Open Forum

At the Bottom of Lake Missoula or Booby Trap by Ed Monk are really powerful pieces. If you're open to pieces that are mostly monologue based with a single scene at the end I'd look at either And by Alan Haehnel or Voices in Conflict by Bonnie Dickinson.

We performed Don Zolidis's "Monster" with a cast of 25, are performing Robert Schenkkans's "Fire in the Hole" with a cast of 25 this year.

"Monster" is about how Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein and has strong female leads, and great opportunities to focus on physicality and ensemble.

"Fire in the Hole" is about coal miners trying to unionize in the 1920s.

In both shows everyone stayed on stage just about the entire time. You can easily do both shows with fewer actors.  

We have also looked at doing cuttings for "The Farnsworth Invention" and "The Picture of Dorian Grey."

I have also seen two Edgar Allen Poe one acts that have large casts.  In "The Fall of the House of  Usher," there was an ensemble that played the stones/walls of the house.  The second takes four Poe stories and brings them together in "Shuddersome." 

Oops- edit: I just saw your time req. There is a 60 minute version, but that looks to be too long for ya!

If you want something divinely different, check out Failure: A Love Story by Phillip Dawkins. It's flexible casting and requests of the director great creativity. It's absolutely beautiful! We did it at the Ohio conf last year and it was really well received. (In fact, I note that at least one other high school in Ohio is doing it this year!)

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Danielle Filas
Language Arts Department Chair
Thespian Troupe Director
Village Academy Schools
Powell OH

We did Kevin Dyer's Baghdad Zoo with a cast of 26, but it could have absorbed more.  It ran right about 28 minutes (could certainly slow it down a touch though).  It's through Plays for Young Audiences, but we also contacted the playwright directly about flexible casting, and he was great, allowing us to tweak numbers to better fit our actors.  There are basically four groups of characters:  the lost people (sort of Greek chorus), the animals, the children (the bulk of the dialogue), and the soldiers. 

Definitely a powerful piece.

There is a one act version of I Never Saw Another Butterfly which can be expanded with extra children.  After our productions of A Piece of My Heart and Laramie Project, I received permission to do a cutting for our State Festival.  Both were powerful and well received.  There's also an oldie called Asylum with a flexible cast from I.E. Clark (if they still exist) what asks who is sane, and who is not.

Spirit of Life, The

It deals with Jewish peoples' experience of the Holocaust and how people can survive such an unimaginable experience. As written, it's 3m 6w, but that is with a lot of doubling. It could easily accommodate a cast of 32, and allows for some striking movement pieces. As written, it's 40 minutes, but it could easily be cut.