Nora Louise Syran

Nora Louise Syran

Nora is a first generation Norwegian-American poet, playwright, lyricist, songwriter, translator, and educator. A child of immigrants, she was struck early by wanderlust and has spent years living overseas teaching and traveling and producing theatre. She is a member of the SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques), the Dramatists Guild, and the Honor Roll! She studied under poet Brigit P. Kelly...
Nora is a first generation Norwegian-American poet, playwright, lyricist, songwriter, translator, and educator. A child of immigrants, she was struck early by wanderlust and has spent years living overseas teaching and traveling and producing theatre. She is a member of the SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques), the Dramatists Guild, and the Honor Roll! She studied under poet Brigit P. Kelly and mezzo-soprano Sylvia Stone at the University of Illinois. While currently based in Chicagoland; she is at home in the USA and France.

Her published/awarded/produced works include: THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE -- Next Stage Press // ELLIS ISLAND AHEAD! -- Eldridge Plays and Musicals // THERE ARE NO CLOSETS IN MY CLASSROOM Published in 2023 by Smith & Kraus "WE/US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters Anthology" and produced in June 2024 by Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective// Ragnhild's monologue from EINAR'S RAGNAROK --Smith and Kraus Best Women's Monologues 2023 // MADAME MEDUSA WOULD PREFER A CHARDONNAY -- Published in the Venus Theatre Anthology: Frozen Women, Flowing Thoughts // WALKING WARM was a semi-finalist in the TASN's 2021 Annual Short Play Festival // THE DEVIL AND THE DMV was produced and toured in October 2023 by the Heartland Theatre: Young at Heart and this May at the Berkshire School in Sheffield, MA// SPELLBOUND HORSES won second place in the Central Illinois Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters Screenplay competition in 1993

WEBSITE: www.sagascripts.com
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-louise-syran/
ONLYME: https://onlyme.io/u/syrscripts
EMAIL: noralouisesyran@gmail.com

Plays listed on NPX are in order of newest plays first, and then in alphabetical order with FULL LENGTHS (in caps)

Here are some suggestions organized by genre/theme:

Absurd/Spoof: Happy Days: Zoom

Adaptations: PRIDE & PREJUDICE: A Play with Music from Jane Austen's Songbooks // IN THE LIMELIGHT (collection of classic tales for children) // GOODFELLOW, ROBIN HOOD...

Comedy: The Devil and the DMV // Does It Bring You Joy? ...

Dark Comedy: Frogs' Legs (or The Glutton) // Man Cave: The North End of Euripides Street

French Culture: THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE // IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS (in English & French) // HOW MY PRINCE CHARMING TURNED OUT TO BE A FROG (series)

Fantasy: EINAR'S RAGNAROK (Norse Mythology) // GOODFELLOW, ROBIN HOOD

Holiday: THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE

Meet-Cute: 'A'OHE LOA I KA HANA A KE ALOHA (Distance is Ignored by Love) Triptych

Monologues: Ellida // Madame Medusa Would Prefer a Chardonnay // Does It Bring You Joy? // Between Hellgate and Long Island Sound // Speed-Dating: A Day at the Races // I am the Center of My Universe....

One Minute Plays: Out, Out Damned Bird! // Does It Bring You Joy?

All Audiences: THE PHYSICS FOR POETS CLUB// OUR FAKE HISTORY// GOODFELLOW, ROBIN HOOD...

Children's Plays: IN THE LIMELIGHT: Short Large Cast Plays - Adapted Classics (Volume 2 coming soon...)

Plays with Music: IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS // PRIDE & PREJUDICE // GOODFELLOW, ROBIN HOOD // HOLLYWOODLAND // THE GOLD RUSH... many of them!

By downloading any of the plays below, you hereby acknowledge that Nora Louise Syran is the sole copyright owner of these plays. None of these plays may be produced or reproduced in whole or in part unless permission is granted by the author.

