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Jonathan Rand
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Jonathan Rand has written five of the top six most-produced plays in high schools, according to an independent national survey, including Check Please as the #1 most-produced short play in North America for eight consecutive years. Since writing his first play in 1997, Mr. Rand's scripts have been produced by over 7,000 theaters in all 50 states and in 46 countries, including Kenya, China, Egypt, Cambodia, India, Singapore, Botswana, Korea, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malta, Brazil, Poland, Malaysia, Jordan, Croatia, Uruguay, and Madagascar.

His work has been published by Random House, Dramatics magazine, Playscripts, and Smith & Kraus, and he has been twice honored by the Actors Theatre of Louisville as a Heideman Award finalist.

Mr. Rand is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida.

Official website: www.jonathanrand.com

Plays by this author
  • Action News: Now With 10% More Action!
  • Actor's Choice: Monologues for Teens
  • Actor's Choice: Scenes for Teens
  • Check Please
  • Check Please: Take 2
  • Check Please: Take 3
  • Drugs Are Bad
  • Hard Candy
  • How To Succeed in High School Without Really Trying
  • Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit
  • The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World
  • Meet the Roommates
  • Murder in the Knife Room (full-length version)
  • Murder in the Knife Room (one-act version)
  • The People vs. Spam
  • Random Acts of Comedy: 15 Hit One-Act Plays for Student Actors
  • Romeo To Go
  • Play details
    Sorted alphabetically (Sort by popularity)
    Action News: Now With 10% More Action!
    by Jonathan Rand
      More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 15-20 minutes
    9 females, 7 males, 7 either
    (4-23 actors possible: 0-23 females, 0-23 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $7.99 per book

    Welcome to WOMG Action News, the most trusted news program since the invention of trust, news, and programs. Join lead anchors Babs Buttlebee and Jim Pickles as they usher us through tonight's top stories -- from adorable killer puppies, to Apocalypse status updates, to an old man grumbling about Email YouTubes. Tune in to WOMG Action News! Or don't and suffer the consequences...
    "Action News: Now With 10% More Action!" by Jonathan Rand. Action News: Now With 10% More Action!, Golden West High School, Visalia, California (2010)


    Actor's Choice: Monologues for Teens
    by Lucy Alibar, Janet Allard, John Augustine, et al.
    Edited by Erin Detrick
    Foreword by Broadway casting director Kate Schwabe
      More Info Add to Cart

    $14.95 per book

    Looking for the perfect monologue? Actor's Choice: Monologues for Teens is here to help. From hilarious comedy to cutting-edge drama and everything in between, an exciting selection of monologues is at your fingertips. Unlike other monologue books, the source of every monologue 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: Scenes for Teens
    Actor's Choice: Monologues for Women
    Actor's Choice: Monologues for Men
    "Actor's Choice: Monologues for Teens" by Lucy Alibar, Janet Allard, John Augustine, Will Averill, Brooke Berman, Marisha Chamberlain, Vincent Delaney, Erin Detrick, Jonathan Dorf, Anton Dudley, Tom Dudzick, Stephanie Fleischmann, Matthew Freeman, Alan Haehnel, Barry Hall, Jordan Harrison, Naomi Iizuka, Mrinalini Kamath, Mark D. Kaufmann, Victor Kaufold, Tim Kochenderfer, Gavin Lawrence, Romulus Linney, Wendy MacLeod, Michael Marks, Timothy Mason, Lucinda McDermott, Winter Miller,
    Reviews
    "This is an excellent monologue book for middle and high school students with applications for competition as well as use in drama, speech, or English classes."
    --Terrilyn Fleming, The Midwest Book Review


    Actor's Choice: Scenes for Teens
    by Liz Duffy Adams, Janet Allard, Yuri Baranovsky, et al.
    Edited by Jason Pizzarello
    With "Tips for Student Actors" by director Jon Jory
      More Info Add to Cart

