Open Forum

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

My students enjoyed doing "Blues".Blues,   

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Blues Blues is about the homeless. Where do they come from? Did they once have homes - like you? Have you ever thought what stands between you and life under a bridge in a cardboard box? People who have nowhere to go when it's bedtime show you and your View this on Dramaticpublishing >

------------------------------
Ronda Grundy
Drama Director
Monroe GA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

Congratulations on branching out into full-length plays! I happen to love mystery plays, and there are a ton of them out there (albeit mostly from a bygone era). If you have a powerhouse freshman (or just really tiny) girl, I'd recommend Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed, which is always delightful to watch. There's a wonderful stage adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca if you can track it down. Patrick Hamilton's plays (Gaslight and Rope) have casts that are too small for your group, same thing for Ira Levin's Deathtrap, but might be worth keeping in mind for the future. There are other more contemporary suspense-thriller plays (like Neal Bell's Spatter Pattern, Stephen Belber's Tape), but those are, for the most part, too small-cast and too edgy for most high school drama departments. And, of course, your audience will fawn over anything by Agatha Christie (The Mousetrap, Witness for the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, etc.). Even though they're done to death (pun intended), I still find myself buying a ticket every time one of them gets produced locally. Because they're classics, and you just cannot get tired of watching them.

Finally, don't let the time period scare you off from doing mystery plays. Just grab some knee-length skirts and blouses from your nearest thrift shops, and go for it! 1920s-1960s are all easy to do on a budget.

------------------------------
Victoria Chatfield
Executive Director
National Theatre for Student Artists
www.nationalstudenttheatre.org
vchatfield@nationalstudenttheatre.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

Thanks, Victoria! Those are awesome suggestions. I'm definitely going to check out The Bad Seed -- most of my students are freshmen/sophomores and I do have some great girls that could do that role!

If anyone else has some good titles for me, I'm still open! I love this community. :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-01-2018 12:34
From: Victoria Chatfield
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Congratulations on branching out into full-length plays! I happen to love mystery plays, and there are a ton of them out there (albeit mostly from a bygone era). If you have a powerhouse freshman (or just really tiny) girl, I'd recommend Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed, which is always delightful to watch. There's a wonderful stage adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca if you can track it down. Patrick Hamilton's plays (Gaslight and Rope) have casts that are too small for your group, same thing for Ira Levin's Deathtrap, but might be worth keeping in mind for the future. There are other more contemporary suspense-thriller plays (like Neal Bell's Spatter Pattern, Stephen Belber's Tape), but those are, for the most part, too small-cast and too edgy for most high school drama departments. And, of course, your audience will fawn over anything by Agatha Christie (The Mousetrap, Witness for the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, etc.). Even though they're done to death (pun intended), I still find myself buying a ticket every time one of them gets produced locally. Because they're classics, and you just cannot get tired of watching them.

Finally, don't let the time period scare you off from doing mystery plays. Just grab some knee-length skirts and blouses from your nearest thrift shops, and go for it! 1920s-1960s are all easy to do on a budget.

------------------------------
Victoria Chatfield
Executive Director
National Theatre for Student Artists
www.nationalstudenttheatre.org
vchatfield@nationalstudenttheatre.org

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

An Inspector Calls, if we're still mining the mystery route, though it is a 'period' piece, if that's a consideration. 

Mysteries by Moushey (Spelling?) is an excellent resource...Essentially there are 40+ titles for a dinner mystery theatre setting. We did 'Trouble at the Talent Show', which is set at a present day high school with some very simple musical numbers (seriously. My non-musical kids did it, and part of the humor that was successful in this production was the butchering of the songs by the cast as part of this 'awful' talent show. I was extremely reticent to do dinner mystery theatre, essentially because I'm a dreadful snob, but this was one of our best-loved by audience productions that we ever did, involving as it did a huge amount of audience participation, performer/audience interaction (as audience directly interact and question the performers as to their role in the whodunnit), and other elements. Rights are fairly cheap (about $100 or so), and comes with backing tracks and vocals as well as probably the most useful thing ever: a manual on how to successfully execute a dinner mystery theatre event (which for me, having never done one, was essential). It's a possibility, in any case, and could be a really fun challenge (maybe something for later if you want to focus on a more dramatic piece, as this was pure fluff).

Swing the pendulum completely the other way, and maybe think about some Shakespeare? There are many abridged versions available, plus the royalty fees are very cheap (!) and in terms of cost, you can re-set the play wherever you want to (Othello in the 1980s, Romeo & Juliet in a Viking wasteland, Much Ado About Nothing on a Hawaiian/Tropical island, and Midsummer Nights Dream in a Bollywood/Indian style setting are some of the versions we staged).