NOTE: I'd so appreciate a quick email with any feedback you may have to offer! Don't feel you need to leave a recommendation to be polite (although they are nice ;) Feedback could be a question, comment re: confusion etc. Thank you for your interest in my work.

Plays

  • GOODFELLOW, ROBIN HOOD by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    12–27
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 12 more
    ·
    Keyword: Robin Hood, Medieval England + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, comedy, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, holiday, movement/physical, musical, pantomime, period, romantic comedy, verse, young audiences
    Keyword: Robin Hood, Medieval England, fight roles for women, comedic roles for women, ensemble
    1381. England. Thirteen year old Eleanor is in love with apprentice stonemason, Robert (Robin) DuBois. She's entranced by his carving of Green Men and leafy details in the church which make it like the Greenwood outside. She's also obsessed with the tales she hears of Robin Hood and would rather be writing these down than working on her Latin and French with the Reverend Mother of St. Mary's......
    1381. England. Thirteen year old Eleanor is in love with apprentice stonemason, Robert (Robin) DuBois. She's entranced by his carving of Green Men and leafy details in the church which make it like the Greenwood outside. She's also obsessed with the tales she hears of Robin Hood and would rather be writing these down than working on her Latin and French with the Reverend Mother of St. Mary's...

    Full length. Draft One. Feedback welcome.
    Needs a reading and development.
  • IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 12
    ·
    Cast: 
    12–30
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: feminism, large cast + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, immersive, musical, opera, period, romantic comedy
    Keyword: feminism, large cast, Impressionism, shadow puppetry, art, artist
    Full Length. A Play with the Music of Montmartre
    The French Impressionists --notably the "female artists" Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt-- as seen through the eyes of Auguste Renoir's model, muse and artist: Suzanne Valadon. Who was Suzanne Valadon? You may not know her name, but you know her face. Dancing for Renoir, drinking with Toulouse-Lautrec. Born Marie-Clementine, Suzanne Valadon...
    Full Length. A Play with the Music of Montmartre
    The French Impressionists --notably the "female artists" Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt-- as seen through the eyes of Auguste Renoir's model, muse and artist: Suzanne Valadon. Who was Suzanne Valadon? You may not know her name, but you know her face. Dancing for Renoir, drinking with Toulouse-Lautrec. Born Marie-Clementine, Suzanne Valadon was an illegitimate school drop out who "grew up with giants!" She lived in Montmartre, Paris and after falling from the trapeze in the circus went on to model for painters Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Berthe Morisot, among others. She inspired Edgar Degas who announced her "indeed one of us."

    Valdon's friend, Aristide Bruant, of Chat Noir fame, leads an ensemble cast in bringing to life some of the beautiful melodies of Montmartre. It's been a great honor to breathe new life into them by translating/adapting them into English.

    Citations of the painters throughout the play are in italics

    Songs to update: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbjMf0v8IS8hheWhqQYi4H14KerMXKKJ2
    Also to update: projection images: https://youtu.be/ObPVtpR-HoY (from original 2018 one act)
  • I am the Center of My Universe by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    1–18
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: expansion of the universe, loneliness + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, experimental, radio drama, zoom
    Keyword: expansion of the universe, loneliness, creativity, VanGogh, Monet, dog, connection
    A monologue about a woman, the universe and her dog.

