High School Plays
High School Theatre! We understand finding play scripts for high school students is never easy. That's why we've partnered with popular playwrights to create plays specifically written for student actors - short plays, comedies, mainstage hits, and more.
Whether you are searching for a riveting one-act play for competition, a crowd-pleasing comedy, a large cast mystery, or a holiday hit, Stage Partners has the perfect high school play for your program.
Browse our selection below and read every play script for FREE!
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My First Lockdown
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 10-20 actors (suggested casting: 5F, 5M, 5 any)Genre: Dramedy, DramaSynopsis:
Inspired by true events, a group of theater students have just finished performing a play when the unthinkable happens - the school goes under lockdown. Caught in various rooms throughout the school, the students have to figure out what to do, who to trust, and if they're ever going to feel safe again. (There is a version with more roles available. Contact Stage Partners for details.) -
Elephant/Man
Length: 100 minutesCast Size: 8-30+ actors (suggested casting: 2F, 2M, 8 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
The story of Joseph Merrick (a.k.a. The Elephant Man) comes to life in this highly theatrical retelling featuring an ensemble of performers that share the role of Merrick. Whether on a bare stage or with an elaborate set, this adaptable play shines the spotlight on the vivid inner life of Joseph Merrick, and his relationship with the good Dr. Treves. This classic story of the ultimate outcast feel... -
Pearl
Length: 35-40 minutesCast Size: 15-30 actors (suggested cast, 11F, 4 M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Nineteen-year-old Pearl is tethered to two ghosts: One is her sister, the other a stranger. Both girls are determined to help Pearl discover the truth about what happened to them, unspoken by the haunted women still living in the Monroe estate. But time is running out before Pearl's abusive father will force her to marry a neighboring landowner's son. Can Pearl unravel the generations of trauma in... -
And Neither Have I Wings to Fly
Length: 150 minutesCast Size:Genre: DramaSynopsis:
In 1950s Ireland, family means everything. So when Eveline Donnelly abandons her dream of a university education to care for her widowed father, it seems only right and natural. But as she watches her younger sister prepare to leave home, a visit from her mother's ghost makes Evie begin to ask, "When is it my turn?" -
Yellow Wallpaper
Length: 35-45 minutesCast Size: 6-30+ actors (suggested casting: 2M, 10F)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
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 cracks open the door between generations in a theatrical adaptation that wraps the classic psychological horror story The Yellow Wallpaper in a Hitchcockian thriller. -
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (one-act)
Length: 40-50 minutes (the playwrights also allow additional cuts for time, competitions)Cast Size: 8-30 actors (suggested casting: 7F, 8M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
America’s first great ghost story, Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow follows the quirky and superstitious antics of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, who is haunted by the dreaded Headless Horseman. This imaginative adaptation stays true to the world that Irving creates in this American gothic tale, but adds a lyrical quality that further enhances the humor, the magic, and th... -
Pushed
Length: 30-35 minutesCast Size: 10 actors (2M, 8 any)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
Rumor has it, shy and quiet Mason Humphrey pushed Travis O’Neill into the lockers so hard that Travis sprained his elbow. Nobody knows why, but everyone has an opinion about what should happen next—whether or not they have all the facts. Should Mason be expelled? Did Travis provoke him? What does justice look like here? But there might be a way to cut through all the outrage, if Mason and Trav... -
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. -
Persephone (a new myth for a hotter world)
Length: 90 minutesCast Size: 6-20 actors (suggested casting: 6F, 6M)Genre: DramaSynopsis:
The goddess Demeter refuses to be satisfied with winters without her daughter. Why should Persephone spend half her time in the underworld with Hades? She enlists Jane, a sacrificed human caught between the whims of gods, to drill down to the underworld. But what does Persephone herself want? What happens to the humans if their own technology destroys the balance between seasons? Who will be sacri... -
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.
