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Comedy
Full-length, 60-75 minutes
4 females, 6 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Miss Nelson can't control her crazy classroom because she's just too nice. But when she disappears, her replacement is the hard-as-nails, detention-loving, recess-canceling, homework-overloading substitute teacher Viola Swamp! With the Big Test approaching, the kids suddenly realize how much they miss Miss Nelson and they'll do anything -- including hiring a private eye -- to solve the mystery of her disappearance and bring her back.
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Drama
Short, 45-50 minutes
5 females, 6 males, 5 either
(7-36 actors possible: 3-18 females, 4-18 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
An emotional journey into the hearts and souls of Hurricane Katrina's survivors, THE KATRINA PROJECT: Hell and High Water is based on actual interviews, collected stories, and found texts, providing a voice for the greatest natural disaster in our country's recorded history. The play follows a diverse group of characters as they reflect on and experience the devastation, heartbreak, anger, and, ultimately, hope of the thousands affected by the Category 5 storm. (All royalties from THE KATRINA PROJECT: Hell and High Water will be donated to hurricane relief charities.)
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Comedy
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
10 females, 10 males, 10 either
(10-80 actors possible: 3-40 females, 3-40 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Travel around the world and explore forgotten myths and unusual legends in eight fast-paced and hilarious tales! Guided by a band of roaming gypsies, the audience is transported from the ancient Far East, where a hero must kill a giant centipede to save a dragon king, to the Russian countryside, where a poor orphan must defeat three witches who stole his grandfather's eyes. Always quirky, and sometimes bizarre, these eight tales are filled with magic, mystery, and morals.
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Comedy
Short, 15-20 minutes
2 females
$45.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
When a housewife comes to the end of her rope with her abusive husband, she doesn't expect him to spontaneously combust. Now she has a pile of ashes on the floor, and a life to reclaim.
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
4 females, 3 males (6-48 actors possible: 3-25 females, 3-23 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: Each piece in this anthology can be licensed and performed separately.
An exceptional and eclectic collection of twenty short plays that wends its way through various scenes of urban life. Along the way there are unlikely weirdos accosting people on subways in The Subway, a militant store clerk pushing environmental reform in Pamper Island, a man grappling with his own racism in The Three Roses, and a woman who wears a wedding dress to a wedding that isn't hers in Temporary People, Part Two: Rebecca Ruth. With wit and sensitivity, Augustine's Confessions explores the terminally vague and toxically vogue members of society.
To purchase this book of 20 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
The Opening
Gen - X
The Subway
Temporary People, Part I: Siobhan
Nicole and Jane
Ghost
Pamper Island: A Grocery Store Comedy
The Three Roses
Window of Opportunity
Kept Boy
Megaphone Man
The Censorship Play
Temporary People, Part II: Rebecca Ruth
The Closing
Scab Writes a Song!
Promesa
Innocent Victims
Maurice
Sarabande
Mrs. Smith Plays the Piano
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| "John Augustine's characters cling to language like alcoholics to a martini glass. Insecure, endless verbalizing and very funny, they hope to assuage ambivalence with words; their dialogue tends less to the absurd than to a brittle epigrammatic gleam." |
| --The Village Voice |
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Drama
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
3 females, 3 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Soon after African-American businessman Sterling North becomes the new director of the Morris Foundation, he discovers that this world-famous art collection includes several significant African sculptures tucked away in storage. His proposal to add them to the public galleries is opposed by the foundation's long-time education director, who is loyal to the idiosyncratic wishes of the late Dr. Morris. Spurred on by a zealous local journalist, this clash quickly escalates to public accusations of racism and a bitter struggle for control of the collection. Permanent Collection is a searing examination of racial politics that ultimately asks how much space -- literally and figuratively -- the white world gives to African-Americans. What is the cost of failing to view the world through another's eyes?
(This is the second part of a trilogy. See also Bee-luther-hatchee and A House With No Walls.)
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| "Gibbons' intellectually charged drama is a beautifully balanced dialectic that treats a complicated and emotional issue without cheap conclusions... Sophisticated and deft, it is a provocative treatment of the unanswerable." |
| --F. Kathleen Foley, Los Angeles Times |
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Comedy
Short, 15-20 minutes
6 females, 1 male
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
It's time to go backstage at the Academy Awards, where the five nominees for Best Actress -- the aging superstar, the British diva, the impressionable teen idol, the indie film queen, and the "token" African-American nominee -- battle it out during an interview with the entertainment reporters from hell.
