A play about baseball – and immigration. The immigrant-hating and baseball-loving sheriff of a rural Texas county faces a dilemma when he discovers a Hispanic boy who can throw a 90-mile-per-hour fastball. Cast: Ten – four female, six male, but three of those males have small parts. Note: One of the female characters is Hispanic/Latina, college student.

Two young women are bored with their lives and wish they were living in the Old West. They read a newspaper story about how there’s a lucrative black market for cacti, and so set off to become cactus rustlers. Adventure ensues, which includes a space alien. Cast: 12 – 7 female, 5 male.

Two orphan girls in Victorian London desperately want a proper Christmas dinner. At first, they conspire to sneak into a private club and pass themselves off as men. Their plans are frustrated by a retired military man, and two fellow orphans. That’s when they devise another plan that involved the mean old rich woman at the end of the street. Cast: Six – three male, three female.

A dark allegorical tale about modern politics and immigration. An American truck driver sleeping in his cab at a truckstop in southern California is awoken by two teenage girls, Sam and Libby. He thinks they’re truckstop prostitutes and tries to run them away. Instead, the one explains that she has rescued her sister from drug gangs in Los Angeles and is trying to take her home to safety in New York. The rescued sister is our allegorical Statue of Liberty. In fact, she has not been rescued; she has been drugged against her will, for reciting — and practicing — the poem at the statue’s base: “give me your tired, your poor . . . ” As the roadtrip across North American unfolds, we see that the older sister is not, in fact, a protector and rescuer, but rather her kidnapper, who is trying to brainwash her. Along the way, the keep running into another truck driver, who is taking the same route across the country, and a mysterious woman. In the climactic scene, Sam has hired a tattoo artist to blot out “The New Colossus” poem that Libby has tattooed on her. Just then the two mystery figures burst in — revealing themselves to be special agents for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who are mounting a hostage rescue and extraction to take Libby to safety in Canada. They are joined by a Mexican intelligence agent, as well, who they had previously met along the way at a truckstop. Cast: Eight — Five female (including who can pass for teens, and one Latina adult), three male.

A British drawing room farce, with modern sensibilities. The chauvInistic proprietor of an 19th century London newspaper must deal with a wife who’s a suffragette and a daughter who seeks own career, and an old school rival out to embarrass him. The plot concerns a series of dispatches being penned by an adventurer in Africa, which have made the Herald a popular newspaper. Unbeknownst to the publisher, the dispatches are actually being written by his wife, who seeks a literary career. Meanwhile, the daughter suspects something is amiss — goes to work for the rival newspaper to expose the fraud. Comedy ensues. Cast: Seven — four males, three females. Running time: Two hours

Note: This play is published by Eldridge Plays and Musicals, www.histage.com

A different kind of Christmas story. A 12-year-old girl in the United States, disappointed that her mother couldn’t afford to celebrate Christmas, runs away from home in search of Santa Claus. Along the way she meets a series of characters eventually join the search for her as she makes her way north, eventually winding up in Churchill, Manitoba. While this appears to take a “fractured fairy tale” approach – the girl meets three people named Goldie, Frank and Murray, there’s a shepherd out tending his flock, and so forth – the ending conveys the message that Christmas isn’t about Santa Claus at all. There’s also a talking moose, three talking sheep who steal a farm truck and a police car, and a talking polar bear. Cast: 14-16, depending on doubling: 4 female, 4 male, and 6-8 non-gender. One of those female is 12 years old; one of the non-gender roles must be able to play a horn.

In the early 1900s, some women started using their hatpins for self-defense, which led some communities to try to ban them. That's the backdrop for this play in which a group of women find themselves in jail for using their hatpins -- and decide to band together to fight crime. Cast: Eight -- five female, three male.

Two orphans in Victorian London pass themselves off as governesses. They find themselves employed by a minor nobleman who is trying to get his niece married before she's 21, so he can inherit her late father's estate instead of her. The girl appears quite mad but, in fact, is merely faking it to discourage suitors. When the governesses are instructed to get the girl presentable for a new suitor, comedy ensues. Cast: Six – four females, two males.