    $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
    "Actor's Choice: Scenes for Teens" by Liz Duffy Adams, Janet Allard, Yuri Baranovsky, Courtney Baron, Burgess Clark, Melissa Cooper, Douglas Craven, Anton Dudley, Liz Flahive, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Patrick Greene, Alan Haehnel, Naomi Iizuka, Jon Jory, Mark D. Kaufmann, Tim Kochenderfer, Eric Lane, David Lindsay-Abaire, Wendy MacLeod, Melanie Marnich, Carl Martin, Timothy Mason, Ian McWethy, Winter Miller, Ed Monk, Allison Moore, Itamar Moses, Shawn Northrip, Dan O'Brien, Ryan
    Reviews
    "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


    Check Please by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 25-35 minutes
    7 females, 7 males (4-26 actors possible: 2-13 females, 2-13 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a raging kleptomaniac, or your grandmother's bridge partner, or a mime. Check Please follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn't get any worse -- until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?

    (See also Check Please: Take 2 and Check Please: Take 3.)
    "Check Please" by Jonathan Rand. Check Please, West Columbus High School, Cerro Gordo, North Carolina (2003).
    Reviews
    "Simply wonderful! One of the best one acts I've judged in several years."
    --Iowa High School Speech Association


    Check Please: Take 2 by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 25-35 minutes
    6 females, 6 males (4-12 actors possible: 2-6 females, 2-6 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    Soon after their relationship ends, Guy and Girl are forced by their well-intentioned best friends to plunge back into the dating pool. Unfortunately that pool is filled with foot-reading psychics, frustrated polygamists, and extreme accountants. And pirates. But are the blind dates really that unbearable? Yes. Yes they are.

    (See also Check Please and Check Please: Take 3. This play can be read or performed without any knowledge of the other two versions.)
    "Check Please: Take 2" by Jonathan Rand. Check Please: Take 2, Golden West High School, Visalia, California (2006).


    Check Please: Take 3 by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 25-35 minutes
    8 females, 8 males (4-16 actors possible: 2-8 females, 2-8 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    Best friends Guy and Girl used to be a couple. Desperate to buck singlehood, they decide that even considering their atrocious blind dating track record, it's worth another shot. But after struggling through dates with a wannabe rock star, a vote-starved politician, and the guy who does those intense movie trailer voice-overs, there's the inevitable question: Which is better -- staying single the rest of your life, or suffering through a series of the worst dates in history?

    (See also Check Please and Check Please: Take 2. This play can be read or performed without any knowledge of the other two versions.)
    "Check Please: Take 3" by Jonathan Rand. Check Please: Take 3, Golden West High School, Visalia, California (2008).


    Drugs Are Bad by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 10-15 minutes
    1 female, 2 males
    $40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book

    Brad comes home from school one day to find his parents waiting for him, deeply concerned. They have found a secret that Brad stashed away in his underwear drawer: an algebra book. That's right -- Brad has been studying behind their backs, instead of following his parents' strict insistence on sex, drugs, and rock & roll. What unfolds is a parody of all those insufferable after-school specials that made us who we are today.
    "Drugs Are Bad" by Jonathan Rand. Drugs Are Bad, New Smyrna Beach High School, New Smyrna Beach, Florida (2009).
    Reviews
    "Sparkles with humor and wit... Rand's genius play create[s] an engaging scene that reveals unexpected twists among an amusing family squabble."
    --Silver Chips Online


    Hard Candy by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 30-40 minutes
    5 females, 6 males (4-11 actors possible: 2-7 females, 2-7 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    Job applicants at Banff Enterprises will do anything to claw their way up the corporate ladder. In a fast-paced series of hilarious interviews, the new recruits try every trick in the book -- from bribery, nepotism, and the Old Boy Network to blackmail, seduction, and mind control.
    "Hard Candy" by Jonathan Rand. Hard Candy, Academy of Arts & Academics, Springfield, Oregon (2007).
    Reviews
    "An almost perfect high school one-act... It's got a large, flexible cast, it allows actors to go a little wild and it's hilarious."
    --Stephen Gregg, author of This is a Test