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Comedy
Short, 10-15 minutes
3 females, 1 male (4 actors possible: 2-3 females, 1-2 males)
$35.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: This play is part of an anthology called theAtrainplays, Vol. 1.
Sure, friends drift apart. But generally they don't announce that they're "breaking up" with you. Especially not when you're riding downtown on the A train. Natalie's friends, on the other hand, think it's the perfect place to make a clean break.
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Drama
Full-length, 90-110 minutes
3 females, 2 males (5-8 actors possible: 3-5 females, 2-3 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Shelita Burns, an African-American editor, publishes Bee-luther-hatchee, the autobiography of a reclusive 72-year-old black woman named Libby Price. Shelita has never met Libby, and when the book wins a prestigious award she decides to deliver it to her in person. To her profound shock, the actual author of the book is a white man named Sean Leonard. Furious and resentful, Shelita accuses Sean of perpetrating a hoax, while he defends the book as a truthful work of imagination. Their confrontation, played out on the edge of the racial divide, builds to a jarring act of violence.
(This is the first part of a trilogy. See also Permanent Collection and A House With No Walls.)
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| "A powerful, provocative piece of theatrical writing. You want to run down the street twisting people's arms to see it." |
| --Linda Eisenstein, Cleveland Plain Dealer |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 75-105 minutes
6 females, 8 males, 6 either (14-40 actors possible: 6-20 females, 8-20 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
One of the most beloved characters of American fiction, Tom Sawyer is a force of nature -- whether he's sneaking out of his Aunt Polly's house at night to visit the graveyard, or duping his playmates into white-washing a fence, or stealing a kiss from the ravishing Becky Thatcher, or taking a stand against the murderous Injun Joe. Tom's small-town adventures on the banks of the Mississippi are the magical essence of childhood, a joyous leap into the great river of time and memory.
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In Conflict adapted by Douglas C. Wager
based on the book In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss, and the Fight to Stay Alive by Yvonne Latty |
 
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Docudrama
Full-length, 130-150 minutes
4 females, 6 males (6-17 actors possible: 2-4 females, 4-13 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
Individual stories of mostly college-age Iraq War veterans are presented in their own words, taken from audio transcripts of actual interviews. Already having faced brutal combat conditions in a hostile land, these soldiers have come home to the daunting challenges of returning to civilian life. Their remarkable accounts are as diverse as their backgrounds, representing America in all its complexity and humanity. Honoring the courage and desire of the individuals who serve their country, In Conflict illuminates the traumatic human cost of war, as well as the physical, moral, and spiritual conundrum that each returning veteran of the war now faces.
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| "Whenever a performer takes the stage to deliver a monologue, you feel inescapably invested in what is said. The tight bond between actors and characters here enfolds the audience too. The suggestion -- and it is not necessarily a comfortable one -- is that we're all in this together." |
| --Ben Brantley, The New York Times |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
2 females, 2 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Bored of frat parties and second-run movies, a group of college friends challenge each other to have a three-way with the Christian who lives next door. ("It could be the new Survivor.") In this undergraduate world of irony and internet porn, sex is common but love is the thing that dares not speak its name.
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| "Cleverly written...it's the playwright's way with language that does the trick, her understanding of the versatile uses these sharp kids find for the idiomatic speech of their generation." |
| --Marilyn Stasio, Variety |
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Children's theater
Short, 45 minutes
4 either (4-12 actors possible: 0-12 females, 0-12 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
The mischievous Chinese superhero The Monkey King comes to life in this energetic and charming play where Chinese Opera and hip-hop collide. Between finding and losing a home, getting kicked out of school, and battling with a one-horned ogre, the naughty Monkey King somersaults into the future on his adventures, where he hears hip-hop music and gets jiggy with it. After much dancing, battles and heroics, the impish Monkey King triumphs over his adversaries -- and learns about leadership, responsibility, and forgiveness in the process!
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Comedy
Full-length, 110-120 minutes
3 females, 4 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Illinois schoolteacher Harmony Green has told her fourth grade class that Menard County's most beloved homegrown hero, Abraham Lincoln, was gay. When Honest Abe is "outed" in a reimagined Christmas pageant, controversy and chaos engulf the town. As the trial of the century begins, big-city reporters and Congressional candidates descend, and family skeletons are forced out of the closet. Top hats and beards abound in this hilarious, poignant, and timely look at prejudice past and present.
