Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00/$40.00
Printed Music Score (piano/vocal) $50.00
33 pages text
C Y

By Mary Jane Evans and Deborah Anderson. Lyrics by Mary Jane Evans. Score by Ed Archer. A brilliantly theatrical adaptation of four favorite Andersen tales turning them into song, dance, mime and transformations. 7 men, 5 women. Neutral stage.

As a Storyteller sings of "Stories to Tell. Stories to Sell," he is joined by a chorus who spontaneously take up the action of a rhythmic rendition of "What the Old Man Does Is Always Right." Caught up in the fun, they then decide to enact "The Princess on the Pea." As this ends a skeptic sings of his doubts that it was a real story. To prove the power of imagination, the company transforms him into "The Ugly Duckling," becoming the other characters in that tale. "Numbskull Jack" fulfills the company's sung request to have a funny story follow the "happy-sad" Duckling adventure. A reprise of "Stories to Tell" reminds the audience that they've just begun to share the fun (and joy!) of Hans Christian Andersen.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
35 pages text
C Y

Adapted by Tom Behm from the stories collected by Richard Chase in THE JACK TALES and GRANDFATHER TALES. Five stories are presented by a cast of 6-16 in story theatre/audience participation style. Ideal for touring with unit set, simple costumes, and flexibility to arena or proscenium production.

The actors greet the audience as they arrive and introduce participation through mime and improvisational activities. The first tale is JACK AND THE NORTHWEST WIND and as Jack seeks the source of the wind and makes his fortune, the audience participates as the howling wind. THE BIG TOE is a humorous ghost story like those "jump tales" told around a camp fire. OLD DRY FRYE follows the misadventures of a dead body around the community with the audience joining in the refrain, "Everybody Knows Old Dry Frye." WICKED JOHN AND THE DEVIL includes six lucky volunteers from the audience in John's successful efforts at outsmarting the Devil. JACK AND THE ROBBERS is a popular closing story featuring a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster.

Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00
77 pages text
Y T YA

By Suzan Zeder. Bi-lingual play in American Sign Language and spoken English. Set in the 1920's - 1930's, in multiple locations we follow the childhood of Tuc (in the dreams of the adult Tuc) in a moving prequel to Zeder's acclaimed MOTHER HICKS. Time is memory. 10 men, 1 woman, 2 deaf actors needed. Multiple locations.

The play takes place in the mind and memory of the adult Tuc as he journeys through his childhood from the fever dream that took his hearing, to the language of nature which he shares with his beloved father, to the Deaf school where his mind explodes with the discovery of sign language. Along the way Tuc meets the mysterious Nell Hicks who heals with herbs and singing spells. He also meets Rosecoe who gives Tuc his name-sign and cultural identity, and Maize, a wild child of Deaf parents, teenaged and pregnant with a head full of movie palace dreams. After the death of his father, Tuc must navigate the perilous path of loss, love, and language as he struggles to weave a family out of wishes, and explores the moral ambiguities of our times and the cultural complexities of Deafness, with humor and compassion.

Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00
Printed Music Score (piano/vocal) $60.00
36 pages text
Y T

By Kate Paxton, creator of book, music and lyrics. A Russian Winter tale of courage, wonder, and jewels In the snow. A stunning success in developmental productions In Houston and elsewhere. A unit set may easily accommodate the two distinct locales. Seven roles which may, by doubling, be played by 2 women, 2 men.

This delightful and poignant story of young Tatyana and Zossin, her father, a stonecutter who lives at the foot of the remote and vast Ural Mountains, will warm the heart. The family has fallen on hard times, so Tatyana ventures forth with their Domovoi (the family guardian spirit) in search of the beautiful Golden Doe. Through extensive adventures the tale unfolds with vivid characters and beautiful music. An enormous favorite of audiences.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
80 pages text
Approx run time: 65 min+
Y

By Max Bush. A work of rare magic, contemporary adventure, and mystery in a realm of fantastical creatures. Gripping theatre for all ages. 4 men, 3 women. A forest setting in spring.

