What are some good small cast shows for high school students?

Question

I have been approached with the proposition to direct the high school musical this spring in the district where I teach. I am looking for a good show that has a small cast and that does not have massive set & costume requirements. I do not know what the budget is yet but I assume it is small.

My thought so far have been: You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and perhaps Once on This Island. Any other good thoughts?

Answer 1

I had that opportunity once but it did not coincide with other commitments. At the time I thought it would be fun to do Anyone Can Whistle. Good luck. Oh, and a friend of mine did a great job his first year teaching with Bye, Bye Birdie.

Answer 2

Once on This Island is difficult because it is basically a Caribbean ROmeo and Juliet between light-skinned blacks and dark-skinned blacks. To do it correctly, you have to cast it all black and I don't know about your high school, but mine was not all black. You're a Good Man ... is an excellent show and can be done with six or seven or expanded. I used the old version, which had Patty (not Peppermint Patty!) in it instead of Sally (the 90's revival with her song "My New Philosophy.") I did however expand the show to include Sally and included her song as the opening of Act I. I also included Peppermint Patty and Marcy, Violet, Pigpen, and Franklin (the first black character in a cartoon). These folks helped fill out musical nuimbers like "The Baseball Game," "Home on the Range," and believe it or not, "My Blanket and Me" -- Linus was joined by a couple of the "name" characters for the dance break with a couple of the added chorus inside nylon "Body Bags" used in Middle School dance class to resemble the blankets.

Little Shop is also good as is Godspell

ps One way around a tight budget is to tell the publishing house about your Friday and Saturday night performances and be charged royalties for those two nights, but run the play on Thursday and Sunday also sssshhhh!

Answer 3

Freedrama.com has some small cast plays for one to five cast members. They are Free Plays by D. M. Bocaz-Larson. The links are below. They vary in length from short to full length and in production, sets etc
http://www.geocities.com/pocolocoplayers/small.html

Dramatic publishing also has a good website with links to many plays with a minimum of cast members and sets ansd a different themes, types, genres etc. Many are suitable for high school players.

You could also try the following book "1/2/3/4 for the Show: A Guide to Small-Cast One-Act Plays: A Guide to Small-Cast One-Act Plays" (Hardcover) by Samuel Elkind. It is available from Amazon books online.


Good luck.