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Comedy
Short, 45-55 minutes
3 females, 3 males, 6 either
(8-35 actors possible: 1-35 females, 1-35 males)
$45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Two battling narrators attempt to cover the entirety of Greek mythology using audience participation, cross-dressing, and general theatrical insanity. Creation myths such as Pandora's Box and Cronos and the Titans jostle for space with other famous myths like Jason and the Argonauts (the original Super Friends). Culminating in a heart-pounding, five-minute, two-actor version of The Iliad, this fast-paced, free-wheeling play is wild, silly, and a complete blast for all ages. (A full-length version and an Iliad! only version of this play are also available.)
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Comedy
Full-length, 100-120 minutes
5 females, 5 males, 10 either
(8-75 actors possible: 1-50 females, 1-50 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
Two battling narrators attempt to cover the entirety of Greek mythology using audience participation, cross-dressing, and general theatrical insanity. Famous myths such as Pandora's Box, Jason and the Argonauts (the original Super Friends), and Hercules: Intern God jostle for space with obscure, weird myths such as the myth of Linus and the legend of the Argus. Culminating in a bizarre, musical dance-influenced version of The Iliad complete with a full-scale battle of little green army men, this play is wild, silly, and a complete blast for audiences of all ages. (A one-act version and an Iliad! only version of this play are also available.)
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Comedy
Short, 40-50 minutes
10 females, 15 males, 10 either
(8-60 actors possible: 4-30 females, 4-30 males)
$45.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Not in the mood for homework? Let Narrator 1 and 2 take you on a literary journey, and watch as Homer's Odyssey is transformed into the style of Dr. Seuss. Complete with a singing Cyclops ("Oh the sights you can spy with only one eye!"), the slaughter of the suitors acted out with teddy bears, and the sorceress Circe serving up crew members with a side of green eggs, The SeussOdyssey is a hilarious and speedy reimagining of the classic epic. (A full-length version of this play is also available.)
"The SeussOdyssey" is not affiliated, endorsed, or sponsored by Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
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Comedy
Full-length, 80-90 minutes
12 females, 20 males, 15 either
(8-60 actors possible: 4-30 females, 4-30 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Not in the mood for homework? Let Narrator 1 and 2 take you on a literary journey, and watch as Homer's Odyssey is transformed into the style of Dr. Seuss. Complete with a singing Cyclops ("Oh the sights you can spy with only one eye!"), the slaughter of the suitors acted out with teddy bears, and the sorceress Circe serving up crew members with a side of green eggs, The SeussOdyssey is a hilarious and speedy reimagining of the classic epic. (A one-act version of this play is also available.)
"The SeussOdyssey" is not affiliated, endorsed, or sponsored by Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
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Antigone Now by Melissa Cooper
inspired by Sophocles' Antigone |
 
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Drama
Short, 50-60 minutes
3 females, 1 male (4-11 actors possible: 2-10 females, 1-9 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
In the midst of a bombed-out city still feeling the aftershocks of war, the rebellious and intense Antigone defies her uncle to bury her disgraced brother. This contemporary response to the myth of Antigone brings powerful, modern prose to an ancient and universal story.
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| "The real star was Ms. Cooper's brilliant writing, which transforms the visceral poetry of ancient Greece into contemporary but no less magnificent language. This is a white-hot script..." |
| --Dallas Morning News |
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Drama
Full-length, 70-90 minutes
7 females, 5 males (11-30 actors possible: 6-17 females, 5-19 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Past and present collide in Ellen McLaughlin's mash-up of Sophocles' classic tragedy Ajax with the modern-day war in Iraq. The play follows the parallel narratives of Ajax, an ancient Greek military hero, and A.J., a modern female American soldier, both undone by the betrayal of a commanding officer. Athena, goddess of war, coolly presides over the whole. Inspired by material collected from interviews with Iraq war veterans and their families, Ajax in Iraq explores the timeless struggle soldiers face in trying to make sense of war.
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| "Ms. McLaughlin has carved out a career as a playwright of fierce moral conviction." |
| --Anita Gates, The New York Times |
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Comedy
Short, 20-25 minutes
1 female, 3 males
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
This farcical retelling of the Oedipus Rex story confronts the overlooked fact that if Oedipus married his mother, she had to be old enough to be his mother. When Oedipus' two advisors first explain to him that he married his mother, he's distraught. But Jocasta and the advisors only want to find a way to spin the story so that Oedipus looks good... (This play can also be performed as part of the full-length collection HA!)