    *Broadcast January 2024 Radio Six International through the Writer's Block Radio Hour produced by Glen Dickson (now available on youtube: https://youtu.be/slpjYoIJQDs?feature=shared) Read by the author
    AND -- better yet! -- read as a prepared cold read by Miranda Jonte on Back Porch Theater: https://fb.watch/rhiqLc3oWH/ I love how she finds the joy in the piece
  • Speed-Dating: A Day at the Races by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    ·
    Keyword: speed dating
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: speed dating
    (A monologue) A woman recounts her first --and last-- speed dating event.
  • Carpe Champagne! (from HOW MY PRINCE CHARMING TURNED OUT TO BE A FROG) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    Genre: comedy
    An Anglophone and French Partner celebrate life with a bottle of champagne...better left corked.
    (Post reading edits... Will load soon)
  • Oh, Mince (Pies)! (from HOW MY PRINCE CHARMING TURNED OUT TO BE A FROG) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: mice, christmas
    Genre: comedy, holiday, romantic comedy
    Keyword: mice, christmas
    (short) An ANGLOPHONE and their FRENCH PARTNER get the house, and garage, ready for Christmas. But they have mice...or is that mouses?
  • That Wasn't Mistletoe (from HOW MY PRINCE CHARMING TURNED OUT TO BE A FROG) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 10
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: holly, mistletoe + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, holiday, romantic comedy
    Keyword: holly, mistletoe, egg nog, Christmas holiday, French, misunderstanding, two hander
    (Short) An ANGLOPHONE and their FRENCH PARTNER prepare for the holidays.
  • 'A'ohe loa i ka hana a ke aloha (Distance is Ignored by Love): A Tropical Triptych (One Act) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Hawaii, piano bar + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, musical, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Hawaii, piano bar, cocktails, moon, love, romance, grief, longing, meet cute, loneliness
    (~40 minutes) A female tourist in an Hawaiian hotel piano bar lounge is transported to the past to revisit her brief but enduring love affair with a talented local piano player.
    --The first of the three plays was written for the February 2022 Go Try Play Write competition co-sponsored by Kumu Kahua Theatre & Bamboo Ridge Press. Received a wonderful online reading.
    --This first draft of the...
    (~40 minutes) A female tourist in an Hawaiian hotel piano bar lounge is transported to the past to revisit her brief but enduring love affair with a talented local piano player.
    --The first of the three plays was written for the February 2022 Go Try Play Write competition co-sponsored by Kumu Kahua Theatre & Bamboo Ridge Press. Received a wonderful online reading.
    --This first draft of the triptych received another online reading with this same inspiring group May 24, 2023.

    The FULL LENGTH version: https://newplayexchange.org/plays/3064461/aohe-loa-i-ka-hana-ke-aloha-distance-ignored-love-tropical-triptych-full-length
  • 'A'OHE LOA I KA HANA A KE ALOHA (DISTANCE IS IGNORED BY LOVE): A Tropical Triptych (Full Length) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, romantic comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: climate change, grief + 3 more
    Genre: drama, romantic comedy, tragedy
    Keyword: climate change, grief, Pele, Hawai'i, meet cute
    (Full length) A female tourist in an Hawai'ian hotel piano bar lounge is transported over and over again to the past to revisit her brief love affair with a talented local piano player.

    The first of the three plays was written for the February 2022 Go Try Play Write competition co-sponsored by Kumu Kahua Theatre & Bamboo Ridge Press. Received a wonderful online reading.
    --This...
    (Full length) A female tourist in an Hawai'ian hotel piano bar lounge is transported over and over again to the past to revisit her brief love affair with a talented local piano player.

    The first of the three plays was written for the February 2022 Go Try Play Write competition co-sponsored by Kumu Kahua Theatre & Bamboo Ridge Press. Received a wonderful online reading.
    --This first draft of the triptych received another online reading with this same inspiring group May 24, 2023 as the last two parts were also written in response to the monthly prompts
  • Between Hellgate and Long Island Sound by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama, period
    ·
    Keyword: Typhoid Mary, Typhoid + 5 more
    Genre: drama, period
    Keyword: Typhoid Mary, Typhoid, 20th century American history, Irish-American, 1900s New York, monologue, epidemic
    (A 10 minute monologue) Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary, tells her story to the new doctor she works with in the laboratory on North Brother Island where she has been held in isolation for 18 years --and where she'll live a total of 26 years, until the end of her life. She escaped once and continued to cook even though under strict orders not to. She's believed to have infected hundreds with typhoid...
    (A 10 minute monologue) Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary, tells her story to the new doctor she works with in the laboratory on North Brother Island where she has been held in isolation for 18 years --and where she'll live a total of 26 years, until the end of her life. She escaped once and continued to cook even though under strict orders not to. She's believed to have infected hundreds with typhoid fever and it has been confirmed she killed three people. But while other asymptomatic typhoid carriers carried on with their lives in New York City, which she could see from her prison on North Brother Island, she was never released. Was it because she was a single, Irish female? Or just another poor soul lost in the shuffle... (Words in italics are hers.)
  • The Devil and the DMV by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 18
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: devil, DMV + 5 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: devil, DMV, hell, Driving, hotrod, corruption, circlesofhell
    (A ten minute play) The Devil arrives in another circle of hell, the department of motor vehicles, to renew his driver's license. How hard can it be? For Hell's sake, he has been driving since Henry Ford rolled his Model T off the assembly line. But no one, not even the Devil trapped in his own circles of Hell, is above the law.

