NOVEMBER PRODUCTIONS

NOVEMBER PRODUCTIONS:

NOVEMBER 1:
THE ADVENTURES OF ROSE RED (SNOW WHITE’S LESS FAMOUS SISTER) – Primghar Community Playhouse and Sandburg Middle School Drama
HORROR HIGH – Hammond Central School, Hammond NY
DRACULA’S DAUGHTERS: A FAMILY COMEDY – Kankakee H.S., Kankakee IL

NOVEMBER 2:
ELEVATOR GAMES – Madrid Community Schools, Madrid IA

NOVEMBER 5:
EXPOSED! EIGHT 10-MINUTE TALES ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED – John Muir Middle School, Burbank IL

NOVEMBER 6:
HISTORICALLY BAD FIRST DATES – South Hills High School, Fort Worth TX and Briarwood Academy, Warrenton GA (Take state!)

NOVEMBER 20:
HISTORICALLY BAD FIRST DATES – Sacred Heart School, Falls City NE

PRODUCTIONS FOR OCTOBER

Hey everyone! October and November are going to be busy months! Check out the productions for October below…

ADVENTURES OF ROSE RED (SNOW WHITE’S LESS-FAMOUS SISTER):
Mt. Vernon-Lisbon Community Theatre, Mt. Vernon, IA

BAD SUBSTITUTE:
South Carleton High School, Richmond, ON Canada

ELEVATOR GAMES:
STARS Tucson, AZ

EXPOSED! EIGHT 10-MINUTE SCENES ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Wester Middle School, Frisco TX

HORROR HIGH:
Sugar Creek Players Crawfordsville, IN

HISTORICALLY BAD FIRST DATES:
Briarwood Academy Warrenton , GA

RISE OF THE HOUSE OF USHER:
Soledad High School Soledad, CA

JULY UPDATE

We’ve been crazy busy here at Plays To Order since the last update. Tomorrow will be the world premiere of our newest musical, HORRIBLE SHAKESPEARE: A MINI-MUSICAL, at the Tri-Dac Summer Theater Program in Columbia, SC. This is a really fun musical about a group of AP English students who are trapped in the Horrible Productions of Shakespeare’s Plays Museum. As they check out the various exhibits for Horrible Shakespeare Past, they are magically transformed into the characters from each display – The Scottish Play set in a fast food restaurant; “Taming of the Shrew” starring a real shrew; “Romeo Mime vs. Juliet Clown”; and “Twelfth Night of the Living Dead.” Clocking in at 30 minutes, HORRIBLE SHAKESPEARE features 6 songs with music by Ryan O’Connell (who also composed HORROR HIGH: THE MUSICAL), and lyrics by Ryan and Sean. This is a perfect musical for festivals – 30 minutes, plus zombies!

We also had our world premiere of WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF…? SIX 10-MINUTE PLAYS OF IMPROBABILITY. Kankakee High School in IL, under the direction of Deena Badr-Cassady, mounted the very first production of this weird and funny collection of short plays.

And, finally, just a few weeks ago, “Dr. Jekyll and Little Miss Hyde,” one of the short plays in EXPOSED! EIGHT 10-MINUTE PLAYS ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED, premiered at the 10 By 10 in the Triangle International 10-minute play festival in NC. A couple of reviews:

“Mark Filiaci directs Dr. Jekyll and Little Miss Hyde by Sean Abley, a take off of Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep, in which two people play several parts, including both genders for each actor. In Ludlam’s play the two actors must of the same gender, but Abley twists the gender-changing one step further by using a man and a woman. And the humor/drama is enhanced by having the changes occur behind a Wayang style white screen. Owen Daly and Leanne Heinz camp it up beautifully; pay particular notice to Daly’s “problem” when he changes back to male roles.”

“Of the night’s offerings, the seed-play most in need of expansion as a full-length work was “Dr. Jekyll and Little Miss Hyde.” In this rewarding gender-role comedy, playwright Sean Abley gives the Robert Louis Stevenson potboiler the Charles Ludlam (Irma Vep) treatment, assigning multiple roles across gender to two actors. Abley’s witty writing hinges on the definitions of monstrous behavior that differed substantially for men and women in Victorian England—before connecting Stevenson’s “horror” to the rise of the suffragettes.”

“Judging by the reactions, the favorite of the evening was “Dr. Jekyll and Little Miss Hyde”; the laughter and applause meter peaked for this entertaining little examination of Victorian mores.”

PRINCESS INCHWORM MEASURES THE OCEAN

Princess InchwormTheater for Young Audiences Comedy
Short, 45 minutes
3 females, 2 males, 4-6 either, 9-11 total cast, extras possible

In the Kingdom of the Overgrown Field, Princess Inchworm is keen to use her inch-by-inch measuring skills to find out just how large the ocean is. But her father, King Inchworm, wants her to give up her on her adventures and marry Prince Dandy Longlegs, from the Kingdom of the Dusty Old Barn. “You’re two months old! It’s time to get married and prepare to be the new Queen!” The princess is determined to show her father, and the rest of the world, that she doesn’t have to be married, and definitely doesn’t have to give up adventuring, to be a good queen. With bright, colorful characters and tons of audience participation, PRINCESS INCHWORM MEASURES THE OCEAN is the perfect play for young audiences (and their parents!) Click here to read an excerpt, order copies or license a production!

