Some of my plays are particularly appropriate for youth audiences, including my Christmas comedies.
THE TROLLS WHO STOLE THE NORTH POLE
5 M, 4 F, 2 flexible
Comedy
Running time 30 minutes
Will Santa be able to make toys this year to give to kids around the world?
Perhaps not. It’s just days until Christmas when two trolls divert a shipment of toy supplies destined for Santa’s toy factory at the North Pole to their troll toy factory at the South Pole.
It’s all part of the troll’s scheme to manufacture toys and sell them at inflated prices. But when Santa discovers the trolls’ devious plan. He sends Mrs. Claus, a reindeer, and two elves to the South Pole to retrieve the stolen toy supplies and bring them back in time to make toys for Christmas. This interactive show is great fun for children and audience members can get in on the fun by guessing Mrs. Claus’ first name.
Published by Big Dog Publishing (www.bigdog.com), and Norman Maine Publishing (www.normanmaine.com).
This play has been performed to mostly children audiences.
TROLLS STOLE THE NORTH POLE
Will Santa be able to make toys this year to give to kids around the world?
Perhaps not. It’s just days until Christmas when two trolls divert a shipment of toy supplies destined for Santa’s toy factory at the North Pole to their troll toy factory at the South Pole. It’s all part of the trolls’ scheme to manufacture toys and sell them at inflated prices. But when Santa discovers the devious plan, he sends Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, and two elves to the South Pole to retrieve the stolen supplies and bring them back in time to make toys for Christmas. Will they be successful? Or will most kids on Earth have to do without toys this Christmas?
This screenplay contains 19 wonderful catchy songs.
SPACENAPPED SANTA
3 M, 3 F, 3 of either gender, optional extras
Comedy
Running time 30 minutes
Santa, on a test drive with his sleigh, is spacenapped to the planet Plantania. Will children on Earth find toys under the tree this Christmas?
It’s Christmas Eve and on the planet Plantania an alien scientist, Gar, has unveiled his newest invention, a giant magnet. But a power-hungry alien, Fisthead, steals the magnet and points it to the sky at the exact time Santa is test-driving his sleigh. Santa becomes caught in the powerful magnetic pull and forced to land on Plantania, where he discovers he has been spacenapped, along with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Not only does the selfish Fisthead take all the Easter Bunny’s eggs and make them into egg salad, but he steals Santa’s toys so that he can be the most popular alien on the planet.
Published by Big Dog Publishing (www.bigdog.com), and Norman Maine Publishing (www.normanmaine.com).
This play has been performed several times to mostly children audiences.
CAREER DAY:
5 M, 3 F, 6 flexible, extras optional
Comedy
A high school auditorium
Running time 75 minutes
Hilarity abounds when ten wacky guest speakers arrive at Greenwood High’s Career Day to educate students about the “thrilling” job opportunities that await them.
There’s a plastic surgeon, a garbage man, a historian, a homemaker, a French dry cleaner, a hangman, a philosopher, a lifeguard, an orthodontist, and a circus worker. And to add to the Career Day excitement the assistant principal performs her own unusual brand of stand-up comedy, and the school’s ditzy cheer coach demonstrates with zeal her cheerleading skills. All this takes place while the mystery of who is tagging the school with graffiti remains unsolved.
The play utilizes a series of monologues, giving many actors an opportunity to “take the stage”. It is easy to produce and requires only chairs for staging.
Published by Big Dog Publishing (www.bigdog.com)
Performed at various schools.
FLOWERS FOR ADAM
2 F
Comedy
A streetcorner
Running time 12 minutes
Two young women meet at a street corner shrine for Adam, each claiming she was Adam’s true girlfriend.
Two young women, students in high school or college, show up at the street corner shrine. The corner, replete with flowers, is where Adam has been killed, hit by a car while he was trying to escort a blind girl across the street. One woman is a cheerleader, the other more studious. Each woman believes she was Adam’s girlfriend.
Finalist in the Secret Rose 10-minute Play Contest.
JOE CARBONE’S JOB
6 M, 6 F, and 3 either gender.
Comedy
A coffeehouse setting
1 hour, 40 minutes
Wackiness ensues when the owner of a chicken slaughterhouse meets up with the vegetarian owner of a coffeehouse.
Joe Carbone, the owner of a chicken slaughterhouse, feels guilty about what he does and thinks about changing his profession. To help him decide he takes a job as a waiter at Angie’s Coffeehouse, where he meets people in varied occupations and learns what their jobs are like. Meanwhile, he and Angie are strongly attracted to each other, but she is a vegetarian, and he still owns the chicken slaughterhouse.
Performed at the NoHo Actors Studio, North Hollywood, California, as well as several other theaters across the country, including schools.
Published by Big Dog Publishing (www.bigdog.com), and Norman Maine Publishing (www.normanmaine.com).
THE BILLY CHRONICLES:
2 M, 2F, and 4-8 flexible
Comedy
Black box set
Running time 1 hour 40 minutes
In this whimsical play, 17 year old high school junior Billy Harrington, clean-cut, smart, popular, and captain of the school Huckle-Buckle team, learns that his girlfriend Joannie is pregnant.
As Billy works through how to handle the problem of his girlfriend being pregnant, he reflects on events in different years of his life, from age 2 to 16. The play interweaves Billy in the present with Billy in the past, as he remembers events such as his second birthday, or the time he had an imaginary friend named Pumpkin, or when he had painful boils on his butt, or when he got lost at the shopping mall, or when he befriended an old man who wanted Billy to take him places he could not travel to himself.
A few actors play the same role throughout. All other actors play multiple roles at the discretion of the director.
CASEY WANTS TO VOTE
1 male, 1 female, 1 child (11) any gender
Dramedy
Living room or dining room
Running time 10 minutes
An 11 year old wants to be able to vote on Election Day. The parents try to supply reasons why their child should not be able to do so.
SWORDFIGHTS OF THE CARIBBEAN
3 males, including an 8 year-old
Comedy
Child bedroom
Running time 5 minutes
A child who doesn’t think the book ‘Swordfights of the Caribbean’ is real wakes up to a bad pirate who wants to capture his parents and make them walk the plank unless the boy can beat him in a swordfight.