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Comedy/Storytelling
Full-length, 50-70 minutes
5 females, 5 males, 35 either (10-35 actors possible: 3-35 females, 2-35 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
In an attempt to prove that Aesop was history's greatest fabulist, a group of storytellers cracks the spine of a massive edition of Aesop's Fables, releasing the old man's most memorable characters into the theater. The Tortoise, the Hare, the Hart, the Vines, the Simpletons, the Fox, the Lion, the Mouse, and a certain golden egg-laying Goose all take the stage, delightfully re-imagined; the Tellers alternate between narrating and joining the action. Bristling with comic energy, this play caters to a large cast and is perfect for audiences of all ages.
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Mystery
Full-length, 60-70 minutes
2 females, 3 males (5-10 actors possible: 2-5 females, 3-5 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Summer, 1917. Essex, England. Back from the war, Captain Arthur Hastings convalesces at Styles Court. But when the lady of the house suspiciously dies, the tranquil manor turns treacherous. The cause is murder and the killer could be anyone: her unappealing new husband, her ne'er-do-well son, the blunt female groundskeeper, even the local toxicologist. Enter Hercule Poirot, Belgian refugee and detective extraordinaire, who applies his famous brain to the seemingly unsolvable mystery. A cunning stage adaptation of the novel that launched Agatha Christie's career.
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| "Charming, funny and smart...a quick-paced gem, and a thrill for any
detective aficionado." |
| --Marjorie Preston, Sun News (Cleveland) |
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Musical Comedy
Full-length, 100-120 minutes
4 females, 3 males
$8.99 per book
Other prices can be calculated by clicking "More Info"
When the Central Riverdale Amateur Players announce a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, stage manager Sam has her hands full with a colorful array of community theatre misfits: a clueless director, an egotistical writer/choreographer/leading lady, a scorned diva, an overlooked veteran, and the town's local druggie. But when Sam begins to fall for the leading man, things really start to get complicated. This hilarious musical follows the group's journey as they unwittingly butcher Jane Austen's beloved classic, from chaotic auditions to climactic pirate battle and tap-off. With a jazzy score and anachronisms galore, Austentatious is terrible theater at its absolute comedic best.
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| "Punctuated by spangly musical numbers, this is a satirical ode to all the foibles of classic novel adaptations. From laughable plot embellishments, gratuitous violence, cringeworthy simulations of Austen's syntax, and even Colin Firth's wet shirt, nothing gets overlooked... Boasting sharp lyrics [...] and an utterly hilarious script." |
| --Hannah Nepil, Time Out London |
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Comedy/Drama
Short, 35-45 minutes
2 females, 2 males, 11 either
(15-20 actors possible: 2-18 females, 2-18 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Three of Earth's finest have set off on the Encounter Mission, a thousand-year journey to the planet Syrnac. In order to survive the long mission, Commander Michaelson, Lieutenant Vega, and Dr. Carmine are "Rebooted" every hundred years into adolescent bodies. But just after their first Reboot, they wake to a message from NASA: the mission has been canceled. Michaelson intends to follow orders and return to Earth, but Dr. Carmine has other plans and wrests control of the ship. A true flight of fancy that explores teamwork, bullying, and courage under pressure.
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 100-110 minutes
4 females, 4 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
It's Morgan's first day at James Joyce Junior High School for Gifted and Talented Students, and she quickly befriends four fellow misfits: Chernobyl survivor Ana, struggling student Jeremy, and childhood friends Lacey and Lancelot. Sure, classes are hard, but they're nothing compared to dysfunctional families, constantly fluctuating sexuality, eating disorders, school violence, nuclear fallout, and -- most dangerous of all -- love. It's five outcasts versus adolescence as the years go by and their lives become more and more complicated and intertwined. Eight actors play multiple parts in this dark and resonant comedy about the perils and frustrations of growing up.
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| "Jordan Seavey's joltingly funny Children at Play isn't afraid to put the punch back in punch lines... Seavey's real accomplishment lies in capturing -- in a terrifyingly realistic way -- the blithe menace of growing up." |
| --Time Out New York |
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Comedy
Full-length, 50-60 minutes
7 females, 7 males, 3 either
(8-24 actors possible: 4-12 females, 4-12 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
When the quirky Wilson family goes on vacation, they visit a nice hotel -- and then decide to take up residence in the elevator. They quickly turn their tiny space into a cozy home nicknamed "Otis" where they play pick-up sticks, have meals delivered, and entertain guests. All are welcome in the Wilsons' tiny mobile room, and as they move up and down they help everyone they meet, including a love-struck bellhop, an overscheduled old lady, and a lonely salesman. But when the Wilsons suspect that a kidnapped girl may be hidden in the hotel, they may face their biggest challenge yet.