HORROR HIGH: THE MUSICAL!

Comedy
Running Time: 90 minutes
9 females, 8 males, 17 total cast, unlimited chorus

Book by Sean Abley
Lyrics by Sean Abley and Amy Seeley
Music by Ryan O’Connell

Based on one of our most popular comedies, HORROR HIGH: THE MUSICAL takes all of those horror film icons of long ago – Frankenstein, the Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc. – and transforms them into high school teenagers in their senior year at Horror High School. Will Georgia the Zombie stop eating brains long enough to realize her Bigfoot boyfriend is unhappy on the football team? Will Blair the Witch be able to convince Victor Frankenstein that his monster isn’t just a bunch of used parts? Will Nosferata the Vegetarian Vampire and Larry the Wolf ever be able to convince their parents a “mixed” relationship is okay? And will Miss Medusa, the computer teacher, be able to keep her sunglasses on without turning the entire student body to stone? Sixteen classic monsters make up the faculty and student body of HORROR HIGH! Click to read a sample, listen to the music demo, order a copy or get the performance rights!

TWO-FACED: A TRAGEDY…SORT OF

Comedy
Short, 35 minutes
3 females, 4 males, 14 either, 21 total cast, plus Greek chorus (any size) and extras possible

Mary Whatsername isn’t popular or unpopular. She’s just invisible. Now it’s her senior year, and Mary is determined to make her mark on Generic High School in Your Town, USA. Through sheer force of will she manages to get on both the cheer squad and the mathletes team. But trouble is just around the corner when she’s expected to cheer on the mathletes at the state Demathalon. Using the conventions of Greek tragedy, TWO-FACED is the perfect comedy for schools looking for scripts with almost two dozen great roles for girls. The length is also perfect for festivals and conventions. Click here to read an excerpt, order copies or license a production!

REEFER MADNESS

Comedy
Full length two-act
6 females, 8 males
(11-30 actors possible: 5-10 females, 6-22 males)

Bill, Mary, Gwen, and Jimmy are all swell kids. They listen to their parents, do well in school, and help out around the community — that is, until they get caught up in the marijuana subculture. With “Mary Jane” filling their lungs, these kids resort to theft, prostitution, and murder to satisfy their cravings, which leads to suicide and death sentences. Is one puff really too much? A hilarious send-up of the 1936 exploitation film, now a cult classic. Click here to read a sample or order a copy!

BITCHES

Comedy
Full length two-act
12 males
(12-24 actors possible)

Bitches is a unique comedy in that all the roles are women … all played by men

As she enters her senior year, Sindee Sandstone rules Susan B. Anthony High School. So when newcomer Angelatina Vindechi takes her place on the cheerleading squad, relegating the queen bee to dreaded “alternate” status, Sindee vows revenge. Driven by her overbearing mother, Charlene, Sindee coerces her fellow cheerleader Carmelle into killing Angelatina. Local talk show host, Paula DeMarcato, catches wind of the scandal and descends upon Tubbville to cover the story with tragic (and by tragic, we mean hilarious) results.

Click here to order copies!
Click here to read a free sample!

ATTACK OF THE KILLER B’s

Comedy
Long, one-act 60 minutes
5 females, 8 males, 4 either
15+ cast, more or less with doubling, very gender flexible

While visiting their mother’s grave in the cemetery, Glen and Barbara are attacked by the dead risen from the grave to feast upon the living. Glen is killed, but that doesn’t stop him from coming back as a zombie to rescue his sister and flee Night of the Living Dead come to life. From Reefer Madness to Glen or Glenda, from Friday the 13th to Nightmare on Elm Street, from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Barbara and Glen battle their way from one B-movie menace to the next. Will they survive?
Click to read a sample or order a copy!

HISTORICALLY BAD FIRST DATES

Comedy
Short, 45 minutes
12 males, 10 females, 9 either (10-31 possible, 4-12 males, 4-10 females, 2-9 either)

Jenna and Achilles find themselves trapped in the Millennium Relationships Services offices located at the end of the Universe. With no memory of how they got there, and no knowledge of each other, the two confused singles are shown bad first dates throughout history – Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth and Latonya (Lady) Macbeth, George Washington and Martha, Frankenstein’s Monster and the soon-to-be Bride of the Monster, and Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty. These horrible first impressions are examples of what not to do, and Jenna and Achilles are expected to learn from them before they’re sent out on their “assignment.” (NOTE: This play contains stand-alone scenes perfect for drama festivals and competitions.) Click to read a sample or order a copy!