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-01-2018 23:38
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Thanks, Victoria! Those are awesome suggestions. I'm definitely going to check out The Bad Seed -- most of my students are freshmen/sophomores and I do have some great girls that could do that role!

If anyone else has some good titles for me, I'm still open! I love this community. :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV

Original Message:
Sent: 01-01-2018 12:34
From: Victoria Chatfield
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Congratulations on branching out into full-length plays! I happen to love mystery plays, and there are a ton of them out there (albeit mostly from a bygone era). If you have a powerhouse freshman (or just really tiny) girl, I'd recommend Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed, which is always delightful to watch. There's a wonderful stage adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca if you can track it down. Patrick Hamilton's plays (Gaslight and Rope) have casts that are too small for your group, same thing for Ira Levin's Deathtrap, but might be worth keeping in mind for the future. There are other more contemporary suspense-thriller plays (like Neal Bell's Spatter Pattern, Stephen Belber's Tape), but those are, for the most part, too small-cast and too edgy for most high school drama departments. And, of course, your audience will fawn over anything by Agatha Christie (The Mousetrap, Witness for the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, etc.). Even though they're done to death (pun intended), I still find myself buying a ticket every time one of them gets produced locally. Because they're classics, and you just cannot get tired of watching them.

Finally, don't let the time period scare you off from doing mystery plays. Just grab some knee-length skirts and blouses from your nearest thrift shops, and go for it! 1920s-1960s are all easy to do on a budget.

------------------------------
Victoria Chatfield
Executive Director
National Theatre for Student Artists
www.nationalstudenttheatre.org
vchatfield@nationalstudenttheatre.org

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

Mysteries by Moushey are wonderfully cheesy.  We do one every year.  Typically smaller cast.
Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorite mystery-comedies and it is accessible by a younger group.
Dracula is always fun.
The Night of January 16th is a good time, but there are a couple of roles that are VERY demanding.
Have you looked at The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940?  (It isn't a musical, don't worry.)   :-)

(BTW, my wife and I hope to be moving to Reno in the next few years.  Can't wait to see what you grow in that time!)

------------------------------
[William] [Myatt] [Director of Theatre]

[Pleasant Valley High School]

[myattw@pleasval.k12.ia.us][563-332-5151][Bettendorf][IA][USA]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-02-2018 11:43
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

An Inspector Calls, if we're still mining the mystery route, though it is a 'period' piece, if that's a consideration.

Mysteries by Moushey (Spelling?) is an excellent resource...Essentially there are 40+ titles for a dinner mystery theatre setting. We did 'Trouble at the Talent Show', which is set at a present day high school with some very simple musical numbers (seriously. My non-musical kids did it, and part of the humor that was successful in this production was the butchering of the songs by the cast as part of this 'awful' talent show. I was extremely reticent to do dinner mystery theatre, essentially because I'm a dreadful snob, but this was one of our best-loved by audience productions that we ever did, involving as it did a huge amount of audience participation, performer/audience interaction (as audience directly interact and question the performers as to their role in the whodunnit), and other elements. Rights are fairly cheap (about $100 or so), and comes with backing tracks and vocals as well as probably the most useful thing ever: a manual on how to successfully execute a dinner mystery theatre event (which for me, having never done one, was essential). It's a possibility, in any case, and could be a really fun challenge (maybe something for later if you want to focus on a more dramatic piece, as this was pure fluff).

Swing the pendulum completely the other way, and maybe think about some Shakespeare? There are many abridged versions available, plus the royalty fees are very cheap (!) and in terms of cost, you can re-set the play wherever you want to (Othello in the 1980s, Romeo & Juliet in a Viking wasteland, Much Ado About Nothing on a Hawaiian/Tropical island, and Midsummer Nights Dream in a Bollywood/Indian style setting are some of the versions we staged).

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON

Original Message:
Sent: 01-01-2018 23:38
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Thanks, Victoria! Those are awesome suggestions. I'm definitely going to check out The Bad Seed -- most of my students are freshmen/sophomores and I do have some great girls that could do that role!

