Actor's Choice: Scenes for Teens
by Liz Duffy Adams, Janet Allard, Yuri Baranovsky, Courtney Baron, et al.
Edited by Jason Pizzarello
With "Tips for Student Actors" by director Jon Jory |
 
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$14.95 per book
Looking for the perfect scene? Actor's Choice: Scenes for Teens is just what you need. From hilarious comedy to cutting-edge drama, this collection offers 40 exciting 2-person scenes with plenty of fascinating characters for young actors. Unlike other scene books, the source of every scene is easily accessible -- each play is available through one website (www.playscripts.com), where you can read nearly the entire published script online for free. From classwork to competitions to auditions, this book has you covered!
Also in this series:
Actor's Choice: Monologues for Teens
Actor's Choice: Monologues for Women
Actor's Choice: Monologues for Men
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| "The acting bug doesn't care what age you are. Actor's Choice: Scenes for Teens is a collection of simple yet fun scenes aimed at younger teen actors who want to embrace drama as a hobby or even a potential career. Designed for two actors with themes and times easily doable for any would be teen thespian, Actor's Choice: Scenes for Teens is a resource no drama teacher should miss." |
| --The Midwest Book Review |
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Drama
Short, 15-25 minutes
1 male
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
A recently widowed professor at a nameless midwestern college contemplates returning to Ireland in search of lost love, youth, and perhaps himself. Told via emails, phone calls, and old-fashioned letters, Am Lit is a modern epistolary monologue of loss and yearning.
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| "[Am Lit] is well-handled and moving...the play's final moments -- in which Joe ponders his life while waiting for his flight at JFK -- are very striking." |
| --Matthew Murray, Talkin' Broadway |
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Play with music
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
5 females, 1 male
$8.99 per book
NOTE: This play can also be found in an anthology called Humana Festival 2010: The Complete Plays.
Other prices can be calculated by clicking "More Info"
How far can you go with ambition, gumption, a good heart -- and no talent? The Cherry Sisters' dreams of Vaudeville took them from their Iowa barn to Broadway, where their inept acrobatics and tone-deaf caterwauling continually sold out, bringing them fame -- and a barrage of rotten cabbages. Based on a true story and with music by Michael Friedman, Dan O'Brien's thought-provoking comedy takes a look at the insatiable urge to perform, and the audience's inability to look away.
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| "It's Gypsy by way of Waiting for Guffman, a frothy mix of gallows humor and naivete set to composer Michael Friedman's jaunty vaudeville tunes." |
| --Erin Keane, Humana Courier-Journal |
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Drama
Full-length, 100-120 minutes
5 females, 3 males (8-15 actors possible: 5-9 females, 3-6 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Have you ever wanted to disappear? Daniel Hand disappeared, but he left behind some clues: a note, some video artwork, and a school full of conflicting impressions and theories. When Shannon, an aspiring filmmaker, starts shooting a documentary about the enigma of her missing classmate, she learns he was an athlete, honors student, artist, drug user, and perhaps a religious fanatic. Can she believe all the labels the other students are trying to slap on him? Is Daniel, Shannon, or anyone what everyone perceives them to be?
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| "O'Brien's script isn't exactly an episode of 'Saved by the Bell'...the piece is raw, dark, and uncomfortably close to real life." |
| --Jane Mattingly, The Arts Louisville |
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Comedy
Short, 25-35 minutes
3 females, 3 males (4-6 actors possible: 2-3 females, 2-3 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Over the course of three vignettes in a coffee shop, three pairs of farcically troubled people grapple with the social mores that define who we are -- sometimes through classical Greek wrestling, sometimes by whacking a slab of high-priced beef. Together, either/or and its companion piece "Will You Please Shut Up?" ruthlessly pinpoint the absurdities, insecurities, and indulgences that riddle modern relationships.
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Comedy
Short, 5-10 minutes
1 female
$30.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: This play is part of an anthology called Snapshot.
A young vaudeville actress prepares for her first photo shoot.
This piece is part of Snapshot, an anthology of short plays. To perform this piece independently, click "Order this play" above. To perform this piece as part of the full-length collection, go to Snapshot.
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$19.95 per book
NOTE: This book contains 11 plays. To perform any of the plays, each must be licensed separately.
Humana Festival 2010: The Complete Plays brings together all eleven scripts from the 2010 Humana Festival of New American Plays, the 34th annual cycle of world premiere productions staged at Actors Theatre of Louisville. This unique compilation features an exceptional array of work by some of the most exciting new voices in the American theatre, from the dreams of an inept Vaudeville sister act (The Cherry Sisters Revisited), to an immigration drama about a New Mexico border community (Ground), to a playwright trapped inside his own play (An Examination of the Whole Playwright/Actor Relationship Presented As Some Kind of Cop Show Parody). This unique compilation is a must-have for any theater aficionado's bookshelf.
