Best Short Plays for High Schools, Colleges & Universities | Theater

La Mouche, © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

3 men … or women can be substituted in as well, (2 characters with broad French accents)
Note: a 4 person version for 2 men, 2 women is coming soon….
10 minute play, simple restaurant set – perhaps only a table and chair
Comedy, Farce
(Non-traditional casting encouraged)

La Mouche takes place in a French restaurant in New York. The jumping off point is the old cliché of a customer finding a fly in his soup… with some new twists.

This play is the most popular play on this site for high schools or colleges/universities.

Artists in Action!
Here is the 4 person La Mouche expertly
performed by Carlmont High School in Belmont, California. The play normally has 3 characters. This was a special arrangement to include one more actor:

Mime in a Box, © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

3 men (women can be substituted, especially for the mime), 14 pages long, simple set
Philosophical Comedy
(Non-traditional casting encouraged)

Mime in a Box takes place on the streets of the Village in New York City. Two friends test the bounds of what is real and what is imaginary with their friendly neighborhood street mime.

This play is a top favorite of a lot of high schools and/or colleges/universities and is often performed.

Artists in Action!
Watch a video from Armstrong State University:

Corybungus, © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

2 men, 7 pages, simple set
Fast Paced Comedy
(Non-traditional casting encouraged)

“Corybungus” is, according to a loony bookstore customer, a word mistakenly excluded from the voluminous Oxford English Dictionary. Chaos ensues when the customer tries to return a supposedly defective “OED.”

This fast moving skit is a loving nod to the Bookshop sketch done by Monty Python.

Artists in Action!
Listen to a radio theater version of Corybungus starring the playwright, Stephen Bittrich, and actor, Steve Sherman. (Note — there are a few “bad” words that have been changed for the high school version of the play.) CLICK HERE.

Brain Sucking, © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

2 men, 7 pages long (though it plays close to 13-14 minutes), Simple set.
Southern Comedy

Brain Sucking takes place on a back porch in South Texas. One man recounts his tale of alien abduction, while also admitting to some rather tasteless recent behavior toward his fiancée.

Brain Sucking was a finalist in the prestigious Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Ten-Minute Play Contest, was performed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and was subsequently published in Dramatics Magazine. This stand-alone 10-minute play is also the first scene of the full-length play, Home of the Great Pecan.)

Two Eggs, © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

4 men, 1 woman, 10 pages long, simple living room set
Comedy, a lot of physical humor
(Non-traditional casting encouraged)

Two Eggs takes place in an apartment building in New York City. While getting ready for a date, a woman has to contend with a pesky neighbor with a major personality disorder.

Finalist in Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Ten-Minute Play Contest, highly theatrical, fun piece with a lot of great physical comedy and a raucous ending.

Artists in Action!
Watch a video from the FronteraFest “Best in Fest” production of Two Eggs in Austin, Texas.

All About Biffo , © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

2 men (but you could substitute a woman), and 1 off-stage voice, 10 pages long, simple set
Comedy
(Non-traditional casting encouraged)

All About Biffo is a little like the movie All About Eve. A young radical clown challenges the spotlight of a veteran clown.

The fun thing about this play is the theatricality of the two actors putting on clown make-up during the piece. This is the newest play in the list and is gaining popularity.

The Queue , © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

2 men, 1 woman (one character has posh British accent), 10 pages long, simple set
Comedy
(Non-traditional casting encouraged)

The Queue takes place in the waiting room of a New York casting director. One obnoxious American actor does his best to ruffle his fellow actor, a Brit with a posh accent, before the big audition.

This ten-minute play was originally produced on 42nd Street in New York City by Vital Theatre Company in a One-Act Play Evening entitled Vital Signs 2: New Works Festival.

Jubilation, Mississippi, © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

1 woman, 4 men, 17 pages, simple set
Supernatural Drama (Like a Twilight Zone episode)

Jubilation, Mississippi is an ode to the great tv series Twilight Zone by Rod Serling. A traveler’s car breaks down in a small town where the entire population is preternaturally happy and meets a beautiful woman who tries to warn him.

The Proposal, © by Stephen Bittrich. Click title of play to read for free!

1 woman, 1 man, 7 pages (though it runs long), period costumes, representative set
Period drama

The Proposal takes place in Regency Era England (the time of Jane Austen). Julia Hightower, a progressive, headstrong young woman is cornered in the garden by a rich, rakish suitor who has a secret about her that could ruin her life.

This Jane Austen Era play was published in 2006: The Best Ten-Minute Plays for 2 Actors. It was first performed at The Drilling Company, Hamilton Clancy Artistic Director, in New York City in a one-act evening titled Security. The play starred Stephanie Cozart (as Julia) and Josh Foldy (as Mr. Ainsworth). The play was directed by Carol Halstead.

Review of The Proposal:
“The most successful works here are the simplest. Brian Dykstra’s Bells and Whistles and Stephen Bittrich’s The Proposal couldn’t be more different story-wise, but both have clear points of view… a marriage proposal is extended to a Jane Austen-type heroine who must choose between pragmatic comfort and societal ruin. Both writers have a definite take on the evening’s theme-Dykstra posits that national security is handled by ego-driven idiots, while Bittrich puts his protagonist’s stability squarely in her own hands-and both plays are done well by their respective directors and casts.”
— Michael Criscuolo, NYTheatre.com, June 16, 2006

1 woman, 2 men, 10 pages long, simple set, special lighting
Drama

Hole is set in a mine cave-in in West Virginia. This piece was originally presented in an evening of one-acts on the theme of “faith.” The three characters have different types of faith. The young Millsap has faith that God will protect them, Brody has faith in herself to find a way out, and Murphy, the old timer, is devoid of faith. A cool thing about this piece is that it starts in the dark, and is lit only with the light that the characters find throughout the piece. There is music to the Appalachian style song. Contact me for an mp3 of the tune.

The play was published in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2011.

Some Words of Advice, 2 men, 1 woman, 10 pages long (plays really fast), Brooklyn accents, simple set
Comedy/Drama

Some More Words of Advice, 1 man, 2 woman, 5 pages long, simple set
Comedy/Drama

These 2 plays are offered as a set for 1 royalty payment.

Some Words of Advice takes place on a subway platform in New York City. Joey tries to give some advice to his friend, Freddy, about a manipulative woman at work. This play is the hardest thing you’ll ever have to memorize as an actor! It’s very funny if you get the lines down cold and find the rhythm of the scene. One of the most “musical” pieces I’ve ever written.

The second play, Some More Words of Advice, is told from the point of two characters mentioned in the first piece.

1 woman, 1 man, 10 minute play, representative set
Romantic comedy

Cowboy South of Houston takes place in an avant garde art gallery in Soho (New York City). A cowboy tourist wonders into the gallery and gets more than he bargained for when he meets up with a feisty Soho native.

3 women, 1 man, 18 pages, apartment set
Comedy

Bob arrives to pick up his date, Julie, and is put through an inquisition by two intimidating women who seem to have an unexplained but close connection to Julie.

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