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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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... -
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... -
All I Really Need to Know I Learned From Being in a Bad Christmas Play
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 10-25 actors (suggested casting: 2F, 1M, 12 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
A lovable yet inept drama crew -- with a director wired on Frankenstein energy drinks -- attempts to tackle a traditional Christmas show but with more energy. A mash-up of A Christmas Carol and Death of a Salesman with cheerleaders might just work. The put-upon stage manager is trying to get into the spirit of the season by not yelling at the lazy actors, the Narrator is forced to dress as Santa C... -
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.... -
It's Vaudeville!
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 6-17 actors (suggested casting: 2F, 2M, 13 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
In this revue-style show in the spirit of American Vaudeville, the laughs keep rolling. Everyone gets a turn in the spotlight when the host Kurt loses his scene partner Rose mid-show. Kurt talks to comics, clowns, doctors, coppers, gangsters, and jokesters of all kinds while looking for Rose. A bawdy, fun play for groups big and small, It’s Vaudeville! brings back the silly wordplay and charm of... -
The Surviving Christmas App
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 10-20 actors (suggested casting: 4F, 1M, 5 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
Sisters Sam and Shelly’s blissful Christmas of violent video games and selfies is interrupted when their sentimental mother wants the family to watch the legendarily awful Christmas dog movie Santa Woofs! That’s when a mysterious Surviving Christmas App is uploaded on Shelly’s phone. Then, even though there is a blizzard, mysterious people keep showing up at the house with unfinished school... -
How to Win at Life
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 8-25+ actors (suggested casting: 2F, 2M, 8 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
Sure technology has made some things easier, but has it really made everything easier? Now, with a new mobile home system of drones from Amazon-Google-Microsoft-Apple, technology can truly help you win at life. Do you need your food chewed and regurgitated into your mouth like a baby bird? Done. How about all that pesky parenting that takes so much of your time? Solved. Think about all the wasted... -
15 Minutes of YouTube Fame
Length: 25-30 minutesCast Size: 10-30 actors (suggested casting: 9F, 9M, 8 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
The one where a kid falls on his butt and becomes a viral video a la Charlie Bit My Finger. A biting satire that explores the bizarre world of being a celebrity in the Internet age. -
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... -
Captain Theatre Nerd and The Magnificent Techies
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 15-40 actors (suggested casting: 10F, 10M)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
Let Captain Theatre Nerd take you on a whirlwind tour of the history of theater from ridiculous melodramas to sweeping musicals. Everything on stage happens just as it's supposed to, except when it goes horribly and hilariously wrong. Actors on strike, indecisive directors, wrong cues and costumes... But the show must go on! Right? Leave it to the techies to save the day.