Short plays for a very small theater company?
August 14, 2013 4:36 PM Subscribe
What are some great, dramatic, one- or two-act plays that work with three or fewer actors and require minimal stagecraft?
It's been a very long time since I've read any new(ish) plays, so I'm thinking I'm far behind on what the good possibilities are ... but myself and two friends are interested in putting on some live performances for some small local crowds, and I'm looking for great and compelling plays that involve one, two or three actors; as few props and backdrops as possible; and an emphasis on the strength of the performances and the story rather than the visuals.
I'm a David Mamet fan, and a fan of clear and concise language. What are some titles I should read up on?
It's been a very long time since I've read any new(ish) plays, so I'm thinking I'm far behind on what the good possibilities are ... but myself and two friends are interested in putting on some live performances for some small local crowds, and I'm looking for great and compelling plays that involve one, two or three actors; as few props and backdrops as possible; and an emphasis on the strength of the performances and the story rather than the visuals.
I'm a David Mamet fan, and a fan of clear and concise language. What are some titles I should read up on?
David Ives's All in the Timing is six short plays (with two or three actors each) that require minimal or no staging ... a cafe table and two chairs will do it for most of them if you want to get fancy. They all involve wordplay, though, and some can be tricky to deliver well.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:43 PM on August 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:43 PM on August 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
Waiting for Godot
Educating Rita
Shirley Valentine
Irma Vep
American Buffalo
The Woman In Black
Scotland Road
Three Days of Rain
The Woodsman
posted by xingcat at 4:47 PM on August 14, 2013
Educating Rita
Shirley Valentine
Irma Vep
American Buffalo
The Woman In Black
Scotland Road
Three Days of Rain
The Woodsman
posted by xingcat at 4:47 PM on August 14, 2013
Other things that have occurred to me:
Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth.
Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (if one of you can bring the heat).
Sam Shepard's Cowboy Mouth is from '71, but still great. One actor's supposed to have a lobster costume on, but suspension of disbelief and all that, y'know.
posted by davidjmcgee at 4:49 PM on August 14, 2013
Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth.
Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (if one of you can bring the heat).
Sam Shepard's Cowboy Mouth is from '71, but still great. One actor's supposed to have a lobster costume on, but suspension of disbelief and all that, y'know.
posted by davidjmcgee at 4:49 PM on August 14, 2013
Seconding Sam Shepard. My favorite is Action, which has four actors, but I'm biased. Another favorite, 4-H Club, has three actors, if I recall correctly. Really, there's a wonderful treasure trove of one acts in Shepard's pantheon.
Note also that Cowboy Mouth reportedly was co-written with Patti Smith, as a conversation between the two on a shared typewriter.
posted by janey47 at 5:09 PM on August 14, 2013
Note also that Cowboy Mouth reportedly was co-written with Patti Smith, as a conversation between the two on a shared typewriter.
posted by janey47 at 5:09 PM on August 14, 2013
Nicholson, The Retreat from Moscow (2M 1W)
Mamet, Oleanna (1M 1W)
Norman, 'Night, Mother (2W)
Reza, 'Art' (3M)
Sweet, The Value of Names (2M 1W)
posted by graymouser at 5:51 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Mamet, Oleanna (1M 1W)
Norman, 'Night, Mother (2W)
Reza, 'Art' (3M)
Sweet, The Value of Names (2M 1W)
posted by graymouser at 5:51 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Talley's Folly. It's 97 minutes long with no intermission (That's actually mentioned at the begininning of the play) and while it's set in a boathouse, you could have as realistic or as minimal a set as you wanted; one of the two characters describes everything at the beginning so the audience can picture it. (He's telling the audience the story of how he fell in love, then it cuts to the main play which is set in his past.)
posted by Weeping_angel at 6:20 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Weeping_angel at 6:20 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Some recent two-handers:
Venus In Fur, David Ives
Red, John Logan
This Wide Night, Chloe Moss
A Steady Rain, Keith Huff
Collected Stories, Donald Marguiles
The Four of Us, Itamar Moses
Blackbird, Adam Rapp
In On It, Daniel MacIvor (he has a few small-cast plays, if you like that one)
If you do musicals, you could do The Last Five Years (Jason Robert Brown)
Not new (more than ten years out):
Radio: 30, Chris Earle (one actor offstage)
The Gin Game is a two-hander and Pulitzer Prize-winner.