    Performed at the Heartland Theatre --Young at Heart-- October 18 and 20, 2023
  • Does it Bring You Joy? (A Monologue) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 10
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: shopping, Samuel Beckett + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, satire
    Keyword: shopping, Samuel Beckett, happy days, joy, consumption, clothing, Marie Kondo
    (A 6 minute Monologue) Edith sits waist high in a pile of cheap looking clothing while her husband is having dinner with the neighbours next door.

    You can see Miranda Jonte present a cold reading of it on Back Porch Theatre: https://fb.watch/iR60ZbIp47/
  • Does It Bring You Joy? (a one minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: one minute play, laundry + 1 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: one minute play, laundry, Marie Kondo
    A teenage girl learns a little about life from a load of laundry.
  • Does It Bring You Joy? (a short play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    ·
    Keyword: social media influence, Marie Kondo + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: social media influence, Marie Kondo, fashion, sustainability, plastic contamination, single parenting
    A teenage girl is cleaning her bedroom. She becomes overwhelmed with social media pressure and her parent steps in to help.
  • EINAR'S RAGNAROK by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    18–41
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 6 more
    ·
    Keyword: Christian, Iceland + 8 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, movement/physical, period
    Keyword: Christian, Iceland, Norse mythology, mythology, large cast, flexible staging, Flexible Casting, dyslexia, neuro-divergent, tya
    (FULL LENGTH) Iceland 1000AD. Midsummer's Eve. While the Christians and the Pagans are fighting, Einar--a poet who cannot write--turns to the magical power of stories. Discover the frightening, sorrowful and hilarious world of norse mythology. Ragnarok is not the end, but the beginning.

    Raghnild's monologue has been included in the Smith & Kraus Best Women's Monologues of 2023...
    (FULL LENGTH) Iceland 1000AD. Midsummer's Eve. While the Christians and the Pagans are fighting, Einar--a poet who cannot write--turns to the magical power of stories. Discover the frightening, sorrowful and hilarious world of norse mythology. Ragnarok is not the end, but the beginning.