The birth of Jesus, in a modern setting. On the one hand, this is based on the New Testament accounts. On the other, it’s thoroughly updated: Joseph and Mary are Jose and Maria, two Mexican immigrants on the road to the courthouse to get their paperwork straightened out. The three wise men are three astronomy professors arguing over the nature of the star. The angel of the Lord is a pizza delivery girl named, well, Angel. And there’s a radio talk show host who talks a succession of calls from callers named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Humorous, but with a point. Cast: 20 — 18 adults and 2 children. Gender breakdown: For the 18 adults, 7 male, 8 female, 3 non-gender; the two children may be of either gender.

This follows Lila’s quest to become a lawyer. There are three different timelines, Lila as a working-class girl who aspires to go to college, Lila as a young adult secretly reading for the law, and Lila in 1967, living in a retirement home, when she is confronted with what could be her most important case. She takes an interest in an African-American teenager working in the retirement home and arranges to get her into her alma mater, Rosewood College. When the college closes rather than integrate, Lila sues the school – and finds herself confronting an old antagonist. At the end, the different threads of her life all come together. Cast: Nine – Five female, four male.

A Texas mother desperately wants one of her daughters to win a beauty pageant. Problem is, neither daughter is interested. The older one just wants to shoot her gun and the younger one is busy playing video games and hacking computer sites. To make up for this, the mom hires a pageant consultant, who turns out to be fake. There’s also a robot. Comedy ensues. Cast: Five females, three males.

A play about immigration, with a cast of two teen-age girls. Veronica is a teenager from Canada, whose father’s job has taken the family to Texas. She’s homesick for Manitoba. She meets Isabella, who turns out to have arrived recently, and illegally, from Honduras after a harrowing trip from Central America. The two girls know no one else and strike up a tentative friendship. When Isabella’s cousin, with whom she’s living, is arrested by immigration agents, Isabella flees to Veronica’s house. Veronica impetuously decides they should run away to Canada, which Veronica is sure will accept Isabella. That’s Act 1. Act 2 is their trip north, which is full of danger and unexpected developments. Cast: Two teenage girls, one Latina.

This is a series of short pieces about baseball, with two competing casts organized as a “home team” and an “away team.” There are nine innings, in which each team presents a short piece, five minutes or less. There’s even a National Anthem and a seventh-inning stretch built in. Casting is flexible, and there are some alternate scripts you can sub in, but generally count on needing seven men, three women, and either one boy and one girl, or two boys

The unauthorized sequel to Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Titania realizes that Oberon has duped her into falling in love with a mortal transformed into an ass. Furious, she plots revenge, to be carried out on Midwinter’s Day. Her plot, though, goes awry and many complications ensue. Cast: 12 – 4 female, 5 male, 3 non-gender.

FULL-LENGTH PLAY: Shakespeare’s Richard III redone in a modern high school, with the genders switched. Here, the third place finisher in the vote for homecoming queen – Rikki – plots to seize the crown. Cast: With doubling, this can be done with a cast of 12 – 8 female, 3 male, 1 non-gender. Or you can cast each party separately and do it with a cast of 20-24. Those would be 14-18 females, 5 males, 1 non-gender.

A small English town in the 1600s tries to put on a Christmas pageant in the midst of a plague. The troupe lost all its scripts in a fire the previous year, so director writes to William Shakespeare to see if he’d write a Christmas play for the town. Comedy ensues. Cast: 13 – 2 male, 1 female, 10 non-gender. Running time: One hour.