Casey Smith hires a young companion, Brian, to help him dig for gold on a forested site he has just purchased. In that search they confront the Hideous Spriggans, Guardians of the Hill Treasure; Lara, Queen of the Hollow Hill, and the enigmatic Bogle himself. Overall echoes the mysterious sound of doom, thirteen ghostly bells, dominating the wooded world. Contemporary reality merges with traditional faery-tale motifs and echoing wonders. For young Brian, the life-and-death events are a rite of passage from childhood into a larger universe.

Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00/$40.00
CD: Color Art Images Set for projection $55.00
35 pages text
Y T

Based freely on the work and early life of surrealist artist Rene Magritte, this is an unorthodox adventure in theatrical form. It celebrates art and the imagination, and the ways in which these help us confront life's mysteries. Here is the story of young Rene who wants to be an artist, a notion dismissed by his father as "a pipe dream." Encouraged by his mother, before her untimely death, the boy begins his quest, following his vision into the delightfully absurd magic-realism of his famous paintings. Boy and audience discover something of the true power of dreams and the triumph of imagination. This is a play adored by audiences, one that tickles the fancies of 6-year olds, appeals to 8th graders and adults.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
38 pages text
C Y

Dramatized by Charlotte B. Chorpenning. A charming comedy for children, with a sound philosophy, expressed in the children's own terms, by the comic antics of the lovable Bear family. 2 women, 3 men, 3 children. Two sets. Bear and folk costumes.

Papa Bear and Mama Bear, in an effort to make friends with men, dress themselves in man-cub clothes, learn a friendly song, and discipline their little cub to deal gently in his relations with Goldilocks and her parents, so as to overcome the hereditary enmity between the two races. But a disgruntled young Grizzly, who has been taught to regard man as his natural enemy, nearly ruins their plans, until Little Bear is able, at considerable risk to himself, to save Goldilocks from danger, and teach Grizzly how to be friendly.

This play, though not deliberately identified with Christmas, makes a charming Christmas play, since it takes place in wintry scenes, and is built around an exchange of friendly gifts.

Books $8.00
Royalty $40.00
43 pages text
Y T

Arranged for staging by Robin Hall. Story theatre versions of three Japanese folk tales. Company of 5-8 women, 5-6 men. Abstract set suggesting various locales. Happicoat-type costumes.

The three tales are "The Magic Fan," "The Princess of the Sea," and "The Little Peach Boy" - - all of which are as familiar to Japanese children as "Cinderella" is to us. The narrative theatre style is derived from the traditional Bunraku, Kabuki and Noh plays - - and the author, who has lived and studied in Japan, gives detailed suggestions for each aspect of production.

Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00/$40.00
45 pages text
Y

By Rosemary Nursey-Bray. Adapted from Lewis Carroll's classic, this exciting new play, with music, shows Alice going through the Looking Glass into a world of strange back-to-front magic. Optional glove puppet and Black Light Theatre interludes. One basic set. A flexible cast of 23, with most parts susceptible to doubling.

One sleepy afternoon, Alice, playing chess by herself, sees a real Red Queen through the Looking Glass. Stepping through the mirror she meets the Kings and Queens of her chess set. The whole world is marked out as a chess board, across which she must travel as a pawn. She meets talking flowers, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, sees Humpty Dumpty fall from his wall, meets again the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, and witnesses the furious battle between the Lion and the Unicorn fighting for the crown. The gentle White Knight rescues her from the cruel Red Knight, so that she herself can become a Queen. Or is it all a dream? A celebrated success in Australia. (See also: ALICE IN WONDERLAND by Madge Miller)

Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00/$40.00
67 pages text
34 pages text short version
C Y

By Aurand Harris. Written under a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. 4 women, 3 men, vaudeville entr'acts. One interior set. Costumes, 1915. (A shortened version of this play is also available.)

