reinstating P... -
A Talkback
Length: 10 minutesCast Size: 6 actors (6 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
Once in a while, after the actors have taken their final bows, the audience of a play is given the opportunity to interact with an actual, living playwright. But talkbacks don't always go as planned, and sometimes a writer can face difficult questions, and hungry theatregoers that demand more than the playwright is willing to give. A Talkback is a comedy about the absurdity of facing your aud... -
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 Job Interview
Length: 10 minutesCast Size: 3 actors (suggested casting: 2F, 1M)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
Interviewing for a new job is never easy. It's especially awful when you're called in to interview alongside your competition. It's even more anxiety-inducing when the job you are interviewing for has been known to demolish the spirits of those who have worked there - at a certain establishment that specializes in the construction of stuffed animals. This play is part of the short play collection... -
The 8 Ways Pokemon Go is Destroying Your Life
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 8-40 actors (suggested casting: 15 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
The most popular app may just be your doom. Sure everyone is playing it. But whether it leads you off a cliff, into a volcano, or into the waiting arms of super-criminals, this play explains the perils and pitfalls of Pokemon, including old people, mind control, hallucinations, and people who are just a little bit too into it. Also featuring the terrors of upcoming apps like Poke-Cupid, Sonic the...