One Act Play

February 6, 2006 2:59 PM

Looking for a one-act play that could be put on inexpensively ($50 budget with access to costume/prop storage, excluding lights).

Audience is primarily high school, and it should be around 30 minutes (but can be cut if longer or be shorter). It's for part of a festival with 4 of these plays put on in a row, so I'd like to have something intelligent rather than just junk.
Trouble is a lot of the things I've been reading have enormous casts, special effects or period costumes, or language that wouldn't get past a school board. Any thoughts?

posted by cynthia_rose to media & arts (34 comments total)

Are you looking for any genre in particular? Caryl Churchill and Ionesco both came to mind, but that only works if you're looking for non-naturalistic stuff. (And I haven't read Churchill in a while, so I'm not sure about the language, but she does some very interesting stuff, and has written a lot of shorts.)
posted by occhiblu at 3:09 PM on February 6, 2006

Check out Thornton Wilder's "Pullman Car Hiawatha".

I think this pre-dates "Our Town" and may be his introduction into using the Stage Manager as a character.

It's a fun, interesting and itelligent piece with a minimal set and cast.

Here's a description pulled off of this review of a performance:
In Pullman Car, the Stage Manager sets up the frame narrative of the pullman car with its various berths and occupants. Inset stories about individual travelers unfold, followed by informational segments about midwestern towns and workers. After the philosophers and Planets discourse from the cosmic level (a raised platform) and the two Archangels summon the soul of Harriet, the focus is brought back once more to the concrete and particular. In a no-nonsense ending, the Porter intones, simply, "All out. This train don't go no further" (Collected 59). Throughout, the Stage Manager has functioned as the great conductor of this theatrical concert, a mixture of narrative and music with a minimum of conventional enactment.
posted by ShooBoo at 3:12 PM on February 6, 2006

"The Sandbox" by Edward Albee? It's short and minimalist; as I recall, the only props are a sandbox, a pail and shovel, and a couple of chairs. The cast of characters consists of an old lady, her son and his wife, and a young man in swimming trunks who turns out to be the Angel of Death.
posted by Gator at 3:17 PM on February 6, 2006

I read a play in high school called Sure Thing and loved it. It was a conversation, a guy hitting on a girl in a coffee shop, with every blunder on the way to making a connection triggering a bell, and a redo of the last few seconds of the conversation. I remember it being hilarious, and not too risque (I don't have the text handy, or I'd check).

This is a reference to it.
posted by hototogisu at 3:17 PM on February 6, 2006

Hmm, I just checked wikipedia for Sure Thing's author, David Ives, and it looks like a lot of his work might be appropriate for your set of constraints (though I haven't read any of the rest of it).
posted by hototogisu at 3:22 PM on February 6, 2006

Sure Thing is fun -- I performed in it in college -- but it's *very* short.
posted by occhiblu at 3:23 PM on February 6, 2006

I found an estimate of 15 minutes online--how long is *very* short?
posted by hototogisu at 3:29 PM on February 6, 2006

Well, given that she's asking for 30-minute shorts, a 15-minute short seems *very* short.
posted by occhiblu at 3:36 PM on February 6, 2006

A subset of Einstein's Gift would be awesome.
posted by Kickstart70 at 3:39 PM on February 6, 2006

If you're not worried about the play being by an unpublished playwright, my sister wrote a short that I think would fit your requirements very well.

3 person cast(you could have background actors if you'd like), could be either sex, modern costumes, minimal set(it takes place in a coffee shop), ~20 minutes long, appropriate for the high school audience. If you're interested, let me know, and I'll send it to you.
posted by defenestration at 3:45 PM on February 6, 2006

Small-Cast One-Act Guide Online
posted by frogan at 4:10 PM on February 6, 2006

Once upon a Playground, by Jack Frakes

An abstract portrayal of children on a playground trying to destroy one girl that they claim has a funny nose. Each of the children reveals their own insecurity in the process. Brutal and creative and touching. I directed it a while back and it really touched a nerve with both cast and audiences.
posted by hermitosis at 4:14 PM on February 6, 2006

Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit" is a respected one-act play that requires little to put on. It may be too long, however.
posted by davidriley at 4:17 PM on February 6, 2006

"The Shawl" by David Mamet, would be a wonderful play for Highschoolers. It's about a (possible con-artist) pyschic and his attempts to help/dupe a grieving woman. Just three characters. I directed it years ago, and the set was two chairs.
posted by grumblebee at 4:27 PM on February 6, 2006

Let me highly recommend The Insanity of Mary Girard. I directed this once with an extremely minimal set. Black boxes and a chair with a box attatched to it. The costuming can also be very cheap. I imagine the who thing could be done for free really. High School students would love a lot of the interesting blocking and the way dialog is read by the "Furies".
posted by ozomatli at 4:33 PM on February 6, 2006

In high school, our completely student run, very low budget troupe performed (and won!) at the Maine State Drama Festival with a nifty little one act called Hard Candy. It's snappily paced, VERY funny, and really allows for some creative acting and expression. There are 11 parts, but fewer actors could have multiple roles (although there is one character that remains on stage throughout, and is an almost entirely physical role), and genders are flexible.

With a little brainstorming, each performer provided their costuming from their own closets, and we borrowed all our props from classrooms (minimum two desks, three chairs, and some office supplies). One unusual item is a credit card reader, which we emulated about 30 minutes before the judged performance from two T1-83 graphing calculators. I don't think we had to ask for more than $50 for props and so on, and that included purchasing a copy for the royalties!