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| "Beneath its blissfully buoyant surface, The Elevator Family has something important to say about the effect of one family on the world and vice versa. But that theme never overwhelms the gentle humor." |
| --Margaret Quamme, The Columbus Dispatch |
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Drama/Comedy
Full-length, 90-100 minutes
4 females, 3 males, 39 either
(35-100 actors possible: 4-43 females, 3-42 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
No parents, no siblings, no teachers. It might sound like a dream to some high schoolers, but for the teenagers of Great Falls, Montana, it is the stuff of reality. They awake one morning to find a Wall of Light encircling their town, and everyone but the student body has vanished. On top of that, the light is moving inward and their town is steadily disappearing. In the face of this mystery, the students band together...and splinter apart. What can they do to stop it? What′s on the other side? Will there still be time for one last dance? An exciting drama/comedy for a large student cast, this play explores mortality, friendship, and the survival of ethics when survival itself is at stake.
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Comedy/Drama
Short, 25-35 minutes
20 females, 13 males (15-53 actors possible: 11-30 females, 4-23 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
In this funny, poignant take on the classic tale of The Little Mermaid, Thessaly, the youngest of five mermaid sisters, yearns to visit the surface. When she finally gets her wish, she falls in love with a human prince, and makes a bargain with a witch that will allow her to be human too. But there's a deadly catch -- if she doesn't marry the prince, she'll become sea foam, caught between land and water forever. Featuring a narrator-Emcee, a frustrated Mer-King, and a location-creating Chorus, this reimagining offers comic, tragic, and surprising twists on a familiar story.
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Musical Comedy for Families
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
13 females, 3 males, 5 either
(13-35 actors possible: 10-24 females, 3-14 males)
$8.99 per book
Other prices can be calculated by clicking "More Info"
12-year-old New Yorker Vita has her heart set on playing Helen of Troy in the school musical. After all, her mother is a Greek translator, so Vita knows the story better than anyone! But when the pretty Helen McGuire is cast instead, Vita's dreams of stardom -- and of her absent father coming home to see her in the show -- begin to dim. Even though her role has only one line, Vita holds onto her dreams, and soon, it seems that her luck may change. But will her star shine bright enough to guide her father home? This charming and big-hearted musical brings a new twist to a classic tale.
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Comedy
Short, 25-35 minutes
2 females, 2 males, 1 either (5-20 actors possible: 2-12 females, 2-12 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
After spending a fateful night together at their senior prom, five "frenemies" reunite at their 10th, 25th, and 65th high school reunions. The prom king and queen, the party guy, the shy girl, and the weirdo find themselves linked through the decades, each one always hoping to prove to the others that they've made it to the proverbial "top." This comedy proves that while high school may only last four years, for some, the desire to outdo their high school buddies never fades away.
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$19.95 per book
NOTE: This book contains 10 plays. To perform any of the plays, each must be licensed separately.
Humana Festival 2011: The Complete Plays brings together all ten scripts from the 2011 Humana Festival of New American Plays, the 35th 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 a couple who abandon a hectic existence in modern-day NYC to live in a careful recreation of 1955 (Maple and Vine), to a sister and brother left to fend for themselves with a stuffed frog and a rifle for company (Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them), to an immensely wealthy trophy wife who hijacks her personal assistant's sister-bonding weekend (Elemeno Pea). This unique and diverse compilation of plays is a must-have for anyone searching for challenging, captivating, and bold theater.
To purchase this book of 10 plays, click "Add to Shopping Cart" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
BOB by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Chicago, Sudan by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
A Devil at Noon by Anne Washburn
Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A. Rey Pamatmat
The Edge of Our Bodies by Adam Rapp
Elemeno Pea by Molly Smith Metzler
The End by Dan Dietz, Jennifer Haley, Allison Moore, A. Rey Pamatmat, and Marco Ramirez
Hygiene by Gregory Hischak
Maple and Vine by Jordan Harrison
Mr. Smitten by Laura Eason
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| "The plays [...] deserve to be celebrated. [That] so many past Humana premieres have gone on to wider audiences and captured major awards is an extraordinary testament to Masterson, his colleagues, and their predecessors, and the reason so many of us keep coming back." |
| --Educational Theatre Association |
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Comedy
Short, 35-45 minutes
8 females, 3 males, 1 either
(11-40 actors possible: 8-25 females, 3-15 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
"Desperate" doesn't begin to describe this high school drama troupe: their parents avoid their shows, their faculty sponsor has fled, and the audience for their production of Romeo and Juliet consists of one sleeping homeless woman. When they discover that the sleeping woman is actually dead, the troupe turns her into a zombie so she can join the show and make it a hit with the zombie-loving masses. But one bite leads to another, and soon things spin wildly out of control. When the curtain comes down on this undead Romeo and Juliet, will anyone be left alive?
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Comedy
Short, 35-40 minutes
10 females, 3 males, 1 either (9-14 actors possible: 6-11 females, 3-4 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
After being home-schooled all his life, Ariel Carvell (who is not, he insists, named after the mermaid) is excited for his first day of "normal" high school. Unfortunately, his confusing name betrays him again, as Ariel finds himself mistakenly enrolled as the only boy in an all-girls school. To make matters worse, his eccentric, 37-year-old Aunt Lydia decides to enroll as well! Things look bad until Ariel sees the girl of his dreams across the hall and realizes that, with a little luck, life for the only boy in an all-girls school might not be that bad...