A TOBY SHOW brings back to the stage an American folk character -- Toby, the country bumpkin who through naivete, honesty, and homespun humor outwits the city slickers. This farce-melodrama recreates with traditional situations and stock characters -- as well as jokes and stage business -- a colorful segment of American drama: the traveling tent repertoire shows. Starring in the Cinderella story, Toby enacts a comic variation of the fairy godmother. With music and specialty numbers, the production excitingly evokes a Toby Show for children of all ages, allowing them the joy of experiencing an authentic example of American folk theatre. As the early posters advertised: A laugh a minute! A cyclone of fun! Toby, a stick of dyna-mirth!

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
58 pages text
C Y

By Pieter Scholtz. Tokoloshe Is a ubiquitous and mischievous river sprite who can become Invisible by swallowing a pebble. He is central in most African folk-tales and legends, as he is In this one, a modern yet magical story revolving about a young girl named Thandi. Space stage. Costumes may range from uniform jumpsuits or dungarees, to imaginative and fanciful as desired. 3 women, 4 men + Narrator and two Stagehands who may be of either gender, or 10 in all.

The heroine is Thandi, a young girl who catches a strange and wonderful fish - no less than Tokoloshe himself, with the powers of shape-changing. In return for his freedom the river sprite vows to serve Thandi. He saves her from the clutches of a malevolent Go-Go (her grandmother) and an unwelcome suitor. He also aids her search In the city for her long-lost father. The play ends with a magical and unexpected climax - as delightful to Western audiences as it is to Zulu children.

Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00
Printed Music by Barbara Bornham, if desired, at $40.00
61 pages text
Y

Dramatized by Sara Spencer. A literal adaptation of the Mark Twain story. 2 women, 6 men, 12 children. Eight sets. 19th-century mid-west American costumes.

All chief adventures of Tom and his friends are brought to the stage -- the famous white-washing, the school-room episodes, the graveyard experience, the pirate adventure on Jackson's Island, the return to their own funeral at the village church, the trial of Muff Potter, the finding and losing of treasure, the getting lost in MacDougall's Cave, the village rejoicing at their rescue. The frequent change of scene, which is necessary to portray the versatile adventures of these Missouri children, is easily handled with a few well-chosen set pieces to suggest the effect.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
Printed Music Score (piano/vocal)$30.00
26 or 32 pages text
Approx. run time: 30 minutes; 40 minutes with optional musical scene
Y T

Words, music and dramatization by Dinah Toups. Lyrics and music by Barbara Walker. This is a unique and fun retelling, in multiple styles, of the classic battle of wit and deception: Little Red Riding Hood. We meet Red (who is nobody's fool) and the wolf (who tries to be cool) and granny ––well, sometimes she's left in the dark!. 5 minimum, up to 30 with roles distributed. Good roles for young adult actors. Simple, suitable for touring.

Totally RED! begins with a humorous version in storybook theatre style, followed by 3 to 5 minute retellings of sections of the story performed in the styles of melodrama (The Perils of Being Miss Red); Elizabethan (Much Ado About Red), 80s Hip-hop slang (REDz in the Hood); and avant-garde (Call the Moment RED). There is also an option to include an additional scene in American musical style (RED! The Musical!) This play is as much fun for the performers as it is for the audience. VIEW a VIDEO EXCERPT from the play (Much Ado About Red)

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
65 pages text
Y T

By Sharon Whitney. A coming of age story inspired by the young life of Eleanor Roosevelt -- "First Lady of the World," at age 15. A growing-up story of a plain and miserably shy girl, who emerges as her own person with a deep sense of truth and fair play. 4 girls, 1 woman, servants are optional. Victorian set pieces and costumes.