From the link above, here almost a complete script you can review (honestly, it's missing just the last 2-3 pages, BUT you need those very much), so take a look! It really is one of my favorite plays I've ever been involved in.

As a side note, I've also performed Sure Thing, which was mentioned above, and have a copy of the script scanned on my computer, which I could send you to look over. It is quite short, 15-minutes tops. It actually comes from a collection of 14 short plays called All in the Timing, I'd really recommend picking up a copy, they are all very clever and quick plays.
posted by nelleish at 4:38 PM on February 6, 2006

Anyone remember how long Pinter's "The Dumbwaiter" is? And you can always get creative with sets -- back in school, I recall many productions that used only the barest of boxes and tables and such to suggest the place. Really, if you aren't putting on a farce that requires ten doors on stage that all have to slam with appropriate thunder every other second, you should be able to put on most one-acts for cheap.

On preview:
posted by incessant at 4:43 PM on February 6, 2006

(like I was saying) On Preview: Insanity of Mary Girard is also a solid idea.
posted by incessant at 4:43 PM on February 6, 2006

I saw Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread by David Ives done by a high school and I loved it. It was clever, short, very original, and I think it has a cast of 4. So I'm sure anything by David Ives would be good to look at.
posted by eleyna at 4:46 PM on February 6, 2006

Oh, speaking of Pinter, I'm currently producing a Pinter one-act called "A Kind of Alaska." It's short, simple to stage, and the cast is just one man and two women. It's based on Oliver Sacks book "Awakenings."
posted by grumblebee at 4:50 PM on February 6, 2006

Albee's "The Zoo Story." You only need a bench, IIRC.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:05 PM on February 6, 2006

I think there are also some Durang one-acts that can be put on cheaply, and those bad boys always get a good laugh.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:06 PM on February 6, 2006

I've never seen "The Dumb Waiter" performed, but I read it several years ago and it would probably be a good choice, except (possibly) for the fact that it's got a lot of Britishness to it. I've always been more than a bit of an Angophile, so even when I was a kid that sort of thing didn't phase me, but for contemporary American teens it might be something to keep in mind, though I'm a firm believer that we should all be exposed to the slang and common phraseology of other countries as much as possible. (I'm guessing from the OP's brief MeFi history that she's in America, though I may be wrong.)
posted by Gator at 5:11 PM on February 6, 2006

I saw Anton Chekov's The Boor in high school and it stuck with me for many a year. I'm sure it was done for a lot less than fifty bucks.
posted by Staggering Jack at 5:30 PM on February 6, 2006

Another for Albee's "Sandbox". Don't forget the clarinet player (what a fun part to play!)
posted by notsnot at 6:21 PM on February 6, 2006

If you're trying to do things legally, it's VERY hard to get performance rights to Albee's plays. At least in NYC. Maybe he's more generous with the rest of the country.
posted by grumblebee at 7:04 PM on February 6, 2006

Might be difficult to get the rights, but I love Sam Shepard's short plays, particularly Red Cross and Icarus's Mother. Sparse, smart, and very cool.
posted by milquetoast at 7:23 PM on February 6, 2006

With regards to low-budget, you can always make a statement by minimalizing the sets/costumes. As long as you're careful that the statement is "we're artistic" and not "we're flat broke", you'll do OK. I've seen a play done with the set being all plain brown packing boxes set at odd angles to create interesting light, shadow and tone.
posted by plinth at 7:31 PM on February 6, 2006

"Tuna Fish Eulogy" is super cool once you figure out the script, it's a bit tricky. Minimal set/costume requirements.
posted by stray at 9:12 PM on February 6, 2006

I've directed a high school performance of Nobody Famous. The play's free if it's for educational purposes, all he requires is credit (more info on the site). Required very little funding for costumes and stage areas. Has an equal mix of boys and girls - 3 of each. Lasts around half an hour, I believe, maybe a bit longer. The performance went without a hitch, and the actor/trices enjoyed learning it. Definatly worth looking at!
posted by Meagan at 9:17 PM on February 6, 2006

Would some monologues hit the spot?

When I first read the question, the first thing that popped into my head was Talking Heads. The one I remember best is Maggie Smith as a vicar's wife; the whole thing takes place in her kitchen if I recall correctly.
posted by d-no at 1:18 AM on February 7, 2006

I've checked out a lot of the Ives (All in the Timing was performed last year, so it's out). Hard Candy was also done fairly recently (and was one of the best in the festival... it is hilarious). Durang is hard because he's either short or truly bad boy.
But I'll be reading! Thanks.
posted by cynthia_rose at 8:31 PM on February 8, 2006

Wil Denson's Welcome to Carnie. Powerful one-act I did as a young teen about teenage suicide. At least, I remember it being good.
posted by WCityMike at 8:26 PM on February 12, 2006

An excellent one to consider is "This is A Play" by Daniel MacIvor. It is a play within a play, about a play. There are 3 characters - 2 female, 1 male - and no set. I did this one last year for the Ontario drama competition and my total production costs were $17. It is challenging for actors to do but is loved by audiences. The running time is 40 minutes.

Also by MacIvor is "Never Swim Alone". It is for 2 males and a female, has a few set requirements (a wooden lifeguard chair) and is REALLY challenging for actors. The 2 male actors must be syncronized for most of the show. It is about 2 childhood friends who experience a traumatic event. That event shapes who they become - 2 totally different men. Now they are being judged to determine who has become the better man. It is a comedy, but a dark comedy. This one also runs about 40 minutes and has a huge WOW factor to it.
posted by canuckgirl444 at 2:25 PM on February 23, 2006