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Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

  • 1.  Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-24-2014 13:38
    I'm looking for some suggestions for a series of student-directed One Act plays for our 2014-2015 season as a way to get more students (mainly freshman and sophomores) on stage. I think three one acts would be reasonable, and about 30 minutes(or less) in length.

    Maybe you could suggest your favorite one act(s) that your school has produced?

    Much appreciated!

    Sincerely,

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    Troy Peters
    Director of Dramatic Arts
    Iowa City IA
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  • 2.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-24-2014 14:05
    Do you want to have a theme to the evening? We have never done it that way. Our student directors choose the One Act plays they direct, though of course, I approve them. I think having them choose really helps their commitment to the showWe usually end up with quite a variety of shows that way, and if any shows are too similar, it is the first directors who turn in the show along with the other requirements who get dibs. I have found that 30 minutes can be quite a challenge for a new director, especially in a program like ours where Thespians have the chance to direct, but no directing class to help them get started. Students have chosen the following over the years... Red Herring Props Check Please (1 and 2) Yelling Fire in a Burning Theatre How to Succeed in High School Without Really Trying The Monkey's Paw Limbo Sorry, Wrong Number The Five Pound Sack The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Candid Twitch Maniac Manor ------------------------------------------- Cathy Swain-Abrams Teacher, Drama Director Olentangy Local School District Lewis Center OH -------------------------------------------
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  • 3.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-25-2014 08:51
    I require my student directors to find their own. If you don't have a lot to choose from these are some of the ones I've seen my students do well with: Dramas: Gloria Mundi, Why Do We Laugh, To Burn a Witch, Before the Dawn, Where Have All the Lighting Bugs Gone?, Touch the Bluebird's Song, Cagebirds, Final Play, Women in War, Volume of Smoke Comedies: Bridal Terrorism, Hard Candy, 14 More Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview, Check Please, Sure Thing, The Philadelphia, Rapunzel Uncut, Words Words Words, Jack and the Beanstalk, Grimm's Spectacularathon, Present Tense, This is a Test, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls Anything from Playscripts is usually manageable for the novice director and appropriate for school. I officially see they use plays by Jonathan Rand, Stephen Gregg, David Ives, David Campton, and Christopher Durang. I also have a few friends who are playwrights who will let us do their shows for free. I also will let them direct shows they have written if they give them to me well in advance to help polish them and check for school appreciateness. I typically will not let them do thIs until they have directed a play that was not their own at least once. I use Backwards and Forwards by Ball and A Sense of Direction by Ball to teach them about directing. Hope this helps. ------------------------------------------- Victoria Kesling Councill Theatre Teacher New Kent County Public Schools New Kent VA -------------------------------------------
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  • 4.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-25-2014 10:39
    Troy,
    I would encourage you to check out Lindsay Price's vignette plays!! 
    Some of our favorite shows are The Snow Show, Wait Wait Bo Bait, Skid Marks, Hairball, &School Daze, but there are many more!

    My directing interns direct my intro students and have loved using Theatrefolks material.  They are great to work with, you can purchase the script in PDF, and you can get video rights...they are a one stop shop!!

    When you are ready for a full-length with awesome character development opportunities, check out her play, Cobweb Dreams...that one is dear to my heart!

    My best!

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    Carolyn Greer
    Kentucky Thespians
    Owensboro HS #3161
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  • 5.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-25-2014 12:02
    My students also choose their own works for directing with my  right to veto.

