Open Forum

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Two jump to mind: These Shining Lives (I think it's 5w and 2m, though you could add more without doubling) and Silent Sky (4w, 1m). There's also Student Body, if you want something that packs a punch - it's 7w and 3m.

------------------------------
Ken Buswell
Drama Teacher
Peachtree City, GA
http://mcintoshtheater.org/

Theater kills ignorance
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Saw Radium Girls earlier this year and loved it, though it may require too many guys.  Not sure on that one.

------------------------------
Mark Middlebrooks
Specials Department Director
Castle Pines CO
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

I just can't get into Radium Girls, probably since I like These Shining Lives so much better. Too bad it has such a small cast. But it's on the list. We did Silent Sky in rep with Sense and Sensibility last year.

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 11:30
From: Mark Middlebrooks
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Saw Radium Girls earlier this year and loved it, though it may require too many guys.  Not sure on that one.

------------------------------
Mark Middlebrooks
Specials Department Director
Castle Pines CO

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Oh, maybe Women of Lockerbie? As written, it's 5w, 2m, but you can add as many women as you like to the chorus (the playwright encourages it in the notes).

------------------------------
Ken Buswell
Drama Teacher
Peachtree City, GA
http://mcintoshtheater.org/

Theater kills ignorance
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 11:38
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

I just can't get into Radium Girls, probably since I like These Shining Lives so much better. Too bad it has such a small cast. But it's on the list. We did Silent Sky in rep with Sense and Sensibility last year.

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 11:30
From: Mark Middlebrooks
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Saw Radium Girls earlier this year and loved it, though it may require too many guys.  Not sure on that one.

------------------------------
Mark Middlebrooks
Specials Department Director
Castle Pines CO

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Women and War by Jack Hilton Cunningham.  Don't be put off by the fact it is written as reader's theatre and for only five actors.  I've done this production with 12 females and 5 males and stage the entire piece.  It is a wonderful show and a real challenge.  Samuel French carries it.  There is also a one-act version.   I'd be happy to talk to you about this piece!  It covers war from WWI to the Iraqi conflict.

------------------------------
Carolyn Greer
Owensboro KY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

There is a great play called Afternoon With the Elves adapted by Y York. It is a children's theatre piece (originally debuted at the Seattle Children's Theatre, I think) and the script is solid. A bit of a small cast, at 6F and 1M. It's available through Dramatic Publishing.

------------------------------
Christopher Hamilton
Drama Teacher
Kennewick WA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Jane Eyre, Walk Two Moons,. Little Women..
Wrinkle in Time

------------------------------
Cathy Archer
Rutland VT
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

I have done both Hallelujah Girls And Dearly Beloved by 3 wonderful comedic authors. The plays are with Dramatics. Both students and audiences loved it. Mostly women with 2-4 men only. They have written other heavy women plays as well.

------------------------------
Michaela Moore
Juneau AK
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

I love "Space Girl" by Mona V. Harris -- it would be a medium-sized show, so it would need to be paired with something else, but it only needs one guy (but could have more).  Description:  "Arugula Suarez just wants to fit in. But it's not easy when you're a sixteen-year-old alien from the planet Zlagdor. Stuck in a world where the only things that make sense are roller derby and salad, Arugula and her father, Nancy, must find out what it means to be human before time runs out for Planet Earth."

"This Changes Everything" is written for 20 girls, but the author leaves the option open for gender flexibility in casting. I think it's fantastic. "A group of disillusioned young women have disappeared. On a platform out at sea, they have formed The Community – a new type of society and a better way of living. But how can you change the world if you've taken yourself out of it?"

Just as a side note: "This Changes Everything" was commissioned by a group in the UK committed to creating scripts giving more opportunities for girls in school plays. WHICH IS AWESOME.

------------------------------
Cora Turlish
Metuchen NJ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

I'd recommend Find Me by Olwen Wymark. It's designed for a flexible cast. As written, 5 actors play the main female protagonist. Other roles are also split among actors, and there are a large number of one-off characters (doctors, administrators, neighbors, children, etc.) Originally it was developed for 5f 3m, but it is possible to have more actors. (If I remember correctly, it's printed in the script that it is okay to flex the numbers and genders of the actors--but maybe I hallucinated that.) 
It's a British play, published by Samuel French.  It was written in the mid 1970s, but doesn't seem that dated to me, because it's dealing with the failures of the health care system to support people and families dealing with mental illness...and that is in many ways still a system without solutions for each situation.



------------------------------
Meg O'Connor
oconnormainstage.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------

Cassy, I know you do a lot of contemporary shows and that's what you asked for, but I'm going to recommend you read an old show that I've never seen produced (but must have been before my time at my school because we have a script set). It is a stage production of 'Our Miss Brooks' which was an old time radio series and I think early TV series too. It is about this exact issue...a play within a play about an English teacher who gets roped into directing the school play, Lost Horizon (again, against her will) and there are not enough guys. There are a couple of tech geeks, one jock, and the PE teacher. She has a sort of a flirtation w the PE teacher, but that goes away quickly when the basketball star decides to be in the play and coach gets pissed. Lots of good female parts and a sort of I Love Lucy vibe. I wonder if it could updated to play it contemporary. I think that could work. Charming and funny. Single set of her classroom, that is being used as a rehearsal space and storage room.

------------------------------
Steven Slaughter
English/Theatre
Rosslyn Academy
Nairobi, Kenya

"Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts." - W Berry
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 09:26
From: Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Subject: Medium-cast play with few males

Hi all,
I feel like we all ask this every year. I usually have about 20 total students that I fit in 1-2 straight plays. Next year I'll be lucky if I have five guys in that whole bunch, but most likely I'll end up with even fewer. So I really need one large-cast title (we put everyone in Arabian Nights a few years ago) or two medium-sized shows with primarily female or gender flexible roles. I have lots of female-heavy shows on my reading list, but even they require 5-10 guys. I'm looking for fresh, challenging, most likely contemporary pieces, not things like Children's Hour or Twelve Angry Jurors. I welcome your suggestions!

------------------------------
Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre Department Coordinator
Fishersville VA
------------------------------