    Raghnild's monologue has been included in the Smith & Kraus Best Women's Monologues of 2023 collection.
    ---
    This story takes place between two worlds: Asgard, the home of the gods, and Midgard, where men live. It is 1000AD. At the Althing, Iceland votes to become Christian. The world is changing and to change with it, Einar is learning to write down the old stories. Funny stories of Thor and his hammer and sorrowful ones like the death of Baldr. But the bad is always balanced by the good and we learn that Ragnarok is not only the end, but also a beginning.
    -----------
    Ragnarok are the events that result in the end of the world signalled by the god Heimdallr sounding his horn. Then Yggdrasill, the tree which holds the nine worlds together, will fall and the trickster god Loki's wolf Fenrir and the World Serpent will destroy the gods of Asgard. To hold off Ragnarok, the gods do everything in their power to fight fate: Freyja's handmaidens ask the cosmos to protect Odin and Freya's son Baldr, Idunn keeps the gods young with her magic apples, Thor fights giants with his hammer, a wall is built to keep themselves safe and Loki is finally punished, held beneath the earth below a giant snake, dripping poison.
  • Ellida by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: The Lady From the Sea, sailing + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: The Lady From the Sea, sailing, Ibsen, Ellida, fjord, sea, drowning, love, hypothermia, Norway
    (A 5 minute monologue) Ellida treads water in a Norwegian fjord during a long week of sailing camp. She's already failed the rowing exercise and camping out on a rock all night under a sun that doesn't set. She can drown or swim in and give up; she's not giving up. Inspired by Henrik Ibsen's "The Lady From the Sea"
  • Ellis Island Ahead! by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    10–40
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: Kahlil Gibran, Titanic + 8 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, period, young audiences
    Keyword: Kahlil Gibran, Titanic, Emmeline Pankhurst, Irving Berlin, immigration, American Irish, Italian American, Ellis Island, large cast, flexible cast
    30-50 minutes. Optional scenes. PUBLISHED by Eldridge Plays and Musicals.
    1954. On the eve of the closing of Ellis Island, two teenagers sneak inside to see it for themselves. Through the stories of the janitor--from his time as an inspector on the island--two teenagers, an Italian-American and an Irish-American, are drawn into the past and join an ensemble of people from all nationalities and...
    30-50 minutes. Optional scenes. PUBLISHED by Eldridge Plays and Musicals.
    1954. On the eve of the closing of Ellis Island, two teenagers sneak inside to see it for themselves. Through the stories of the janitor--from his time as an inspector on the island--two teenagers, an Italian-American and an Irish-American, are drawn into the past and join an ensemble of people from all nationalities and backgrounds including Irving Berlin and Khalil Gibran and many, many others : each on the path of their "pursuit of happiness." A timely piece, celebrating America as a country of immigrants. A play with music.
  • The Frogs' Revenge by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: frogs, frogs' legs + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, horror
    Keyword: frogs, frogs' legs, France, restaurant, revenge, horror, halloween
    (5-8 minutes) A cafe/restaurant near a swampy, marsh filled with frogs.
    A Glutton sits eating plate after plate of frogs' legs.

    #tpcmonthlyprompt prompt: Haunted Cafe
  • The Gold Rush by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    11
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: california, gold rush + 5 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, period, young audiences
    Keyword: california, gold rush, American Western, mini-musical, Wells Fargo, STAGECOACH, cross dressing
    (40 minutes) California 1856. The Gold Rush, which brought people to California from all over the world, is slowly winding down. The Wells Fargo Stagecoach has just come into town and with it, news from the rest of the world. Join sweet Betsy from Pike, Charlotte “Charley” the stage coach driver, Clementine, the miner's daughter, Sewati of the Miwok tribe, Calamity Jane and Angeline the baker as they plot...
    (40 minutes) California 1856. The Gold Rush, which brought people to California from all over the world, is slowly winding down. The Wells Fargo Stagecoach has just come into town and with it, news from the rest of the world. Join sweet Betsy from Pike, Charlotte “Charley” the stage coach driver, Clementine, the miner's daughter, Sewati of the Miwok tribe, Calamity Jane and Angeline the baker as they plot to rid their town of a corrupt sheriff...