You could always do Ionesco's The Lesson and/or The Chairs.
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Terrence McNally
Painting Churches, Tina Howe (3)
Salt-Water Moon, David French
Three actors:
Port Authority, Conor McPherson (too bad his Shining City is four actors)
The Drawer Boy, Michael Healey
The Baltimore Waltz, Paula Vogel
One actor:
Thom Pain, Will Eno
I Am My Own Wife, Doug Wright
I, Claudia, Kristen Thomson
Shape of a Girl, Joan MacLeod
Caryl Churchill has some small-cast plays, but you have to like Caryl Churchill. You don't say if there's a specific race/gender distribution, so I'll mention Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks just in case. I imagine you're not looking for any one-man bio-plays like Thurgood, Ann, I'll Eat You Last, or The Year of Magical Thinking, but there are plenty out there to search for if you want to go that route.
Anyway, I feel like I have a bunch more on the tip of my tongue, but that will have to do for now.
posted by ilana at 1:41 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Venus In Fur, David Ives
Red, John Logan
This Wide Night, Chloe Moss
A Steady Rain, Keith Huff
Collected Stories, Donald Marguiles
The Four of Us, Itamar Moses
Blackbird, Adam Rapp
In On It, Daniel MacIvor (he has a few small-cast plays, if you like that one)
If you do musicals, you could do The Last Five Years (Jason Robert Brown)
Not new (more than ten years out):
Radio: 30, Chris Earle (one actor offstage)
The Gin Game is a two-hander and Pulitzer Prize-winner.
You could always do Ionesco's The Lesson and/or The Chairs.
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Terrence McNally
Painting Churches, Tina Howe (3)
Salt-Water Moon, David French
Three actors:
Port Authority, Conor McPherson (too bad his Shining City is four actors)
The Drawer Boy, Michael Healey
The Baltimore Waltz, Paula Vogel
One actor:
Thom Pain, Will Eno
I Am My Own Wife, Doug Wright
I, Claudia, Kristen Thomson
Shape of a Girl, Joan MacLeod
Caryl Churchill has some small-cast plays, but you have to like Caryl Churchill. You don't say if there's a specific race/gender distribution, so I'll mention Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks just in case. I imagine you're not looking for any one-man bio-plays like Thurgood, Ann, I'll Eat You Last, or The Year of Magical Thinking, but there are plenty out there to search for if you want to go that route.
Anyway, I feel like I have a bunch more on the tip of my tongue, but that will have to do for now.
posted by ilana at 1:41 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
A local group around here just finished The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), using three male actors. It was hysterical.
posted by MeiraV at 8:01 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by MeiraV at 8:01 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hello Out There!
...is a one-act play by the Armenian-American playwright William Saroyan written early in August 1941.
Old, but not dated. Two people, one setting (a jail cell).
posted by mule98J at 9:20 AM on August 15, 2013
...is a one-act play by the Armenian-American playwright William Saroyan written early in August 1941.
Old, but not dated. Two people, one setting (a jail cell).
posted by mule98J at 9:20 AM on August 15, 2013
Duck Variations by David Mamet is an intersting two person one-act.
It's often performed as the second act when the first act is Sexual Perversity in Chicago.
posted by wittgenstein at 12:42 PM on August 15, 2013
It's often performed as the second act when the first act is Sexual Perversity in Chicago.
posted by wittgenstein at 12:42 PM on August 15, 2013
Thirding the David Ives. If you've got a man and a woman with good timing "Sure Thing" is hysterical.
posted by dlugoczaj at 11:05 AM on August 16, 2013
posted by dlugoczaj at 11:05 AM on August 16, 2013
I'm late to this thread, but Laughing Wild by Christopher Durang is one of my favorites.
posted by solipsism at 10:25 AM on August 18, 2013
posted by solipsism at 10:25 AM on August 18, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by davidjmcgee at 4:37 PM on August 14, 2013