Open Forum

I am interested in titles/sources of plays for young audiences that are "tourable" and have flexible casting so that a class can create a performance to then take to feeder elementary schools.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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Nancy Curtis
Director of Theatre Arts
Virginia Beach VA
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Love doing the tours! Great learning and a powerful tool to build your program. Here are some I've done in the past. All of these are either short plays or we got permission from the publisher to cut them down.  The best part FLEXIBLE CASTING:

- "All I Really Know I Learned In Kindergarten" - musical

- "High School Confidential" - play

- "How to Eat Like a Child" - play

- "This is a Test" - play

- The "Mechanical's Play" from "Midsummer.."

Of course if you want to avoid royalties and truly customize the shows to your kids and your audiences, writing original short scenes has been very successful for us.

Break a leg!!
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Josh Ruben
Fine Arts Head, Northwest Whitfield
Chattanooga TN
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Wiley and the Hairy Man is wonderful--highly theatrical and adults enjoy it very much as well as the younger ones.  Playwright is Susan Zeder

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Karen Maupin
Mountain Home AR
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We do a touring show every year. We have a cycle of 4 and reuse them each year. We have done "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (our favorite touring one), "Stuart Little" (the touring version), "The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy," and "Charlotte's Web" (also a touring version). Its a great experience for our HS actors and for the elementary schools we visited. Have fun!!

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Jolene Workman
Director
Bridgeville DE
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Many years ago we did "Tales from the Brothers Grimm" by Doug Goheen from Dramatic Publishing.  The script describes a portable set using six 4 by 8 foot flats paired together like folding books.  This scenery worked so well, as we were able to slide the three flat pairs through the bus back door, that I continued to use that setup for the next 13 years, adapting every play to it.  

Here is a sampling of our more successful travel shows that used that set:

Aesop's (Oh So Slightly) Updated Fables" by Kim Esop-Wylie from Samuel French

"Once Upon a Wolf" by Steph DeFerie from Samuel French

"Big Bad" by Alec Strum from Pioneer Drama

"Little Red:Life in the Hood" by Claudia Haas and Richard Cash from Eldridge Plays & Musicals

"The Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings" adapted by Nellie McCaslin from Dramatic Publishing

"Cinderella and the Substitute Fairy Godmother" by Ed Monk from Playscripts, Inc.

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Valerie Gargus
Mt. Laurel NJ
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There is a series of plays by Steve and Kathy Hotchner published by Dramatics. Some musical.   Some not, all based on stories kids should know. Heavy in audience partipation. Students come on stage and perform certain roles in the play. Great to get kids little ones not just excited about seeing theatre but also about doing theatre. 

As I recall,in The Further Adventures Of Maide Marion, the part of Little John is played by a kid from the audience. Very fun to produce. 

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Scott Hasbrouck
Wheat Ridge CO
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I have had lots of fun with Many Moons by Thurber (Dramatic Publishing) and Story Theater by Paul Sills (Sam French).

For participation theatre - (great for a tour and can be done in the round in an all purpose room, no stage needed) I suggest these oldies but goodies (also Dramatic Publishing) Canterbury Tales by Bernice Bronson and Tarrididdle Tales and Taerradiddle Travels by Flora Atkin.

Jill
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Jill Campbell
Pine Grove Mills PA
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Hi. Check out the publisher catalogues for scripts by playwright Brian Way. The "Brits" are much more proficient Than we are in writing "participation-drama" scripts for young audiences. It's part of their elementary curriculum. They are short, meant to be performed and involved with the audience and don't require a physical set. I made a touring performance project with it using "The Hat" for my advanced class one year. Simple costumes, no set, performed on the cafeteria floor. These kinds of stories are often "journey" tales like Jack and the beanstalk. And the interactive cast/audience process was great for both my kids and the elementary students. The "control" signal was : sit on your pockets on the floor, Chris-cross, apple-sauce. The magic is that you are stuck to the floor and cannot stand up until we clap twice. And then your feet are still stuck to the floor, but you may move your body and use your voice to become the wind, or the fire, whatever we tell you. And sometimes we will ask you to make a sound as well. Are you ready? OK (clap-clap) let's begin to the story.  It was extraordinary. It worked every time, as long as the size of the audience wasn't too big. Four to five classes max  at a time worked best. And was one of the most impactful lesson experiences for my theatre students. So enjoy, and go "play". 

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Anita Grant
Sweeny TX
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