    This script worked well just as it is, but I'll be editing it to make the casting more flexible.
  • THE GREEKS HAD A THING FOR THE LETTER P: Phaeton, Prometheus & Pandora, Persephone by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    12–26
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: Phaeton, PRometheus + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, fable/folktale, period, tragedy, young audiences
    Keyword: Phaeton, PRometheus, Pandora, Persephone
    (Frame story under development for a full length TYA play) Poor bullied and fatherless Phaeton visits his father Phoebus Apollo in the Palace of the Sun and takes his car of fire out for a spin... Defying Zeus, Prometheus gives fire to his human creations and as punishment ends up with Ethon the Eagle who doesn't care much for liver... Eros, the son of the vain goddess Aphrodite, has shot an arrow at the...
    (Frame story under development for a full length TYA play) Poor bullied and fatherless Phaeton visits his father Phoebus Apollo in the Palace of the Sun and takes his car of fire out for a spin... Defying Zeus, Prometheus gives fire to his human creations and as punishment ends up with Ethon the Eagle who doesn't care much for liver... Eros, the son of the vain goddess Aphrodite, has shot an arrow at the Lord of the Underworld, Hades, who has fallen in love with Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, and taken her down into the Underworld with him. What possible good will come of this?
  • Happy Days: Zoom (A parody of the absurd) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: zoom, Samuel Beckett + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, dark comedy, parody/spoof, zoom
    Keyword: zoom, Samuel Beckett, Beckett, actor, audition, COVID, happy days, absurd, black lives matter
    (15 minutes) A short zoom play: a parody of the absurd based on Beckett's "Happy Days". An actor crashes a family Zoom session thinking it's an audition. While Millennial Millie tries to explain to him that he's made a mistake, Millie's mother Winnie greets it all--the computer, husband and daughter who don't need, see or hear her-- and the intruding thespian, with...
    (15 minutes) A short zoom play: a parody of the absurd based on Beckett's "Happy Days". An actor crashes a family Zoom session thinking it's an audition. While Millennial Millie tries to explain to him that he's made a mistake, Millie's mother Winnie greets it all--the computer, husband and daughter who don't need, see or hear her-- and the intruding thespian, with overwhelming optimism. (Revised Draft: July 18 2022)
  • Hollywoodland by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    18
    ·
    Genre: comedy, musical + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Hollywood, 1920s + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, musical, period, romantic comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: Hollywood, 1920s, Modernity, dreams, Broadway, mini musical, Charleston, large cast, strong female lead roles
    (30 minutes) Four girls with broken Broadway dreams, leave New York and set off for Hollywoodland, California only to end up with a silent film director set in his old-fashioned ways, refusing to film a Talkie.

    A fun comedy with music, the Charleston and more.
    A mini musical: large flexible casting

    Cast of 18; 5-11M, 7-13F, 6M/F (A smaller cast may be possible-this is under revision)
  • I'm Not Dead Yet by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    ·
    Keyword: birthday, turning 50
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: birthday, turning 50
    (A one minute play) A 50 year old BIRTHDAY GIRL and her PARTNER receive a card in the mail.
    Just a bit of silliness to celebrate another turn around the sun.
  • Impressions of Paris (one act) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    12–25
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Impressionism, Paris + 7 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, musical, period, translation
    Keyword: Impressionism, Paris, French, Impressionists, art, critics, France, large cast, great roles for female actors
    (60-70 minutes: a play with music; ensemble cast of 12) Paris. 1877-1889. Meet the Impressionists.
    Anyone doing something new seems crazy. Claude Monet feverishly paints the departing trains of the Gare St Lazare. Berthe Morisot paints alone outdoors. Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt bicker like an old married couple. And Édouard Manet has been "skied" again while his infamous young model,...
    (60-70 minutes: a play with music; ensemble cast of 12) Paris. 1877-1889. Meet the Impressionists.
    Anyone doing something new seems crazy. Claude Monet feverishly paints the departing trains of the Gare St Lazare. Berthe Morisot paints alone outdoors. Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt bicker like an old married couple. And Édouard Manet has been "skied" again while his infamous young model, Victorine Meurent, herself has become a painter. Paris is changing, yet only the men are free to debate at the Café Guerbois while the women attend the opera for matinee performances only, and are "inevitably boxed-in. Only [their] eyes may wander." Meanwhile in the freedom of the marketplace, a young artist meets the beautiful former circus performer Suzanne Valadon, Auguste Renoir's model and herself a celebrated painter.

    Using the paintings, the artists' own words and the music of the time, the play captures the ephemerality of the Impressionist movement and transports us into the future as the Impressionists visit the 1889 World Exhibition. There Monet discovers his waterlilies and the Eiffel Tower is beautiful in the eyes of the young Julie Manet who like her famous uncle believes “you must be of your time and paint what you see.”