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| "A funny, zippy Greece-meets-Borscht Belt take on Oedipus Rex." |
| --The Miami Herald |
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Comedy
Short, 20-25 minutes
6 females, 6 males (6-50 actors possible: 3-25 females, 3-25 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Complete with little green army men, a beauty pageant, and warring narrators, this is The Iliad as you've never seen it before. Two narrators have a blast recreating Homer's quintessential epic myth at a rapid pace and in wildly varying styles, as it morphs seamlessly from a musical, a modern drama, and a bizarre one-man show. This side-splitting parody is both hysterical and historical -- the perfect opportunity to laugh while you learn! (A one-act version and a full-length version of this play are also available.)
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Comedy
Full-length, 90-100 minutes
3 females, 7 males, 16 either
(16-26 actors possible: 3-19 females, 7-23 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Fed up with a world of insurance salesmen and petty problems, two miscreants flee to the kingdom of the birds for a simpler life. While living there, the two scheme up a financial jackpot that could turn the birds' land into a powerful utopia. Their only obstacle: the wrath of the gods. A hilarious and satirical look at politics, religion, and the foolishness of mankind that revives and revamps Aristophanes' classic comedy.
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Comedy for young audiences
Short, 45-50 minutes
11 females, 10 males (4-21 actors possible: 0-11 females, 2-10 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
This fast-paced and funny adaptation brings Homer's original story to life for young audiences. Odysseus and his crewman Pete must overcome many perils on their long voyage home from Troy, including an awkward teenage Cyclops named Polly, some Sirens crooning elevator music, and various other gods and monsters. Along the way, they both learn some hard lessons in trust, humility, and the power of brains over brawn.
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Drama
Full-length, 70-90 minutes
12 females, 2 males (12-40 actors possible: 10-30 females, 2-10 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
In the wake of their devastating defeat, the women of Troy, all now widows, wait on the beach below the ravaged city to be claimed by their Greek conquerors as slaves and concubines. Though the war is over, exile and degradation lie ahead and the fates of these women, including Queen Hecuba, her daughter Cassandra, the doomed, mad prophetess, and her daughter-in-law Andromache, widow of the great Hector, are still in the balance.
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Comedy
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
6 females, 8 males (12-26 actors possible: 5-10 females, 7-14 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
In an ambitious plan to bring peace to Ancient Greece, Dialysis and Peon create Betterland, a city where once-doomed tragic characters can start a better life. But this new society of refugees must face enemies and Gods who don't tolerate free will or utopian ideals. Weaving together the stories of Ancient Greek characters from Oedipus to Hercules, this hilarious reinvention of the classics asks the question, "Is it possible to escape your own fate?" (A one-act version of this play is also available.)
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| "A thoroughly enjoyable script filled with droll witticisms, amusing one-liners, and groaning wordplay... a breezy comedy full of laugh-out-loud merriment that pays homage to the melodramatic absurdity that is Greek tragedy." |
| --Sean Michael O'Donnell, OffOffOnline |
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Lysistrata adapted by Ellen McLaughlin
inspired by the play by Aristophanes |
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Comedy
Full-length, 60-80 minutes
13 females, 7 males (13-26 actors possible: 8-16 females, 5-10 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
This fresh, fast-paced comedy, inspired by the Aristophanes play, follows Lysistrata, an Athenian housewife, who calls for the women of Greece to help end the Peloponnesian War. She proposes a radical plan: all Greek women must refuse to engage in love making until the men see reason, lay down their arms and come home to lay down with their wives in peace. The women agree to make the sacrifice and all hell breaks loose as men wander the country in an agony of unsatisfied lust. Will Lysistrata and her crew accomplish what the politicians could not?
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| "...fun, lighthearted and successfully adapted to modern day times." |
| --Yorkshire Post (United Kingdom) |
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Comedy
Short, 25-35 minutes
6 females, 4 males, 10 either
(10-20 actors possible: 4-19 females, 1-18 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
For Hannah, writing a play for a zany contest is like trying to put socks on an octopus: almost impossible! She needs the help of her best friends, Isabel and Darin, and a full cast of wonderfully weird characters -- from a narcoleptic mermaid to a doomed dead king -- to get the job done. Will they be able to include every one of the contest's demands in time to submit the play? Not if the Octopus has anything to say about it! This fast-paced and hilarious short is strangely satisfying and satisfyingly strange.