A fearful Eleanor is sent to school in England where she meets an eloquent headmistress, Mlle. Souvestre, and girls with strong opinions. Gradually the girls warm to her shy innocence, but volatile Jane controls her. There is a humiliating showdown at a party, but Eleanor rises beyond her failure to plead for fairness for her nemesis, Jane. Jane is lost, but a new maturity is won by Eleanor under the wise eyes of Mlle. Souvestre. A powerful play ideal for high school or college students. There is no age to the matter of growing-up, in this genuine drama.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
29 pages text
C Y

By Vicky Ireland. A feisty enactment of the popular tale of a country mouse in a great city, turned into an irresistible play which became a national success in England. 2 men, 3 women for creation of 8 roles. Highly recommended in the ingenious "Story Book" setting described in the text.

William Boot, a country mouse, bored with rural life at his grandmother's house, Toecap Cottage, is visited by his city cousin, Monty, and learns that he has inherited Tallyhoe Lodge in London. Joyfully, William departs with Monty and runs a gauntlet of adventures -- among them a dangerous cat, poisons, traps, the wiles of two tricky twin mice, Snowey and the malicious Silver. At last, a wiser William returns to Toecap Cottage, grateful to settle down in his rural paradise. An assured success for young audiences when imaginatively staged, as both Liverpool's Merseyside Young People's Theatre, and London's Polka Children's Theatre proved.

Books $7.00
Royalty $50.00/$40.00
Printed Music Score (piano/vocal) by Kevin Dunn $40.00
39 pages text
Y T

Dramatized by Aurand Harris. An exciting theatrical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel. 1 woman, 12 men (some roles may be doubled), in 5 scenes or 3 suggested sets. 18th century English costumes.

Along with young Jim Hawkins, the audience sails abroad the HMS Hispanola for a daring adventure on Treasure Island. In a conflict between good and evil, Jim courageously faces danger, learns that evil can masquerade as "good," and matures from a boy into manhood. All of Stevenson's famous characters are aboard -- the good doctor and the Squire, the sinister Blind Pew, the marooned Ben Gunn, the infamous Long John Silver, and a colorful crew of buccaneers. Young audiences will thrill to the lightning adventure, exotic settings, sea chanteys, and the salty pirate dialogue that makes this new dramatization of Jim Hawkins' adventures irresistible in the hands of Aurand Harris, America's master playwright for young people.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
77 pages text
Y

By James Saba. A "now" play in suburban back yard, and rivalry between two builders of tree houses. Tension, competition, battle - - until peacemaking carries the day. Of large implication for young people today. 12 roles, gender assignable, as long as there are boys or girls on both teams. Contemporary casual clothes.

Corky Johnson's treehouse nested peacefully at the end of his large yard, providing comfort and secrecy to all allowed to sit in it. But when Corky comes down to his treehouse one summer morning, he is shocked to find that his enemy, Joel, has constructed a bigger and fancier treehouse in the neighboring yard. Corky declares war. The two leaders enlist teams and attempt to outdo each other. Tension mounts until the members of both sides decide that the situation is out of hand. They conspire together to convince their leaders that this "battle" is wrong. The teams learn about friendship, allegiances, and finally, peacemaking.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
36 pages text
Y T

By Virginia Glasgow Koste. A new dramatization of Mark Twain's great original. 27 characters (many possibilities for doubling). 5 sets (simplified, stylized staging appropriate). Mid-Nineteenth Century American costumes.

As the title suggests, the play dramatically focuses on the inner conflict of Tom one long summer ago -- a warm season of ripening, when the boy Tom proves his manhood, and the man (Mark Twain as narrator) relives his boyhood. Tom moves through the whitewash work/play enterprise through the school whipping, establishing his bravery in the young world, into the graveyard murder and climactic trial which tests his courage in the old world of life and death itself. Along the way are the escape into the playworld of Jackson Island, and the happiest funeral in all literature as the boyish "drowned" listen to their own eulogies. Widely produced and beloved, this version enlarges the option of producers.