If anyone else has some good titles for me, I'm still open! I love this community. :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV

Original Message:
Sent: 01-01-2018 12:34
From: Victoria Chatfield
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Congratulations on branching out into full-length plays! I happen to love mystery plays, and there are a ton of them out there (albeit mostly from a bygone era). If you have a powerhouse freshman (or just really tiny) girl, I'd recommend Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed, which is always delightful to watch. There's a wonderful stage adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca if you can track it down. Patrick Hamilton's plays (Gaslight and Rope) have casts that are too small for your group, same thing for Ira Levin's Deathtrap, but might be worth keeping in mind for the future. There are other more contemporary suspense-thriller plays (like Neal Bell's Spatter Pattern, Stephen Belber's Tape), but those are, for the most part, too small-cast and too edgy for most high school drama departments. And, of course, your audience will fawn over anything by Agatha Christie (The Mousetrap, Witness for the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, etc.). Even though they're done to death (pun intended), I still find myself buying a ticket every time one of them gets produced locally. Because they're classics, and you just cannot get tired of watching them.

Finally, don't let the time period scare you off from doing mystery plays. Just grab some knee-length skirts and blouses from your nearest thrift shops, and go for it! 1920s-1960s are all easy to do on a budget.

------------------------------
Victoria Chatfield
Executive Director
National Theatre for Student Artists
www.nationalstudenttheatre.org
vchatfield@nationalstudenttheatre.org

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

Original Message------

Thanks, Victoria! Those are awesome suggestions. I'm definitely going to check out The Bad Seed -- most of my students are freshmen/sophomores and I do have some great girls that could do that role!

If anyone else has some good titles for me, I'm still open! I love this community. :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

"Arsenic and Old Lace" is fun, as is "And Then There Were None." I'd also recommend "Harvey," as long as you have a male student who can carry the lead role.

We are gearing up to do "The Outsiders" this season, and the kids are very excited about it.

------------------------------
Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

Original Message------

"Arsenic and Old Lace" is fun, as is "And Then There Were None." I'd also recommend "Harvey," as long as you have a male student who can carry the lead role.

We are gearing up to do "The Outsiders" this season, and the kids are very excited about it.

------------------------------
Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
------------------------------

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Noah Smith (Playscripts) was really popular when I did it and worked really well with a minimalist set. We handled the doors with sound effects and pantomime (it took a while in rehearsal to get the timing down but was super effective). It's been almost 10 years since we did it but I believe it was a 10 person cast.

I'd also look at Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily. Not super dramatic but lots of fun

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

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

Thank you everyone for all of the ideas! I am definitely going to be checking out some of these titles! I looked at The Bad Seed but we thought it was too dark for us. :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton, NV
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2018 10:28
From: Shira Schwartz
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Noah Smith (Playscripts) was really popular when I did it and worked really well with a minimalist set. We handled the doors with sound effects and pantomime (it took a while in rehearsal to get the timing down but was super effective). It's been almost 10 years since we did it but I believe it was a 10 person cast.

I'd also look at Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily. Not super dramatic but lots of fun

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

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------

My students loved producing "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" a few years ago, and my current students are begging me to do it again.  It fits your needs, as it is very flexible in the casting, requires a simple set (we did it with just a few platforms, some chain link fence, and some homemade "barbed" wire - the barbs were actually pipe cleaners, if I remember correctly), and is fairly easy to costume.  It is serious and also ties in to curriculum.  We did it with talkbacks after the show, and were able to invite a holocaust survivor to speak to the cast and crew.  It was a wonderful experience for all of us.

------------------------------
Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2018 10:39
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Thank you everyone for all of the ideas! I am definitely going to be checking out some of these titles! I looked at The Bad Seed but we thought it was too dark for us. :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton, NV

Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2018 10:28
From: Shira Schwartz
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Noah Smith (Playscripts) was really popular when I did it and worked really well with a minimalist set. We handled the doors with sound effects and pantomime (it took a while in rehearsal to get the timing down but was super effective). It's been almost 10 years since we did it but I believe it was a 10 person cast.

I'd also look at Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily. Not super dramatic but lots of fun

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

Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2017 19:14
From: Jamie Scherer
Subject: Spring Play Suggestions...?

Hi Everyone!

I am a new member and a new Drama Club advisor this year. I work in a small school in Northern Nevada and I'm trying to revive our drama program up here! I have an amazingly dedicated group of kids and we had a successful fall show of two royalty-free one act comedies.

Now that we have a little money, we can branch out of royalty-free for the Spring show. We are definitely not ready for a musical this year, and the students said they'd like to do more of a drama/serious type of play, since we worked on comedies in the fall.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I need it to be small-ish cast (10-15 would be ideal) with simple set and costumes if possible (we are still working with a limited budget and supplies). I thought maybe a mystery would be fun to do but I can't think of any that fit what I'm looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

------------------------------
Jamie Scherer
Teacher
Dayton NV
------------------------------