    How To Succeed in High School Without Really Trying
    by Jonathan Rand
      More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 20-30 minutes
    30 either (7-230 actors possible: 1-225 females, 5-229 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    Want to know the easiest way to make it through the grueling abyss known as high school? A group of student agents infiltrate an assembly to demonstrate their secret tips and tricks, ranging from legally changing your name to get around roll call, to using Tom Cruise to help memorize science terms. High school will never be the same.
    "How To Succeed in High School Without Really Trying" by Jonathan Rand. How To Succeed in High School Without Really Trying, Ross High School, Hamilton, Ohio (2010).


    Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 35-45 minutes
    13 females, 8 males, 27 either
    (12-60 actors possible: 0-60 females, 0-60 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    In the fairy tale criminal justice system, the characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes are represented by two separate yet equally ridiculous groups: the fairy tale police who investigate fairy tale crime, and the fairy tale district attorneys who prosecute the fairy tale offenders. These are their stories.
    "Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit" by Jonathan Rand. Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit, Golden West High School, Visalia, California (2007).


    The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World
    by Jonathan Rand
      More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 15-25 minutes
    5 females, 12 males, 7 either
    (8-35 actors possible: 4-27 females, 7-30 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    Want to perform a classic play too offensive for your high school? Then the ScriptCleaner5000 is the product for you! Sit back and relax as Cynocorp representatives Shelly and Tom present sample scenes from plays that have been treated with this exciting new technology. Wipe away that dirty David Mamet profanity! Violence in Shakespeare? Gone. And what about those pesky sex scenes? The ScriptCleaner5000 has got you covered!
    "The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World" by Jonathan Rand. The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World, St. Francis High School, St. Francis, Minnesota (2005).
    Reviews
    "Brilliant comedy... The audience did not stop laughing until the play was over."
    --Student Voice (California)


    Meet the Roommates by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 20-30 minutes
    8 females, 8 males (7-16 actors possible: 4-8 females, 4-8 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $7.99 per book

    Two friends discover an incredible online simulator that shows them exactly what their future college roommate experiences will look like. Yet after a few minutes with a raging narcoleptic, a world-class procrastinator, and a children's party clown, it may be time to seriously consider living alone.
    "Meet the Roommates" by Jonathan Rand. Meet the Roommates, Golden West High School, Visalia, California (2012)


    Murder in the Knife Room (full-length version)
    by Jonathan Rand
      More Info Add to Cart
    Murder mystery parody
    Full-length, 80-90 minutes
    58 either (22-58 actors possible: 0-58 females, 0-58 males)
    $75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    One murder, twenty suspects. Who killed Mysterious Host? Could it be Respected General? What about Wealthy Dowager? Or maybe it was Santa Claus. The mystery unfolds as Inexplicably Omniscient Inspector takes on the most thrilling and baffling murder case in the history of thrilling and baffling murder cases. (A one-act version of this play is also available.)
    "Murder in the Knife Room (full-length version)" by Jonathan Rand. Murder in the Knife Room, North Caroline High School, Ridgely, Maryland (2009). Photo: Angie Garrett.
    Reviews
    "Killer fun! It's 'Clue' on crack."
    --Patch (Pennsylvania)


    Murder in the Knife Room (one-act version)
    by Jonathan Rand
      More Info Add to Cart
    Murder mystery parody
    Short, 40-50 minutes
    7 females, 5 males, 36 either
    (12-48 actors possible: 0-48 females, 0-48 males)
    $45.00 per performance; $7.99 per book

    One murder, ten suspects. Who killed Mysterious Host? Could it be Respected General? What about Wealthy Dowager? Or maybe it was Santa Claus. The mystery unfolds as Inexplicably Omniscient Inspector takes on the most thrilling and baffling murder case in the history of thrilling and baffling murder cases. (A full-length version of this play is also available.)
    "Murder in the Knife Room (one-act version)" by Jonathan Rand. Murder in the Knife Room, Golden West High School, Visalia, CA (2008).
    Reviews
    "Killer fun! It's 'Clue' on crack."
    --Patch (Pennsylvania)


