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  • 1.  Large Cast Dramedies

    Posted 05-08-2020 10:25
    Looking for some good plays with a large cast that fit into a dramedy category. I have done mostly comedies at my current school and I am looking for something that has some serious moments, but still has some laughter. I don't have a lot of interest in shows like The Crucible etc. I have a lot of kids that love comedy, but a group that is wanting to try out some dramatic acting. 

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    Elizabeth Nelson
    Bishop Miege High School
    Theatre/Video Production Teacher
    Shawnee Mission, KS
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  • 2.  RE: Large Cast Dramedies

    Posted 05-08-2020 16:40
    Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily was a really fun show and had a nice balance to it.

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    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Large Cast Dramedies

    Posted 05-09-2020 13:33

    I have loved producing some of the well written classics that have both humor and drama! Examples: Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Tom Sawyer, and Cheaper by the Dozen. A Midsummer Nights Dream has all these elements as well, in my opinion, even though it is considered a comedy! All of these plays had fairly large casts, appeal to all ages, and usually draw a crowd because they are well known! Break a Leg! 



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    Suzanne "Mama" Craig
    MS/HS Theatre/Speech
    Lipscomb Academy
    Nashville, TN
    Suzanne.Craig@Lipscomb.Edu
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Large Cast Dramedies

    Posted 05-10-2020 22:20
    On the advice of a colleague who had done the show, I once produced Ferber and Kaufman's Stage Door at my school, and I've rarely had more fun working on a show.  Very funny lines and bits, but also some very serious drama, and a bit of meditation on the whole art vs. fame-and-money thing in the theatre.

    There is one thing that my colleague advised me to work around, and I did.  As written, the play contains what would originally have been cast as a black couple who are the servants in the boarding house, where the rest of the cast would have been white.  My colleague advised me not to cast African-Americans in the servant roles, and to go color-blind everywhere else.  So I cast white students as the couple, without changing any dialogue - I just told them to play the characters as Southerners who had moved north to find work during the Depression - and I cast students from a number of different ethnicities among the rest of the cast, from the boarding-house residents all the way up to the big movie-studio boss.

    It makes for a great school show, though - there are about 30 roles (some of which can be double-cast, especially among the males), all of them interesting and characterful, and predominantly female.  The acting edition comes with pre-approved re-writes to eliminate a second set and, if you need it, to tone down some PG language.

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    Jeff Grove
    Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
    Stanton College Preparatory School
    Jacksonville FL
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Large Cast Dramedies

    Posted 05-10-2020 23:21
    Large cast all depends on your perspective, I suppose, but this past fall I directed a new-ish play by Adam Szymkowicz called Kodachrome.  It definitely left the audience in tears, but also provided lots of great opportunities for comedy as well - great, unique characters for teenage performers to sink their teeth into.  You can't do it without a powerhouse female lead, though.  But I loved this show so much - beautiful script, cast of up to 16 or so, depending on if you want to double the smaller roles or not.  Definitely worth a read, at least.  Another one worth looking at would be Neil Simon's The Good Doctor - though admittedly much less for females to do in that one, which is almost always the opposite of what we're looking for in high school theater......Good luck!

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    Daren Dusenske
    School Counselor/Fall Play Director/Musical Producer
    Community High School District 155
    Crystal Lake IL
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    Original Message


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