Open Forum

 View Only

  • 1.  Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-14-2020 12:28
    We are planning for our next season of shows and I'm looking for some new ideas for high school actors.  Any plays you've done or read that you can recommend? Any new exciting scripts?  Dramatic preferred but Comedy  ok too.  Cast size 10 or more?

    Thanks in advance.
    Jolaine Orlin
    Speech 
    Glenbard North High School
    630-653-7000


  • 2.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-15-2020 13:43
    I'm considering the following plays for next season:
    She Kills Monsters
    The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
    The Secret Garden

    Over the past few years, we've enjoyed producing the following:
    Charlotte's Web
    The Three Musketeers
    Our Town
    The Crucible
    A Midsummer Night's Dream
    Macbeth

    Best wishes!



    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-15-2020 15:23
    I had fun with:

    The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Noah Smith
    Dracula by William McNulty
    Beauty and the Beast my Timothy Mason (it's not a musical and is based on the actual fairy tale not the Disney version)
    Lady Dracula by Timothy Mason
    Lady Dracula by Tim Kelly
    Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily by Katie Forgette

    I wanted to do Lizzie Borden of Fall River by Tim Kelly (loved the script) but asked for approval right before Parkland happened and my principal didn't want to approve any pieces that included violence by young adults. 

    I'd give you more recommendations but all of my scripts are in my classroom...

    ------------------------------
    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-16-2020 09:58
    Hi Jolaine!
    It might be fun to take a look at some Moliere. I've got 17 new adaptations of his plays in rhymed iambic pentameter. (The most produced have been "Tartuffe" and "Imaginary Invalid," and several of them have won in state competitions.) Most have casts of more than a dozen, and I've also created second versions of the full-length plays that can be done in 40 minutes.
    Your note caught my eye, because my father was a psychologist at Glenbard North and Glenbard South back-in-the-day, and when I'm not touring my Moliere and Shakespeare one-man shows to schools, I'm staying in Buffalo Grove.
    Tim Mooney

    ------------------------------
    Tim Mooney
    www.timmooneyrep.com
    www.moliere-in-english.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-16-2020 10:33
    Our season for next year is:
     
    A Christmas Story
    26 Pebbles
    Puffs 

    I have had success in the past with:
    Radium Girls
    Nooses Off
    A Midsummer Night's Dream
    Almost, Maine
    Romeo and Juliet
    Holes
    The Crucible

    ------------------------------
    Rebecca Black
    Teacher/Director
    Wayland MI
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-17-2020 14:02
    We had a great time with Becky's New Car and Over the River and Through the Woods.

    ------------------------------
    Tim Buchheit, Director
    Department of Theatre and Speech
    St. Francis Borgia Regional High School
    Washington, Mo.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-21-2020 12:37
    We just did 26 Pebbles (Eric Ulloa) this year and the students had a wonderful experience with it! 
    Radium Girls is another excellent drama! Audiences are still talking about that one! (These Shining Lives is the same story but a different script)!

    ------------------------------
    Kathryn Geckle
    Theatre Director
    Cincinnati OH
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-22-2020 14:04
      |   view attached
    We also did 26 Pebbles, 2 seasons ago.  A very special experience as our schools began arming our security guards and the awareness of school shootings was a constant underlying hum in the minds of our students and staff members.  We were also fortunate to have the playwright attend our final performance and have a Q & A with audience.  

    My own thoughts is that the time may not be right for this subject matter.  I have always believed in theatre being a wonderful environment to explore serious issues and I've never shied away from controversial content, but with the COVID-19 experience we are presently dealing, and the possibility of students and staff members suffering some loss, the emotions regarding tragedy might be too close to the surface for this play to be successful.

    My suggestion is to put it on your shelf for now, but make sure you expose your students and community to this play because of its subject matter and its high quality writing.

    ------------------------------
    David Kramer
    Mt Sinai NY
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-23-2020 11:44
    Hi Jolaine,

    I'd like to HIGHLY recommend looking at Look Homeward, Angel--an adaptation of Thomas Wolfe's novel adapted by Kitti Frings.  I've directed it twice and it is such a powerful show with rich characters.  It is dramatic but peppered with moments of comedy.  We added an ensemble of Boarders and had a cast of 25. Truly a hidden gem--not sure why more schools do not do it.  I will direct it again when enough time passes it's that good!

    ------------------------------
    Laura Russo
    Teacher/Director of Theatre Arts
    School District of The Chathams
    Chatham NJ
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Script recommendations?

    Posted 04-24-2020 10:49
    Thanks for the great ideas!

    We've had great success with the following:
    Noises Off
    House of Blue Leaves
    Clybourne Park
    The Crucible
    Zoot Suit
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    You Can't Take it With You

    For next year, I'm thinking about plays that you can rehearse in small groups like Almost, Maine, just in case we become restricted in the fall. I've really wanted to do She Kills Monsters, though.

    ------------------------------
    Katheryne Barraza
    SANTA Monica CA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


Related Content