    The People vs. Spam by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 15-20 minutes
    17 either (8-17 actors possible: 0-17 females, 0-17 males)
    $35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book

    Today you will be one of many star witnesses in the most controversial trial the world has ever seen: America sues the entire concept of unsolicited junk email. Tension mounts as we hear testimonies from a Nigerian prince, a debt reducer, and a purveyor of life-changing, body-enhancing pills. The fate of America's inboxes lies in the hands of a single jury...
    "The People vs. Spam" by Jonathan Rand. The People vs. Spam, Nixa Junior High School, Nixa, MO (2007)


    Random Acts of Comedy: 15 Hit One-Act Plays for Student Actors
    by Peter Bloedel, Julia Brownell, Christa Crewdson, Alan Haehnel, et al.
    Edited by Jason Pizzarello
    Foreword by Saturday Night Live writer Bryan Tucker
      More Info Add to Cart

    $19.95 per book

    NOTE: This book contains 15 plays. To perform any of the plays, each must be licensed separately.

    Home of the most popular one-act plays for student actors, Playscripts, Inc. presents 15 of their very best short comedies. From a blind dating debacle to a silly Shakespeare spoof, from a fairy tale farce to a self-hating satire, this anthology contains hilarious large-cast plays that have delighted thousands of audiences around the world.

    To purchase this book of 15 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:

  • The Audition by Don Zolidis
  • Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit by Jonathan Rand
  • 13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview by Ian McWethy
  • Darcy's Cinematic Life by Christa Crewdson
  • The Whole Shebang by Rich Orloff
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Fifth Period by Jason Pizzarello
  • Small World by Tracey Scott Wilson
  • The Absolute Most Cliched Elevator Play in the History of the Entire Universe by Werner Trieschmann
  • The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet by Peter Bloedel
  • Show and Spell by Julia Brownell
  • Cut by Ed Monk
  • Check Please by Jonathan Rand
  • Aliens vs. Cheerleaders by Qui Nguyen
  • The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon (one-act) by Don Zolidis
  • 15 Reasons Not To Be in a Play by Alan Haehnel
  • "Random Acts of Comedy: 15 Hit One-Act Plays for Student Actors" by Peter Bloedel, Julia Brownell, Christa Crewdson, Alan Haehnel, Ian McWethy, Ed Monk, Qui Nguyen, Rich Orloff, Jason Pizzarello, Jonathan Rand, Werner Trieschmann, Tracey Scott Wilson and Don Zolidis.
    Reviews
    "Comedy is easy to pick up, yet hard to master. Random Acts of Comedy is a collection of assorted plays that range in many types of humor from outright parody to twisting of classics to meta humor on the art of theatre. For anyone seeking to teach their students the art of humor, [this] is quite the excellent source for inspiration."
    --Midwest Book Review


    Romeo To Go by Jonathan Rand   More Info Add to Cart
    Comedy
    Short, 35-45 minutes
    18 females, 15 males, 17 either
    (15-50 actors possible: 0-50 females, 0-50 males)
    $40.00 per performance; $8.99 per book

    Due to budget cuts there will only be a single session of Drama One for the entire school year -- and the class will only last 20 minutes. To make matters worse, the students are required to perform an entire Shakespeare play for a schoolwide assembly during a time slot of only 10 minutes. Under the direction of the egomaniacal Mrs. Gunnysack, the beginner students must pull together for the fastest, cleanest, lowest-budget rendition of Romeo and Juliet the world has ever seen, complete with a makeshift balcony, interpretive dance fight sequences, and an Elizabethan hip-hop dance party that would even make P. Diddy shake his tailfeather with Shakespearean pride.
    "Romeo To Go" by Jonathan Rand. Romeo To Go, Golden West High School, Visalia, California (2005)
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