Any good ideas for a high school play production?

Question

Looking for a good high school play to perform with minimal set and a good number of parts. I know its a tall order.... that's why I'm asking for help. I have lots of time to prepare so that isn't an issue I just can't come up with any ideas. Any suggestions would be stellar. Thanks!

Answer 1

Dearly Departed is a hilarious play...did that my 11th grade year
Cinderella Waltz is also a great one, but you'll definitely have to edit it for content...we took that play all the way to the competition right before state

Some other ideas...

Into the Woods
The Would-Be Gentleman
Arsenic and Old Lace
Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead
Children of a Lesser God (this play is AWESOME, my favorite, by far)

Answer 2

Almost anything Shakespeare can be done with very minimal set. There are also no royalties to deal with. Try doing an updated Hamlet, or Macbeth, or Othello. You can use the material any way you want. Modernize the costumes, add original music, cut and paste the scenes to edit for time, anything you want. Some purists would come down on you for making any changes to the work BUT in old Will's day it was customary to make changes to your own work and the work of others any time the mood or the need struck. For inspiration look to "Romeo and Juliet" staring Leo DiCaprio and Clare Danes, or Scotland, Pa http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265713/
Break a leg and have fun doing it.

Answer 3

When I was in High School we did Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, it has a large cast. There is also Mike Mallet, Private eye ... Sweeney Todd ... Into the Woods ... There are several short Shandley plays that can be strung together ... Our Country's Good is a good historical play about Australia but I can't remember how big the cast is ... Les Miserables doesn't require a large set ... that's all I can think of off the top of my head

Answer 4

"Arsenic and Old Lace" Single set; Three female, 4 male parts. "A Christmas Carol" is a good seasonal piece with lots of extras and minimal sets. Neil Simon has great material but few parts. If you are inclined to Musicals which require band students also... South Pacific, Oklahoma, easy music lots of cast. Both require 2 main sets and one side stage if I remember correctly. Oklahoma has a dream sequence that can be done with scrim and back lighting. Musicals are a real pain but are great for the kids to interact with others. Parents love them too.

Answer 5

I suggest doing two or three smaller plays instead of one large one. This splits up your cast, but you will need to time the rehearsals around each other. A couple of excellent plays are You Can't Take It with You, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, and any of Shakespeare's plays. Good luck!

Answer 6

if you have a big cast then i suggest a musical, with a large chorus line, i'm currently doing fiddler on the roof, it's a great play and the majority is mama's papa's sons and daughters, with a select few being main roles.

others musicals that i have done with major chorus roles in them are:
Okalhoma: one of the best i've ever done, it was a great musical and i would defo recommend it.
South Pacific: a little hard to understand but i found but just as much fun.

i recommend large chorus line musicals because it shows more then one talent, and it gets lots of people involved, it also means you won't have to worry about not being able to give roles out because in a chorus role musical, their's loads of part's

Answer 7

I was just in the musical Oklahoma. (I love Drama!!) A good high school one would have to be Anything Goes. Its holds a lot of parts, its fun, loud and is a great story to it. The music is amazing!! You should try Wicked if possible.

Answer 8

Try to do an abridged version of the 3 of Sophocles "Theban Plays" Huge, dramamtic, and a good deal of lead characters.

Answer 9

I know it's high school, but one of the cartoons could be a base for a play, with lots of characters.
for example supposing it was a pre-school thing then maybe postman pat with lots of characters would be a useful foundation to base characters on.
that sort of thing, of course it wouldn't be called postman pat in the example above, it could be people in my village or whatever. the characters are just the moulds to create the character.

Answer 10

we did robinson crusoe in school, we added humour and tisted it around to include the locals into jokes, e.g made reference that if the we ever reached the island we'd lodge the buried treasure into our bank and used a locals name who worked in the bank and said that she could do it!!!!! it was great, can get males to wear grass skirts and coconuts, we had an underwater scene with king neptune, used flouerescent paint and a florescent light!!!!!!! very effective in the dark!!! loads of roles, and you can even add in characters, we won the lotto in ours!!!!!!