This collection of madcap 10-minute comedies appeals to everyone from teens to seniors. Casts include elves, grumpy homophobic neighbors, and a troupe of historical characters come to life.
“Oil Pandango” is the fifth installment in the Playroom series, and it’s set in the garage. A lot of teens take over the garage with dreams of starting a band, but Marla isn’t a lot of teens.
Oliver Twist Stage Script for Schools, Colleges and Communities
A mischevious comedy adaptation of Oliver Twist. Funny and fierce, with flexible cast, this play can be performed anywhere from the classroom to the professional stage. True to Charles Dickens’ classic novel - entertaining, touching, and comically socially relevant. Free Sample to read.
"Ophelia Chooses" begins at Ophelia’s funeral. After perfunctory mourning by the cast of Hamlet, she is resurrected by a feminist from our time, who offers her the chance to live. Feminist Fay instructs Ophelia in the art of standing up for what she wants (and ultimately believes). This is done by revisiting all the scenes from Hamlet in which Ophelia appears.
This one-act play for teens deals honestly and openly with depression and suicidal impulses among teens. Set backstage in a high school theater, a high school drama class is rehearsing Hamlet and personal issues--cutting, eating disorders and low self-esteem--that are seldom discussed begin to emerge after the teacher discovers a suicide note.
Ideal for middle school and high school students. Easy to tour with a simple set. PDF available.
In this one-act period drama Joshua Blanchard is preparing to leave Kansas to head west on the Oregon Trail in l835. On this climactic day, his youngest son dies, his daughter decides to marry and stay at home, and he has an important confrontation with his wife.
Performs well for middle school, high school, community theater. Great for Reader's Theater, American history or social studies class.
Adam and Eve start the first world war as they negotiate an uneasy peace when they are banished from Paradise. A funny take on the likely conversation after being ejected from Paradise. And of course, there are rules about Apples.
“Out, Out” is the fourth installment in the Playroom series, and it may be set in the master bedroom. It seems like an ordinary end to an ordinary day when Rich and Carol retire for the night--until
Papito is a ten-page short play addressing parentification, specifically how a young man who grows up without a father assumes the partnership role with his mother and has difficulty establishing a healthy partnership with a significant other. The narrator, Zoe, is that significant other who is frustrated with her domineering mother-in-law and her husband who refuses to establish needed boundaries for his mom.
“Patres Familias” is the sixth installment in the Playroom series, and this one finds Rich just off of his back porch, stealing some time (and some beer) with his neighbor.
College students return to class after the pandemic to find love with a hint of betrayal that could end Alex and Savannah for good. Foreign exchange students find new friends at the drama club's spring musical audition. Can Toni lead this group through personal inhibitions and a lack of self-esteem with the magic of music? Working with Keith, Toni helps him learn to dance in his wheelchair igniting a mutual passion. The “People R Ready”—are YOU!!!
A full-length, poetic drama resurrects the love, lust, and retribution of the original Greek legend in modern surroundings. A stepmother's insatiable desire for her husband's son destroys a family. Set in a beach house with the sound of drumming waves and ghostly figures of fishwives in the background, this verse play brings the ancient story back to life.
Playroom is a series of comedies created by the author as a way to explore the short play and "one act" format, one setting (and one evening) at a time. An otherwise ordinary family, the characters of Hinton’s Playroom are thrust into extraordinary, supernatural, and preternatural circumstances.
Fight for Life is a low-rent Jerry-Springer-style talk show whose mantra is embodied by its two major chants: Fight for Life and Stage the Rage; its ratings are sliding and fast. Along comes Grace Truman, a guest whose story seems likely to reverse their declining numbers but she is not quite the guest that host, Burt Solomon, expected.
Prince Hedgehog is a dramatic adaptation of a delightful folk tale in which a Prince—in this case born a hedgehog because of his mother’s hasty words—is sent out to further his education. This is a transformation play with a twist.
A large cast play for High Schools with history interest, the story of Marco Polo's arduous journey through exotic lands back to his birthplace after decades in the service of Kublai Khan, Emperor of the Yuan dynasty, and the dangers and adventures that befell him and his companions as they braved deserts, oceans, and mountains to return to Venice.