A modern re-write of Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” In this version, the Yorks and the Lancasters are battling for control of the family newspaper, The Sun. As in Shakespeare’s version, the Yorks have triumphed. Here, Edward is publisher, not king, and his younger brother Richard is the newspaper’s lawyer, who has little to do but plot how he intends to take over. The plot follows the one laid out by Shakespeare: Richard has the middle brother, George, killed — only this time it’s in a barrel of ink, not a barrel of wine. More murders follow and eventually Richard is installed as publisher, though not for long. The showdown with his rival, the distant cousin Henry Tudor, plays not out in a military battle on Bosworth Field, but a fight with golf clubs at Bosworth Country Club. Cast: Flexible, but best version is a cast of 23-25 — 9-11 males, 5 female, 9 non-gender.

This is the female version of Hamlet. It’s the basic Hamlet story, transported to a modern setting and with all the genders reversed. So Hamlet becomes Hamlette, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern become Rosie and Gilda, Claudius becomes Claudia, and so forth. Instead of being set in a castle in Denmark, this version is set in a suburban home — and opens at a slumber party instead of the nightwatch. And, of course, it’s told in modern language. Otherwise, everything’s here — the skull, the gravediggers, the poisoned swords, the climactic sword fight. And, because the genders are reversed, this script gives women a rare opportunity for a swordfight on stage. If you’ve ever wanted to stage Hamlet, but didn’t think the cast or audience would get the language, or that you didn’t have enough men, here’s the solution. Cast size can range anywhere from 13 to 20, depending on doubling. If 13 — 11 female, 2 male. Or the cast can be expanded up to 20 — 13 female, 6 male, 1 non-gender.

A wild, action-packed Christmas farce. A young woman suddenly finds herself receiving the gifts from the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” apparently from an unknown suitor. The play begins on the thirteenth day as she copes with the chaos outside her apartment, as neighbors demand she do something about the noisy birds and pipers and drummers. The woman hatches a plan to shoot the birds and organize the people into an impromptu Christmas parade. Chaos ensues. Cast: 13 — 7f, 3m, 3 non-gender.

FULL-LENGTH: A quirky love story, of sorts. The North Star has abandoned his post in the sky, tired of all the pressure. He just wants to have fun. He is pursued by three Arctic mermaids, guardians of the northern realms, who want to persuade him to return to the sky. They pop up in the backyard hockey rink of a teenage girl in rural Manitoba and persuade her, however reluctantly, to go after the North Star. After all, mermaids don't have legs and now that the North Star is inland, they're unable to do much. The girl agrees, but only because the mermaids promise to leave her backyard hockey rink, which they have punched through. Meanwhile, a neighbor boy has a crush on the girl, which appears to be unrequited. They often play hockey, which always ends with her knocking his teeth out. In the end, the girl and the mermaids devise a plan to persuade the North Star to return to the sky, and it all comes to fruition at a Winnipeg Jets hockey game. Lots of unusual costuming opportunities and physical humor. Cast: Seven – 2 male, 4 female, 1 non-gender.

An enterprising reporter exposes Santa's secret: His reindeer are all female but a misogynistic Santa has tried to hide that fact. Cast: Seven – 1 male, 5 female, 1 non-gender.

A young woman wakes up in a strange place — and discovers she’s had her memories stolen. Now that doctors have devised a way to transplant memories, there’s a lively market for memories — and a black market of stolen ones. The woman shares a recovery room with another woman, who specializes in “customizing” memories — doing things for rich donors that they’d never do themselves, but would like to remember doing. A dark, serious piece, which is carried primarily by the two women; the other characters appear only intermittently. Cast: Five — one male, two female, two non-gender. Running time: Twenty five minutes.

A college student housesits for his or her great-aunt — and the great-aunt’s beloved cat — only to wake one morning to find the cat has turned into a human and expects every order to be carried out instantly. Comes in both male and female versions — one with male cat and female house-sitter, another with female cat and male house-sitter. Cast: Three — 1 male, 1 female and 1 non-gender role that has only a single line during a brief appearance. Running time: Thirty minutes.

A teenage girl from the city goes camping in the desert – against her will – with her country cousin. They find a man bitten by a rattlesnake, and try to save his life. A look at what really constitutes toughness. Cast: Three – two teenage girls, one man in his 20s or 30s. Running time: 30 minutes.

