Plays for All Year

65 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 boy

Lillie Scones is a sweet retired nanny who runs a boarding house with one resident and "a cat the size of the Louisiana Purchase." Her two friends, Jocelyn and Carmella, help to pass the time by listening to music and gossiping. Then Stuart, an old charge of hers, rents a room. Lillie is tickled to have him around again, not knowing he is planning on robbing the bank on the corner. Stuart's mind may not be totally on the bank job, however, when he meets Betty. However, when Stuart finds out that Betty is about to graduate from an academy on the very night the...

68 pages

4 m, 5 w

This zany comedy, in the spirit of Kaufman and Hart, centers on Doc, an eccentric old man whose house caters to all sorts of characters. Now a retired judge, he spends his days “enjoying life.” When he’s not flying around the countryside in his balloon or fishing in a nearby dry riverbed, he works on his books of nonsense. This prompts his daughter, Charlotte, to decide he’s lost his marbles. So, conspiring with a sly lawyer, she plans to not only become his guardian but also sell his house and property. Throw in a psychologist on her first case, love sick te...

56 pages

2 m, 2 w, 2 flexible, extras

47 pages

4 m, 5 w, 8 flexible

This stage adaptation of Frank Baum’s original story is perfect for churches and Christian schools. Dorothy, a teenager in Kansas, just isn’t interested in church anymore. In fact, she’s trying to determine what she really believes. Then in a dream, she finds she has been sent by God to a strange land, Oz, to be a missionary. Convinced she cannot accomplish the task, she is encouraged by Glinda the Good to seek the assistance of the Great Missionary in the Emerald City. On the way, she encounters three familiar characters who are also failed missionaries beca...

76 pages

5 m, 6 w

In this serious drama, the fairy-tale world is under a curse: Sleeping Beauty has insomnia, Snow White is on the verge of insanity, and Cinderella has lost her faith in magic. These and other fairy-tale characters have gathered in a castle for protection from a dragon which threatens to bring their "ever after" to an unhappy end. Into the midst of their despair steps a mysterious knight. The castle is divided: some think the knight will slay the dragon others doubt salvation is possible. The action builds to a final, climactic battle between the forces of goo...

64 pages

5 m, 14 w, 1 flexible part

If you're ready for some hard-nosed action, spying, deceit involving a stolen painting, a shady real estate deal, and an auto repair shop that's more a chop shop, stop in at the convent of St. Fermilda. The Sisters of Faith, Hope, and Charity are in the midst of all kinds of intrigue and they're not even sure how they got there! But don't think because they took vows of reverence and poverty that they'll let some hard-nosed hoods get the best of them. After all, the Sisters have work to do for the poor in this rundown neighborhood, and they're bound and deter...

52 pages

17 roles (minimum 4 m, 3w)

Here's a contemporary and comedic interpretation of the allegorical story of a man who learns he must prepare to meet his Maker, and then does! As his doom approaches, Everyman discovers that family, friends and fortune cannot accompany him, and that even strength, beauty, intellect and emotion are no match for the Grim Reaper; yet faith, hope and charity prevail. This timeless tale is especially intended for groups ready to move beyond religious skits and homily dramas to do something more challenging, less preachy, and more theatrical. And did we say funny?...

74 pages

8 m, 8 w, 2 flexible

All the fun and nostalgia of the '50s make this play a winner! Judy Harding's life as a 16-year-old isn't too sweet right now. Her dad can't find the money to fix up the family's soda shop; her older brother is flunking out of school; and her younger brother has retreated into a fantasy world of comic book superheroes since their mom died. To add to the dilemma, Judy has a major crush on a new student who's a mysterious loner. Enter Angela, a bumbling angel-in-training who must earn her halo by helping the Hardings. But when the shop is hit first by a fire an...

36 pages

3 m, 3 w

Amy Westmond and her husband Floyd, along with his brother and father who comprise a country music group, return to Amy’s home church. They reminisce and catch up on the gossip with Marie, the church’s housekeeper, and Betty, the choir director, who inspired Amy earlier but now seems to have somewhat of an attitude. The Westmonds are told that a search committee will be there for the evening hymn-sing to try to lure the church’s beloved pastor away. With the unseen organist who communicates through charades, they form a plan—a fake pastor and fake service! Ll...

38 pages

Cast: 3 m, 3 w with doubling or 4 m, 4 w, guest acts optional.

The year is 1960. “The Piety Variety Gospel Show” is a locally televised religious program that blesses folks between church services with music, religious news, and much more. But now the host, Brother Shelby Greene, faces a crisis. With new regulations that require him to start paying for his airtime, how will he raise the money and stay true to his calling? This is a comic tale about becoming a televangelist when selling religious items, having nice hair, and asking for money on air was something new. A singing quartet performs ten well-known hymns, and th...

48 pages

3 m, 3 w

In this play, six witnesses to the Sermon on the Mount recreate the experience for an early assembly of Christians. In the recreation, witnesses take turns acting as Jesus, audience members, and narrators of the story. Though much more entertaining and humorous than most translations of the Sermon, Jesus’s words in this version closely follow the original Greek in the order that He spoke them. This word order demonstrates the warmth and cleverness that Jesus used to draw people into His message. This allows audiences today to hear these words in an exciting n...

56 pages

3 m, 2 w

Buck Howard is a successful author but his personal life has been marred by the loss of his wife. Howard blames God for this tragedy. He also begins to blame God for every minor ache and pain that comes along. Finally, God decides to confront Howard and visits him in the form of a dapper little man who is somewhat of a klutz. Everything he does seems to turn out wrong and the audience is left wondering just what kind of Deity this is. But is he the stumble john that he appears to be or is it all an act? This very funny play says something important about how ...

72 pages

6 m, 5 w

Early morning July 1, 1863. Gettysburg, Pa. As thousands of troops from both North and South amass for what will become one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, five teenagers from several local farms escape to the safety of the surrounding hills. There's the level-headed Eliza and her little sister, Justine, who's strong-willed; Georgina, whose mother has sheared her hair to make her look like a boy; and Rachel and Jeremiah, a brother and sister from a wealthier family. As they witness the horrors of battle over the next three days, the teens are force...

56 pages

5 m, 6 w, 1 girl, optional Piano Player

Four strangers arrive in the little western town of Larrabie, Texas. One is a gunslinger looking for the man who shot his pa, another is a gambler looking for some action, the next is a snake oil salesman who promises to have anything anyone could ever need, and lastly is a preacher who offers the word of God. What follows is one of the most curious bets the gambler has ever seen, pitting the salesman against the preacher in a high-stakes game where lives – and souls – are on the line. With a loveable bunch of characters, from Liza, the soiled dove, to Old Su...

51 pages

14 m, 1 w, 1 child (can be doubled to 10 actors)

The play tells the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who led the resistance to Hitler in the German church. Narrated by his friend Eberhard Bethge, the play follows Bonhoeffer from his early years as a seminary professor, to leading his students to organize an underground seminary and distribute clandestine anti-Nazi literature, and finally to his joining the secret unit of German military intelligence plotting the death of Hitler. Arrested by the Gestapo, Bonhoeffer is sent to prison, where he is visited by relatives and his fiancée in a poignant scene. In a poetic chorus, his...