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Comedy
Full-length, 75-120 minutes
14 females, 14 males (20-40 actors possible: 10-20 females, 10-20 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Lysistrata: A Woman's Translation is the only modern adaptation of Aristophanes' classic comedy written entirely in rhyme. Lysistrata, an Athenian woman fed up with war, rallies together the women of Greece to seize the Treasury, stage a sex strike, and force the men of each warring faction to come home and sign a truce. This makes for a fast-paced and bawdy affair, including the pompous Magistrate's antics of male domination, and the celibacy-sworn Myrrhine's relentless teasing of her sex-starved, phallus-laden husband. Meanwhile, the Chorus of Old Men and Chorus of Old Women square off in a hilarious battle of wits and guts, ultimately resulting in a reunion of genders, ages, and political positions.
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| "A remarkably clever, well-crafted, hilarious adaptation of Lysistrata. Do it!" |
| --Leslie Ayvazian, author of Nine Armenians, High Dive, and Lovely Day |
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Comedy
Short, 40-45 minutes
6 females, 8 males (12-22 actors possible: 5-9 females, 7-12 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
In an ambitious plan to bring peace to Ancient Greece, Dialysis and Peon create Betterland, a city where once-doomed tragic characters can start a better life. But this new society of refugees must face enemies and Gods who don't tolerate free will or utopian ideals. Weaving together the stories of Ancient Greek characters from Oedipus to Hercules, this hilarious reinvention of the classics asks the question, "Is it possible to escape your own fate?" (A full-length version of this play is also available.)
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| "A thoroughly enjoyable script filled with droll witticisms, amusing one-liners, and groaning wordplay... a breezy comedy full of laugh-out-loud merriment that pays homage to the melodramatic absurdity that is Greek tragedy." |
| --Sean Michael O'Donnell, OffOffOnline |
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Iphigenia and Other Daughters
adapted by Ellen McLaughlin
from the plays Iphigenia in Aulis and Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides
and from the play Electra by Sophocles |
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Drama
Full-length, 90-110 minutes
9 females, 1 male (9-21 actors possible: 8-20 females, exactly 1 male)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
This three-play cycle is a modern retelling of the fall of the House of Atreus. It follows the children of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, siblings who are both players in the family tragedy and victims of it. The cycle of blood and vengeance seems inescapable until the final reunion of a lost sister and brother brings the bloody family saga to its mystical and unlikely end.
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| "McLaughlin's bold, provocative script for is a mixture of highly poetic and often almost timeless language with pointed anachronisms. It raises some complex questions and would make a welcome addition to classical drama courses. With its feminist perspective and uniformly ambitious female roles it would make a significant contribution to the growing theatrical dialogue and be an excellent choice for productions in academic theater programs." |
| --Helen Foley, Chair, the Classics Department at Barnard College, Columbia University |
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Troy Women adapted by Karen Hartman
from the play by Euripides |
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Drama
Full-length, 65-85 minutes
9 females, 3 males (12-20 actors possible: 9-15 females, 3-5 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Hecuba and the women of Troy mourn and celebrate their city on the morning after its destruction. Together, they grieve the deaths of their husbands and children as they await their fates at the hands of their Greek captors. With modern elements adapted into Euripides' classic, Troy Women is a chilling, brutal, but accessible portrait of women during war.
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| "There were sharp wonders in the text. Hartman has found a new flow in the words of the distraught prisoners of this terrible war." |
| --New Haven Advocate |
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Comedy
Full-length, 120-130 minutes
4 females, 4 males (8 actors possible: 4-5 females, 3-4 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
A comedy adapted from the ancient Greek fairy-tale. When the God of Love is sent by his mother to destroy the most beautiful woman in the world, he hits a snag when he finds himself falling in love with her.
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| "This play by Portland writer Joseph Fisher is one of the most interesting scripts I've seen produced this season -- an imaginative, comic, accessible and irony-free variation on a classic theme...you'll be rewarded with a play that's literate, a little sexy and grown-up, a play that deals forthrightly with the double edge of sadness and happiness that comes with love." |
| --Bob Hicks, The Oregonian |
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Drama/Comedy
Full-length, 65-80 minutes
7 females, 10 males, 20 either (10-50 actors possible: 6-26 females, 4-24 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
NOTE: Each piece in this anthology can be licensed and performed separately.
Four well-loved tales -- The Odyssey, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone -- are brought to life in this hilarious and accessible collection of short adaptations. With a large, funny chorus of narrators, several songs and raps, and even some cheerleading, The Odyssey, Oedipus, and Others offers a brand new look at age-old classics.
To purchase this book of 4 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
The Odyssey
Oedipus the King
Oedipus at Colonus
Antigone
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