A rookie flight attendant discovers a passenger, dead in his seat. The senior flight attendant tells her since he died in her section, she has to deal with it. The flight attendant devises one failed solution after another on how to hide the passenger, until finally she decides to throw him out of the plane. Fast-faced, with lots of physical comedy required. Cast: Five – four female, one male. Running time: Just under an hour.

The rat who was turned into a coachman to drive Cinderella to the ball in a pumpkin carriage — and then turned back into a rat at midnight — longs to recapture the glory of that one magic night. Or is he simply crazy? Cast: Seven – five females, two male.

The witches from Macbeth start rehearsing a performance of Shakespeare’s play, then get different ideas. Cast: Three females.

An allegorical Christmas story. A stray sheep leads two girls in rural Australia to a hidden stash of stars. Cast consists of a talking sheep, a talking dog and two teenage girls. Cast: Four – two female, two non-gender.

THE WEIRD SISTERS GO WEST
The three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth turn up in a western town and quickly bring order to the Old West, with a few complications along the way. Cast: Eight – four female, three male, one-non-gender.

A math teacher at a Martian school for girls teaches a forbidden subject – how to compute the rate of evaporation of the planet’s last, dying ocean. Cast: Five – one adult female, two non-gender adults, two teen-age girls.

In 1977 NASA launched two Voyager satellites to explore the outer planets and then continue on beyond the solar system. Both carried a “golden record,” a gold phonograph record containing sights and sounds from earth, in case the spacecraft were ever discovered by an alien civilization. Among the selections: “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry. Here's one possible encounter. Cast: Four – two male, one female, one non-gender.

A comedy about a vampire who turns up in Canada and is interviewed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Cast: Five – one female, four non-gender. Note: Three of those non-gender actors play a variety of roles. Some are male, some are female, some are gender-flexible. The traditional breakdown there would be one female, two male to accommodate certain scenes but directors should feel free to cast these parts however they wish.

A boy accidentally kills his father on a hunting trip. He goes to the River Styx, fishes treasures out of the waters, and then makes a deal with the ferryman to let him cross over and retrieve his father. The ferryman agrees, but on one condition. Cast: Ideally six, but could be done with as few as four — one juvenile male, two adult males, one to three non-gender. Running time: Ten minutes.

The traditional Christmas Carol story, more or less, told with each actor speaking a line of just a single word. Cast: Can be done with as few as six, or expanded larger, if you desire. With six, 4 male, 1 female, 1 non-gender. Feel free, of course, to use non-traditional casting. Runs about 10 minutes.

Based on a story from the Trojan War. After Troy fell, one of the Trojan princesses — Polyxena — was sacrificed by the Greeks on the tomb of their hero Achilles, to be his bride beyond the grave. Cast: Twelve — 2 female, 8 male, 2 non-gender. Running time: Eight minutes.

A parable about fake news. In this play, after the infamous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, the newspaper kept insisting Dewey really did win, publishing story after story about the Dewey administration. Now it’s eight years later . . . Cast: Four: Three male, one female.

Imagine if Richard III and Henry Tudor had met in a campaign-style debate instead. This time, Richard wins. Cast: 8 – 5 male, 2 female, 1 non-gender.

A goat wants to be part of Christmas. Dark comedy ensues. Cast of five: One female, four non-gender.

A man visiting Chicago has several strange encounters with iconic aspects of the Windy City – with a gangster, a goat, a cow, a bluesman, and several dead voters, among others. Cast: Six to ten, depending on doubling. If six: 4 male, 1 female, 1 non-gender. If ten: 4 male, 1 female, 5 non-gender.

A series of men trace how one of the Soviet Union's "suitcase bombs" was peddled on the black market and wound up in the hands of a terrorist who smuggles it into New York City. A chilling look at the potential for nuclear terrorism. There are three different versions -- one for a cast of six, one for a cast of seven, one for a cast of eight.