Books $7.00
Royalty $35.00
27 pages text
Y T YA

Adapted by Aurand Harris from the play by Moliere. A superb adaptation for one-act play contests, classroom study, and mini-productions. 7 men, 3 women. Neapolitan costumes of 17th century. Open stage.

The comic tricks of that rascal Scapin, the farcical complications of mistaken identity, and the slap-stick elements of commedia dell'arte make this one of Moliere's most appealing comedies. In this short adaptation, brisk dialogue, short scenes, and mounting climaxes retain the joyous spirit of this French classic. The part of Scapin, an actor's dream, was played originally by Moliere himself.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
61 pages text
Aprox. Run time: 55 min+
Y

By Max Bush. Highly theatrical story of a Troll, Awful One-Eyed Slithering Zanies, and two Travelers and a Toy Elephant. A gleaming success in Chicago's Goodman Theatre production. 3 (4) men, 2 (3) women. Not long ago. Unit set.

The citizens of Trolltown obediently pay gold to the Troll to protect them from the Awful One-Eyed Slithering Zanies. One morning two strangers enter Trolltown, each on separate quests: Boult, a Traveler of Earth and Stars, a Holder of Knowledge; and Jack, a lonely, adventuresome peasant boy with his companion, a toy elephant. The Troll seems to instantly recognize and fear Jack, and demands that the citizens seize the boy for his own use. Together with Boult and Dana, the playful courageous daughter of the Applegrower, Jack confronts the Troll, discovering his true heritage and the power of his knowledge and vision.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
49 pages text
Y T YA

By Brian Kral. A serious play about the environmental effects of man's intervention in the Everglades, and a young man's reaction to a tragic "deer kill." Cast of 5 or more; 2-3 men, 2-3 women. Multiple suggestive settings, ideal for arena staging or touring.

A boy must make a life-and-death decision concerning the fate of starving deer during an ecological crisis in the Florida Everglades. Incorporating techniques of documentary drama and American Indian ritual, this imaginative play takes a contemporary tragedy in the Everglades and raises challenging questions for today's audience on the subjects of death, the family, and the environment.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
Printed music score is incorporated into the play-book.
77 pages text
Y

By Alan Cullen. From England. Completely wild English-pantomime-type extravaganza, for the producer who is not intimidated by the impossible. 23 characters of indeterminate sex, including dragons, trolls, gypsies, mermaids, as well as several humans (such as 4 women, 6 men). There is even a loose King's Head who operates an inn. 11 sets that come and go while you watch. Outrageous costumes and get-ups.

Trudi, a pretty country girl who has left her overcrowded home, falls in with a Minstrel, who invites her to join him in seeking entrance to a castle where they might sing for their supper. At the Castle, they fall afoul of the Baroness Von Grubelstein, whose magic book foretells that Trudi shall marry her son Seigfried. The Baroness plots to prevent this by disposing of Trudi, and when the Minstrel undertakes to protect her, they are subject to a variety of dangers from which they narrowly escape.

Books $7.00
Royalty $40.00
49 pages text
Y

By Aad Greidanus, translated from the Dutch. An exquisitely comic bit of folly. 2 women, 4 men. One exterior set. Folk costumes.

All is at sixes and sevens in the village square, where Alphonso Goldpurse yearns to marry the Constable's daughter Simplina; and Dophilius the Shoemaker pines for the Constable's other daughter, Sandra. But Simplina's affections are directed to Dolphilius, while Sandra is drawn to Mr. Goldpurse. And in any case, their father the Constable refuses to allow his daughters to marry, since he needs them to do all his work, so he can sleep. Into this scene comes Hoddell de Boddel, the rag-and-bone man. By a hilarious series of pranks, he convinces the Constable that he is seeing things that do not exist -- and by further fancy footwork he persuades the girls that they are the victims of hallucinations, common to unmarried girls. Then he induces the two suitors to swap clothes and exchange places. The resulting situation creates some delicious comedy, while bringing all to rights.