    Recent scripts have included multiple student written works as well as:

    Barefoot in Nightgown by Candlelight
    Kaleidoscope
    The Diary of Adam and Eve
    Boy Meets Girl
    The Wooden Pear
    To Burn a Witch
    Not Enough Rope
    A Smell of Burning
    Tuesdays and Sundays
    Check, Please
    Speed Dating
    Auld Lang Syne


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    William Jacobsen
    Red Deer AB
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  • 6.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-26-2014 09:33
    My class of 2013 did a great job with Ed Monk's "Cut."
    https://www.playscripts.com/play/36
    Scott

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    Scott Piehler
    Drama Director
    Lilburn GA
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  • 7.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-27-2014 08:13
    Try "Almost Maine", a charming, offbeat series of short one act plays, all taking place in the fictional town of the same name. I had seniors direct each piece, with great audience response. Short and easy for students to handle. You may also try any of the David Ives' one act plays.  Again, great response from the audience. They are very well written, sophisticated one act plays of a bit lengthier format. You may want to be selective with those based on language and situation.
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    Robert Putka
    Cuyahoga Falls OH
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  • 8.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-26-2014 10:32
    I partnered up with a local university here in Michigan - Oakland University and they supply the scripts for us to produce. I simply contacted many local universities and colleges a few years back and asked if they had a playwrighting course. I then talked to each professor and ended up partnering with Kitty Dubin at OU. It's awesome! Less work for you, opportunities for your students to work at the "college level," and they are all original. It makes for a great night. I've done it for three years. Next year will be the fourth. It yeilds a ton of money for our program due to low costs and about thirty students are involved in it. I even use the time between one acts to feature Superior rating IEs. Let me know if you want to know more and I'll send you a packet with guidelines and such. ------------------------------------------- DanielDobrovich Director of Theatre ddobrovich@cranbrook.edu Bloomfield HillsMI -------------------------------------------
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  • 9.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-26-2014 12:20

    Here are some that I have recently done or recently seen done!

    13 ways to Screw up a College Interview

    !Artistic Inspirations (Which we actually split up the parts instead of doubling them so we had a larger cast)

    Check, Please

    Louder, I can't hear you

    This is a test

    Cagebirds

    The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon

    The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet

    Harry's Hotter at Twilight
    Something I have also seen our theatre 2 class do, is write/ direct/ and produce their own one acts. They do this to get an idea of the whole process. Normally, they are short children's scenes, and they normally get to perform them for our elementary school too! :) 

    Best of Luck! 

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    Katie Siegel
    ITO Chair
    Huntsville AL
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  • 10.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-26-2014 12:44

    I actually did this sort of thing with 7th and 8th graders a few years ago.

    We did:

    Fearful Symmetry (Play scripts)
    If Girls Asked Boys for Dates (Dramatic Publishing)
    This Is A Test (Dramatic Publishing)
    Louder! I Can't Hear You! (Dramatic Publishing)

    The students chose the shows, blocked them, directed them. All four were produced simultaneously.

    Theatre Folk is definitely a great resource, especially if you can get free photocopies at your school site.

    Play scripts has a TON of great choices.

    An interesting idea might me to do something like Check Please by Jonathan Rand and have different students direct each scene. There are three versioning of the show.
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    Jeffrey Russell
    San Diego CA
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  • 11.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-26-2014 13:52
    Our student-directed one-acts are student written. Actors Theatre of Louisville offers 10-minute playwrighting workshops for our students. The students choose the plays to be performed, I cast them and the Stagecraft students are assigned a specific play to provide technical support. 

    Actors Theatre of Louisville publishes the plays that win their New Voices competition. You might try contacting them and see if copies of the book are available. You can see videos of the plays on YouTube, type in Actors Theatre of Louisville New Voices.

    I'm proud to say we have had more plays produced in the program than any other high school. 

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    John Perry
    Drama Instructor
    Atherton High School
    Louisville KY
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  • 12.  RE: Ideas for student-directed One Acts?

    Posted 05-27-2014 09:51
    Our one act festival is at the end of the year. They are written by senior thespians who are also in the College Acting & Directing 4 class. Once in a while, a student will choose a published one act. The students and their parents sign a contract and have the summer before their senior year to write or choose a one act. We work on the prompt book and other aspects of directing in class. Depending on how many one acts we have - usually 3-5 total - they may be no more than 20-30 minutes in length. In my 7 years here, the one acts have always been a great success in getting a lot of students involved both on and back stage! Break a leg! CK


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    Carolyn Kovar
    Florissant MO
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