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Musical
Full-length, 60-75 minutes
4 females, 3 males, 13 either (13-35 actors possible: 4-17 females, 3-16 males)
$8.99 per book
Other prices can be calculated by clicking "More Info"
Edmond's English class couldn't care less about The Count of Monte Cristo -- until a school lockdown and a film competition with a strict deadline force them to re-enact the story. Timeless themes of revenge and entrapment become surprisingly resonant, and the line between reality and performance starts to blur. With light-hearted songs alongside powerful revelations, this musical depicts one class's journey to understand a classic text, and in the process, themselves.
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Comedy
Full-length, 50-75 minutes
9 females, 3 males, 10 either
(20-60 actors possible: 9-60 females, 3-60 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
The Peloponnesian Midwest Regional Chorus is tired of placing last in every competition with their ho-hum renditions of heroic myths. Enter Thespis, with a risky idea to cure the Chorus's recitation-related woes: a full theatrical production! With the help of his buddies -- Directus, Settius, Propius, Costumius, and of course, the benevolent Greek Gods -- Thespis takes the chorus's version of The Odyssey from just-OK to jaw-droppingly amazing. The birth of theatre and the plights of the original homeward-bound hero have never been this hilarious!
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Oedipus adapted by Ellen McLaughlin
from the play by Sophocles |
 
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Drama
Full-length, 70-90 minutes
1 female, 6 males, 6 either (13-20 actors possible: 2-6 females, 8-13 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
A plague grips the city of Thebes. Desperate to save his people, King Oedipus sends a messenger to the oracle at Delphi and discovers that the city's salvation lies in finding and punishing the murderer of the former king, Laius, who was brutally slain by a stranger at a crossroads years ago. When Oedipus orders a manhunt, he unknowingly sets the wheels of his own destruction in motion. This lean, contemporary version brings a new, poignant power to this primal work that is the cornerstone of Western drama.
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| "Shatteringly brilliant...builds with moment after moment of bitter beauty, its poetry and revelations coming in grave waves." |
| --Rohan Preston, Star Tribune |
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Comedy
Full-length, 75-95 minutes
7 females, 4 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Mavis and the other employees of the Lost and Found department of the Paradise Bus Company are used to dealing with all kinds of strange things, from abandoned tubas to missing tiaras. However, their biggest challenge yet may be controlling a runaway rumor that big-shot B.F. Crandall is coming to visit. As they try to keep up the ruse for their by-the-book manager, crazy misunderstandings and confusion ensue -- and to top it all off they must figure out the mysterious reason why a nine-year-old girl has turned up at the bus station alone. Will the answers that they're looking for turn up at the Paradise Lost and Found?
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Persuasion adapted by Jon Jory
from the novel by Jane Austen |
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Romance
Full-length, 100-110 minutes
8 females, 7 males (15-20 actors possible: 8-10 females, 7-10 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
The Elliot family verges on financial ruin, and image-conscious patriarch Sir Walter must rent their estate to avoid bankruptcy. His daughter Anne is surprised to learn who has taken the estate: the sister of Captain Wentworth, a man whose proposal she was persuaded to refuse years before. Then, Wentworth was a poor sailor with no social standing, but he has returned a rich and eligible officer. As they are thrown into one another's company once again, Anne's affection remains despite her lack of hope for any reconciliation. But when Wentworth begins to show signs of jealousy towards one of her suitors, she must summon the courage to seek out his true feelings. This movingly romantic adaptation of Jane Austen's last novel brings a classic story of enduring love to the stage.
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Romantic Comedy
Full-length, 140-160 minutes
14 females, 10 males (23-26 actors possible: 13-14 females, 10-12 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Marriage is an inevitable fact of life for the five Bennet sisters -- Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. With the family estate entailed away to their closest male cousin, their only hope to advance in life is to find a rich and single man -- and one has just arrived in the form of the very handsome and very well-off Charles Bingley. The kindhearted and beautiful Jane seems poised to make a match, but must contend with her overly zealous mother, his snobbish sister, and a slippery social ladder. And when Bingley's taciturn friend Fitzwilliam Darcy shows an interest in the opinionated and spirited Elizabeth, the situation becomes more complicated than either of them expect. The fire and wit of Jane Austen's classic 1813 romance shines through in this vibrant new adaptation.
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| "This adaptation of Jane Austen's masterpiece honors the source material through a contemporary theatrical lens... Set within an elaborate social fabric, this adaptation may well be the best of many for stage or film that have emerged in recent years." |
| --The Durango Herald (Colorado) |
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Drama
Short, 30-40 minutes
8 females, 8 males, 3 either (16-25 actors possible: 6-11 females, 8-15 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Saundra is acting very strangely -- she wears her prom dress to school, stands up to a tyrannical teacher, hugs her younger brother, and even tries to join the boys' wrestling team. In a series of monologues,
Saundra's friends and family open up about how her odd behavior has affected them, with reactions ranging from bafflement to anger, frustration to admiration. It's only after Saundra's sudden death that her motives are revealed, and everyone is left to ponder their own rare condition.
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