To purchase this book of 11 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
The Cherry Sisters Revisited by Michael Friedman and Dan O'Brien
An Examination of the Whole Playwright/Actor Relationship Presented As Some Kind of Cop Show Parody by Greg Kotis
Fissures (lost and found) by Steve Epp, Cory Hinkle, Dominic Orlando, Dominique Serrand, Deborah Stein, and Victoria Stewart
Ground by Lisa Dillman
Heist! by Deborah Stein
Let Bygones Be by Gamal Abdel Chasten
Lobster Boy by Dan Dietz
The Method Gun by Kirk Lynn
Phoenix by Scott Organ
Post Wave Spectacular by Diana Grisanti
Sirens by Deborah Zoe Laufer
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| "The Humana Festival of New American Plays, now in its 34th year, has been called the crossroads of American theater... But whatever you call it, Humana is a great annual bazaar, camp meeting, reunion and, just as it says, theatrical festival -- because it's also a lot of fun." |
| --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Snapshot
by Tanya Barfield, Lee Blessing, Michael Bigelow Dixon, Julie Jensen, et al. |
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Drama/Comedy
Full-length, 80-100 minutes
11 females, 11 males (4-25 actors possible: 2-15 females, 2-15 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: Each piece in this anthology can be licensed and performed separately.
A photograph captures and documents a single moment in time and space -- a snapshot of history, of a reality bounded by the photo's frame. But what lies outside, beyond, behind the photograph? And what stories, memories, or associations does an image of place inspire? In this multi-writer project from Actors Theatre of Louisville, a diverse assortment of talented playwrights encounter and transform Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, 1969, a compelling image of the monument by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. Their thought-provoking scenes and monologues range from delightful comedy to utterly serious tragedy, each approaching the photo's themes through a new lens.
To perform the entire collection, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual piece independently, click on its title below:
A Quick Tour of the Monument by Craig Wright Monument by Honour Kane Scene at Mount Rushmore by Quincy Long Tyler Poked Taylor by Lee Blessing Rock Scissors Paper by Deb Margolin Little Pezidents by Michael Bigelow Dixon and Val Smith Defacing Patriotic Property by Tanya Barfield Her First Screen Test by Dan O'Brien Thrift of the Magi by Annie Weisman Night Out by Sunil Kuruvilla Here and Now by Chay Yew The Great Father by Victor Lodato American Klepto by Allison Moore Becoming American by Lynn Nottage History Lesson by David Lindsay-Abaire Bomb Squad by Craig Wright On Lincoln's Head by Julie Jensen
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| "A terrific collection of perspectives -- both directly and indirectly inspired by the photo, ranging from serious to sassy..." |
| --Back Stage |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 100-120 minutes
1 female, 2 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Bo'sun Smythe is dead. Trapped in the ice at the North Pole, only three members of the doomed Carcass crew remain: Bane Barrington, buffoonish explorer; Ship's Chaplain Kane, a rector in drag; and Israel, their mute Canadian first mate. Will they make it home alive? First, they'll take a five-minute break, and explore themselves, their roles, and their predicament as the actors Bill, a struggling mime; his wife Helen, erstwhile actress; and Dan, the passive-aggressive puppet-master, i.e. the writer of this play. Weaving commedia dell'arte with theatre verite, The Voyage of the Carcass is a play about dreams, and the aftermath. (A one-act version of this play is also available.)
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| "At whiplash turns bitter and sweet, Voyage of the Carcass expertly navigates the pitfalls of artistic cannibalism: scavenging from your own life to feed your life's work." |
| --Jessica Winter, The Village Voice |
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Comedy/Drama
Short, 45-55 minutes
1 female, 2 males
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Bo'sun Smythe is dead. Trapped in the ice at the North Pole, only three members of the doomed Carcass crew remain: Bane Barrington, buffoonish explorer; Ship's Chaplain Kane, a rector in drag; and Israel, their mute Canadian first mate. Will they make it home alive? (A full-length version of this play is also available.)
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| "Hilarious and unexpectedly profound... The Voyage of the Carcass is, for all its tragic plot points, resolutely a comedy: a clown show, really. Bane, Kane, and Israel communicate in dizzy non-sequiturs and when they move it's mostly in slapstick manner... The bottom line: you will be greatly entertained by this play, and you will leave with something genuine to think about. Go see it." |
| --Martin Denton, NYTheatre.com |
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Comedy
Short, 40-50 minutes
1 female, 1 male
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Sylvia and Tom haven't seen each other in years when they bump into each other on the NYC subway. They were the loves of each other's lives, but something got in the way... Moving backwards in time, the play traces the origins of their toxic loathing to a once idyllic love. Together, "Will You Please Shut Up?" and its companion piece either/or ruthlessly pinpoint the absurdities, insecurities, and indulgences that riddle modern relationships.
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