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| "An...ambitious mashup of burlesque anarchy, elaborate narrative intrigue, serious sociopolitical themes, and campy dance interludes. [...] It shouldn't hold together. Yet somehow this frequently ingenious, hilarious contraption does." |
| --Variety |
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Bill of (W)Rights
by Janet Allard, Rebecca Gilman, Jeffrey Hatcher, Syl Jones, et al. |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 80-90 minutes
10 females, 13 males (10-24 actors possible)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
Bill of (W)Rights is a political funhouse growing from a moment in history when self-censorship abounds and the populace is increasingly governed by fear. Nine playwrights offer ten plays, each based on one of the U.S. Constitution's first ten amendments. These pieces focus less on government interference and more on the interpersonal, from a father and daughter facing a criminal trial to the silence of an unfaithful husband "pleading the fifth" to his family -- not to mention a company of actors yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater. The creation of the script, encompassing a diversity of voices and opinions, was itself an act of democracy, demonstrating that theatre can be a voice of revelation and revolution.
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| "Mixed Blood's prescient, potent blend of zeitgeist and bold vision makes Bill of (W)Rights feel like the CNN of theater... The theatrical meditation on the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution is extraordinary in almost every respect." |
| --Dominic Papatola, St. Paul Pioneer Press |
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Drama/Comedy
Short, 40-50 minutes
6 females, 2 males (3-8 actors possible: 2-6 females, 1-2 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
In 1964, three high school valedictorians reflect on the one recent event none of them will ever forget -- the assassination of President Kennedy. In early 2002, a middle school student becomes convinced that Al-Qaida terrorists lurk in the midst of his sleepy small town. And on November 5th, 2008, two young mothers from very different backgrounds consider what Obama's victory means for the future of their children. By turns poignant and funny, this look back on watershed moments in American history is an honest examination of change's immense power.
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| "A wonderful play... it kept our students and faculty captivated." |
| --Anthony Fisher, Drama Club advisor, Lifeskills School (Springfield, OH) |
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Comedy
Short, 25-35 minutes
9 females, 1 male (10 actors possible: 9-10 females, 0-1 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
When five former classmates from a private girls' school attend their fifteen-year reunion, old secrets and conflicts come to light -- thanks to the presence of five additional performers voicing the women's true inner thoughts. At the Punch Bowl delivers a witty and perceptive look at prejudice based on race, weight, appearance, gender, sexual orientation, and social status.
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Comedy
Full-length, 100-120 minutes
3 females, 3 males (6-12 actors possible: 3-6 females, 3-6 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: Each piece in this anthology can be licensed and performed separately.
Incredible Sex is a trio of one-act comedies about love and desire, and the questions men and women face in their twenties. The tone of the plays varies from the deliciously ribald dialogue of Women in Heat, to the touching comic drama of I Didn't Know You Could Cook, to the hilarious fantasy of Mars Needs Women, But Not As Much As Arnold Schecter. (Women in Heat, I Didn't Know You Could Cook, and Mars Needs Women, But Not As Much As Arnold Schecter can also be performed separately.)
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| "Incredible Sex was incredibly funny. Many one-liners and wacky, unpredictable plots. All three one-acts proved to be amusing and enjoyable, causing the audience to laugh out loud fairly frequently. A good time for all." |
| --Off-Off Broadway Review |
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Drama
Short, 10-12 minutes
2 females
$45.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Trapped in an empty Manhattan subway car that's racing uptown, two women -- one an upper-middle-class New Yorker, and one an underclass, homeless New Yorker -- make contact. Their encounter is terrifying, electrifying, and shocking in this thought-provoking exploration of the class clash between a "have" and a "have-not."
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| "Deeply frightening in its threat of great and imminent danger masked behind the mundane, as a women tries to protect herself from the unknown aboard a subway train." |
| --Theater on the Edge |
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Comedy
Full-length, 100-110 minutes
3 females, 4 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
After leaving her cheating husband, Bea discovers, to her horror, that her nice Jewish son Hal has secretly been running a sex shop in London's Soho district. When Hal closes up shop for a two-week holiday, his prudish mum insists upon smartening-up the ramshackle store while he's gone. Afraid to lose sales in the meantime, she finds she has a flare for counseling the lonely customers who wander in -- and for selling them sex toys. Surrounded by edible knickers and blow-up dolls, Bea discovers more about sexuality than she ever wanted to know, which may be just what she needs to save her own troubled marriage.
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| "Len Richmond is London's answer to Neil Simon." |
| --London Theatre Review |
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