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Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

  • 1.  Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 08:49

    This is my first year as a High School director and the teacher in previous years did a small children's show in the spring, and now I can see why. I will not be able to actually rehearse in my auditorium with this show until the week before opening night so I need something with a simple set. BUT I hate cheesy plays and that is all I seem to keep coming across. It also needs to be appropriate, I live in the bible belt. I promised my kids I would announce by the end of JANUARY! Can you help me please?

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    Caraline Cunningham
    Theatre Teacher
    Carthage MO
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  • 2.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 08:57
    Sandbag Stage Left.

    Personal favorite.



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    ---

    Mr. Michael Maguire

    Morristown High School
    Technology Education Department 
    Graphic Design • CAD • Wood Design & Technology

    MHS Theatre, Artistic Director
    MHS Broadcaster, Co-Advisor
    PGC, Advisor
    GSA, Advisor


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  • 3.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 10:23

    You can create a minimalist set for almost any script. I did it for "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Noah Smith. My only set piece was the laboratory and that consisted of a desk, chair, small bookshelf, and a cage. Other than that I had a single bed and a couch for the set. We used sound effects (timing was a pain) for everything else and pantomimed the appropriate actions. It worked really well and was very popular. Good luck!

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    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 09:40

    Our Town - I know, I know.... it's an obvious choice, but it's such a great classic!  We had some moving platforms, tables and chairs etc...

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    Amy Learn
    Ballwin MO

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 10:14

    It's dated but Up the Down Staircase maybe?  Set is essentially a classroom.

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    Ryan Moore
    Theatre Teacher and Forensics Coach
    Royal Oak MI

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 11:18

    Wiley and the Hairy Man - Susan Zeder, minimal set (cast make up the set with their bodies), expandable

    Antigone, Sophocles (Robert Fagles translation) - personal favorite - minimal set

    Any Shakespeare (find a good abridged script)

    This is my super quick list of go-to minimal set pieces, though I also agree with Shira. As always.

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    Phillip Goodchild
    Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
    Ruskin FL

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 11:40

    Awww. Thanks Phillip ;)

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    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-26-2016 13:16

    Hi! I can empathize. I was in a similar situation last year. I began as a first year teacher in November. By the time I arrived the calendar for the auditorium use for the year had been set and there wasn't any space for us. Also, there were just so many challenges to tackle during my first year that I needed to start with something "simpler". We did Twelve Angry Jurors (Men) that spring. We staged it in the round (a little more square than round, but you get the idea). We put our audience on the stage on risers that our band program graciously loaned to us and then we had our large table and twelve chairs in the middle. We were able to rehearse in my classroom for most of the rehearsal period and we were able to have a Thursday performance, completely clear the stage for a Friday night band concert, and then set it back up for our Saturday performance. All together it worked very well for us for a variety of reasons.

    I inherited a struggling program that was barely hanging on and had very limited resources. Producing Twelve Angry Jurors in this way enabled us to put on a high quality, impressive looking show without much use of the auditorium or spending too much money. Audiences loved it and were so impressed. The students had a great time and learned a lot. I think it also helped to have something that was small and intimate as my first show because it enabled me to spend a lot more quality time with my actors and build relationships with them. Also, having the theatre "sold out" with about 150 people each night made the kids feel like a million bucks. (Our regular auditorium seats 850- yikes!) The whole production was a great confidence builder for me and the kids!

    Hope that helps! I know others in this community have also mentioned that they have staged this show in this way.

    Good luck!

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    Emily Olson
    Theatre Arts Teacher and Director
    Port St. Lucie, FL

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-27-2016 06:24
    Dominic Cooke's Arabian Nights. For kids, you could cut it down? It was an RSC show for kids, and adults loved it too.

    Sent from my iPad


    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-27-2016 09:55

    Ionesco's Rhinoceros is an outstanding play that requires virtually no set and can include a large group of performers.  Young people absolutely connect with the themes of conformity and responsibility, and will enjoy the absurd framework.

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    Bryce Cahn
    New York NY

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-27-2016 10:47

    Caraline,

    If you have the technology, something you might consider is using projection in lieu of a set. There was a school in New Zealand that was doing Harry's Hotter at Twilight, and they projected settings behind the actors, thus freeing them up to use virtually no set at all. If you have students who are interested in photography, it could also create a great project for them.

    But as others have said, almost anything--with the exception of farces like Noises Off which really depend on their sets--can be done minimally. Set pieces and gobos, for instance, can create the suggestion of the various settings.

    Cheers,
    Jonathan

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    Jonathan Dorf
    Playwright/ Co-founder of YouthPLAYS/ Co-chair of The Alliance Of Los Angeles Playwrights
    Los Angeles CA

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-27-2016 10:55

    Almost Maine by John Cariani,  is great, and it's a easy to cut if you have a picky audience. You can easily double cast it too. Fun show.

    If you'll be performing in the winter months Snow Show by Lindsey Price is great (Theatrefolk) and easy to produce with lots of parts.

    We just finished Death by Dessert by Nathan Hartswick,  easy set and lots of fun and it doesn't have to be a dinner theatre.

    Peter/Wendy is an adaptation of Peter Pan that I'm looking at for next year that has very little set requirements. (Jeremy Bloom, Playscripts)

    Hope those help!

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    Summer Rickman
    Hobbs Municipal Schools
    Hobbs NM

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-27-2016 11:23

    Almost, Maine, "easy to cut". Could you explain how you would cut it for a "picky audience"?

    Sorry, on a rampage again.

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    John Perry
    Drama Instructor
    Atherton High School
    Louisville KY

    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-28-2016 08:10

    If you feel a need to modify a play relative to your intended audience then you need to find a different play.  Respect for the playwright is paramount. It's the playwright who determines language, theme, etc. and it's the director who determines how best to express the story within the confines dictated by the playwright.

    As a director with 30+ years of experience my underlying goal has always been to educate rather than entertain. That doesn't mean the light comedies and classic musicals aren't performed by my students but as a voluntary activity for both participant and audience members l have been able to nurture an understanding that theatre is a means of developing student and audience sensitivities to a wide variety of human conditions. Pieces like Rent,  Ragtime, The Laramie Project, as well as Starmites, The Boyfriend, and a Peter Pan have Co-existed in our stage. 

    A final thought. ..every element of a storyline presented in a play has been determined by the playwright to be necessary. To eliminate aspects, modify language etc. is censorship. 

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    David Kramer
    Mt Sinai NY

    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-27-2016 13:17

    How about Flowers for Algernon by David Rogers?

    Flowers for Algernon

    Dramaticpublishing remove preview
    Flowers for Algernon
    'Ingeniously touching and intensely real,' wrote the critic of The Baltimore Sun. 'Convincing, suspenseful, touching,' was the comment of the New York Times critic who concluded his review with the observation that this was 'affecting, too. How otherwise explain the tears that come to one's eyes at the end.'
    View this on Dramaticpublishing >



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    Susan Nieten
    Theatre & English Teacher
    Noblesville High School
    http://nhstheatrearts.weebly.com/
    @NHSTheatre @mrsnieten

    Original Message


  • 16.  RE: Help! Need straight play with lots of characters and simple set by this week!!!!

    Posted 01-27-2016 16:08

    Thank you all so much for your responses! I actually went with the first one; Sandbag Stage Left. But I have started a list of all the other suggestions for my reading list. My next goal is to begin picking all three of my shows for next year so as to not be in this spot again. 

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    Caraline Cunningham
    Theatre Teacher
    Carthage MO

    Original Message