    This one hour play is being expanded to full length.
  • Impressions of Paris (sous révision) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    11–25
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: impressionist, Painting + 8 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, musical, period, translation
    Keyword: impressionist, Painting, future, blindness, Manet, Monet, Berthe Morisot, Degas, Mary Cassatt, Renoir
    (60 -70 minutes) Une jeune artiste assiste à une conférence sur l'art et se retrouve transportée dans le Paris du XIXe siècle où elle rencontre les impressionnistes : Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas et leur inspiration : Édouard Manet. En utilisant les tableaux, les propres mots des artistes et la musique de l'époque, la pièce capture l'éphémérité du...
    (60 -70 minutes) Une jeune artiste assiste à une conférence sur l'art et se retrouve transportée dans le Paris du XIXe siècle où elle rencontre les impressionnistes : Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas et leur inspiration : Édouard Manet. En utilisant les tableaux, les propres mots des artistes et la musique de l'époque, la pièce capture l'éphémérité du mouvement impressionniste et nous transporte dans le futur.
  • Invisible Woman by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 6
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: tourism, being invisible + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: tourism, being invisible, Women over fifty
    A female tourist sits crouched before a locked hotel door while her host knocks repeatedly on the other side.
  • It Is in the Wall by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: horror, radio drama
    ·
    Keyword: horror, halloween + 3 more
    Genre: horror, radio drama
    Keyword: horror, halloween, ghosts, Ouija board, audio play
    Three teenagers sit on the floor of a small church bathroom with a Ouiji board set up before them when the light suddenly switches off. But it's no longer hide and seek in the dark bathroom during choir practice like when they were young; it's serious. And there is a strange scratching come from inside the wall...
    (Audio/Stage Play)
  • IN THE LIMELIGHT: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children of All Ages -Volume One by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    31
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: fairy tale, plays for children + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: fairy tale, plays for children, animals, Aesop's fables, folk tales, Arabian Nights, large cast, Short plays
    Have a large cast? Need speaking roles for everyone? Want everyone to shine? Love the classics but want something new and challenging as well? Here are ten short plays for large casts in which everyone gets a spot
    IN THE LIMELIGHT! (Volume One)

    Aesop's Fabulous Fables (Cast of 21-23 — Running time ~8-10 minutes)
    The Boy Who Cried Wolf on Old MacDonald's Farm (...
    Have a large cast? Need speaking roles for everyone? Want everyone to shine? Love the classics but want something new and challenging as well? Here are ten short plays for large casts in which everyone gets a spot
    IN THE LIMELIGHT! (Volume One)

    Aesop's Fabulous Fables (Cast of 21-23 — Running time ~8-10 minutes)
    The Boy Who Cried Wolf on Old MacDonald's Farm (Cast of 21-24 — Running time ~15 minutes)
    The Bremen Town Mashup (Cast of 24-31 — Running time ~15 minutes)
    Jack and the Beanstalk of Banbury Cross (Cast of 24-26 — Running time ~ 20-25 minutes)
    The Princess Paradigm and the Pea (Cast of 21-24 — Running time ~12-15 minutes)
    She/herazade's 1001 Nights (Cast of 23-27 — Running time ~20-25 minutes)
    The Sky is Falling! (Cast of 20-22 — Running time ~10-12 minutes)
    The Stonecutter (Cast of 17-23 — Running time ~10-12 minutes)
    The Tale of the Name of the Tree (Cast of 20-25 — Running time ~12 minutes)
    Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Our Ears (Cast of 13+ — Running time ~5-8 minutes)

    This is the pre-publication version.
  • Madame Medusa Would Prefer a Chardonnay by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, fable/folktale + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Medusa, PERSEUS + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, fable/folktale, period, tragedy
    Keyword: Medusa, PERSEUS, alchemy, gorgon, stone, time, wine, hero, Birth, loneliness
    (A 10 minute monologue) Medusa sits waiting as the last of a long line of heroes attempts to cut off her head.
    This time she just might let him. But she'd like to sit and talk for a bit first...

