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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Game Night (Humans Only, Please)
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 9 actors (9 any)Genre: ComedySynopsis:
It's game night at the end of the world. The library is one of the only places still above the water line, and the nerds are living it up while they can. But when the soccer team shows up because their field went underwater, they begin a more dangerous game. A high-stakes dark comedy about mutant lizards, climate change, and being the generation born to watch the water level rise. -
Tara, Shaped by the Figures
Length: 40-45 minutesCast Size: 11 actors (suggested casting: 6F, 3M, 2 any)Genre: Dramedy, DramaSynopsis:
After Tara's best friend Clara dies from a heart condition, she is afraid to get close to the group trying to befriend her at her new school. The figures from history and fiction who Tara loves (including Anne Frank, Annie Oakley, Churchill, Sherlock Holmes, and Captain America) are joined by Clara in guiding Tara through her grief, until she tells her new friends about her loss. -
The Graduation Project
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 8-25 actors, gender flexibleGenre: Dramedy, ComedySynopsis:
The one where two over-achieving, but selfish Seniors must put aside their own ambitions and help their fellow students in order to graduate. The problem? Graduation is in two days. Hashtag uh oh? -
The Heart and Soul of Thomas Elegie
Length: 35-45 minutesCast Size: 7 actorsGenre: DramaSynopsis:
Thomas is a very precise pianist who's being pushed by his mom to win competitions for scholarships, he's losing his love of music in the process and it shows in his playing. He meets a new friend at school who reminds him how to have fun with the piano, but when it turns out she's terminally ill he freaks out - this is a relationship he can't "win" - but ultimately decides to prioritize love of... -
The Inexplicable Chaos Factor of Mia Gregory
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 8-20 actors (suggested casting: 5F, 3M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
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. -
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... -
The Blue Hour
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 5-8 actors (suggested casting: 2F, 2M, 1 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Theo's grandpa has died, and he would give anything to see him one more time. A remarkable miracle sends him back in time to meet his grandpa while he was serving in the Korean War. A powerful and poetic play about grief, and what we can do with it. -
The Cages We Build
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 8 actors (4F, 4M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Dean's dad isn't around, his mom is deeply broken, and everyone at school either hates him or fears him. That's just who he is. But then, he meets Lucy and learns that life can be whatever you make it, and no matter what cage you build, you always have the key. -
Barn Wood and Blue Roses
Length: 30-40 minutesCast Size: 7-20 actors (suggested casting: 3F, 7 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
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
Length: 45-55 minutesCast Size: 12-48 actors (4F, 5M, 3 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
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...