What happened before Shakespeare’s famous play? We begin with the birth of Lady Macbeth, and a curse put upon her head that sets in motion all that is to follow. Using many of Shakespeare’s own words, the play examines how Lady Macbeth became both ambitious and murderous, and how she came to marry Macbeth. Cast: Eight — Five female, three male.

A last-minute substitute attempts to preside over a Christmas pageant, which has devolved into chaos – unruly kids, a pushy parent, a church busybody, a kitchen on fire. And then there’s the foreign exchange student, who’s supposed to be the angel, who is in the restroom in tears because it’s her first Christmas away from home. Then something unexpected happens. Cast: 21 – 6 adults (four female, one male, one non-gender), 7 teenagers (five female, two male), 8 early teens or pre-teens (one female, seven non-gender.)

Two neighbors plot to see who can put on the biggest display of Christmas lights, with comical, and catastrophic, results. Cast: Eight — two adult males, two adult females, two teen-age males, two teen-age females. Running time: 30 minutes.

An Australian Christmas story. Sort of. A young girl decides that Santa should celebrate an Australian Christmas by having emus full his sleigh. One problem: They’re flightless birds. So she takes it upon herself to teach them to fly. Cast: Eight – four female, two male, two non-gender. Running time: 20 minutes.

ONE-ACT: A poor family in Ukraine has a tree but can’t afford decorations. Meanwhile, a spiders living in the house decides the only place safe from the cleaning is the tree. Santa turns her web into tinsel, delighting everyone. Cast: five – two female, one male, one non-gender. Running time: 15 minutes. (Not to be confused with “The Christmas Spiders,” which is longer and has more characters.)

ONE-ACT: A lonely woman tries to kill herself at Christmas by eating a poinsettia, convinced the plant is poisonous. It’s not, though. A male co-worker shows up and a touching scene ensues. Cast: Two – one male, one female.Running time: 20 minutes.

ONE-ACT: THE VOICES IN HIS HEAD
A nihilistic look at school shootings, and the role of social media. Cast: Four – one male, one female, two non-gender, plus many dead bodies. This is mostly a two-person show, one male, one female, with two or more police officers entering at the end. Running time: 20-25 minutes.

The story of the Odyssey, more or less, in which each line consists of just a single word. Ideal for a class project. Includes monsters and a talking hamburger. Cast: As few as 18 — 9 males, 3 females, 6 non-gender — or as many as 33 — 17 males, 7 females, 9 non-gender. Running time: One hour.

An allegory about immigration. A 13-year-old orphan has an American flag on her face. The orphanage tries to market her as a celebrity. A mysterious government agency has another plan – to test her blood and use it to replicate a new race. Cast: Eight – seven female, one male. Note that six of the seven females are teenagers. Running time: One hour.

A Southern family is divided over what to do with the family farm when the
patriarch retires. The drama focuses on the farmer’s youngest daughter, a
waitress and single mom named Virginia, who is eager to subdivide the
farm as a way to make her fortune. Her goal is complicated by the prospect
of a new highway going through the neighborhood – and the discovery of
Civil War artifacts on the site. The story deals with a variety of universal
themes, but also many topical references, from urbanization of rural areas,
the preservation of historical sites, and NASCAR. Cast : 11 – 4 adult
females, 3 adult males, 4 female children (two teens, two pre-teens), and
one off-stage voice which can be either male or female. Set requirements:
Minimal, although at various points you’ll need to create some aspects of a
kitchen and a diner.
• Finalist, Shenandoah International Playwrights, Staunton, Va., 2004.

Shakespeare had his version of Richard III. This is a modern telling, complete with press secretaries, pollsters, media coverage and cellphones. Beyond that, it’s historically correct. This consists of two one-acts, “The Making of the King 1483” and “The Making of the King 1485,” which can either stand alone, or, when put together, constitute a full-length script. Cast: 23 — 2 female, 10 male, 11 non-gender.
• Finalist, Peterson Playwriting Competition, (final four out of 300) Catawba
College, N.C., 2004.