    To be published in the Venus Theatre Anthology: Frozen Women, Flowing Thoughts
  • Man Cave; the North End of Euripides Street by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, period + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Euripides, Socrates + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, period, political
    Keyword: Euripides, Socrates, Bacchae, tragedy, greek, allegory, inspiration, January 6 Capitol Riots, January 6
    (10 minutes) 406BC. Euripides is hiding away in his cave on Salamis, an island not too far from Athens. He is 74 years old and planning to move as he cannot bear to see democracy disintegrate and fall to the rabble. His good friend, Socrates, 63, arrives and irritates him with "Socratic" questions and coaxes him into revealing the plot of his next and last play "The Bacchae" before it's...
    (10 minutes) 406BC. Euripides is hiding away in his cave on Salamis, an island not too far from Athens. He is 74 years old and planning to move as he cannot bear to see democracy disintegrate and fall to the rabble. His good friend, Socrates, 63, arrives and irritates him with "Socratic" questions and coaxes him into revealing the plot of his next and last play "The Bacchae" before it's fully hatched. Athens is falling apart and Euripides wants to write about a cross-dressing king?! (THIS DRAFT IS UNDER REVISION)

    (Written in response to the events leading up to January 6th, 2021; the storming of the US Capitol.)


  • Maracaibo Mad by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama, political
    ·
    Keyword: monologue, Venezuela + 3 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: monologue, Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, Maduro, maracaibo
    (An 8 minute monologue) A woman stands looking out over the oil rigs on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. She's trapped. The borders are closed and there's nowhere to go but up or down.
  • The Mischief of Magpies by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5–20
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: Chinese folklore, magpies + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, movement/physical, young audiences
    Keyword: Chinese folklore, magpies, Milky Way, migration, forbidden love
    The Weaver Girl, Zhinü, and her sisters sneak off to swim in the forbidden Jade Lake.
    An English retelling of the Chinese Tale: The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd
  • No Theater Critics Were Harmed in the Writing of this Play by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 7
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: theater critic, people pleasing + 3 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: theater critic, people pleasing, playwright, writing about writing, writing
    (2-3 minute dialogue) A writer accidentally insults a theater critic online and tries to back-peddle their way out of it. The writer is gently coached out of their people-pleasing by their patient partner.
  • THE (NOT SO) NIFTY FIFTIES: A Non-Murder Mystery by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: mystery/thriller
    ·
    Keyword: mystery, 1950s + 6 more
    Genre: mystery/thriller
    Keyword: mystery, 1950s, 1950s Americana, classic cars, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, diner, communism
    It's Peggy Sue's birthday. She's turning sweet sixteen. She and her steady Johnathon E. Good have a date at the diner to celebrate. But things turn sour when Peggy and John E. discover his father’s brand new Shavy El Domino is missing. Will their paranoid Etiquette teacher Miss Molly and the other 50s misfits help him recover it before his father finds out? Or will John E. “The Bee” Good learn a...
    It's Peggy Sue's birthday. She's turning sweet sixteen. She and her steady Johnathon E. Good have a date at the diner to celebrate. But things turn sour when Peggy and John E. discover his father’s brand new Shavy El Domino is missing. Will their paranoid Etiquette teacher Miss Molly and the other 50s misfits help him recover it before his father finds out? Or will John E. “The Bee” Good learn a lesson he’ll never forget?

    (This is a NON-MURDER mystery-Contact the author for the full script, including the RESOLUTION!)

    Quiz and pre/mid/post show games/audience interaction
    A classic 1950s car to have on display for the non-murder event is highly encouraged
  • OUR FAKE HISTORY by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 7
    ·
    Cast: 
    17–29
    ·
    Genre: comedy, fable/folktale + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: History, Fake news + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, fable/folktale, musical, romantic comedy, satire, young audiences
    Keyword: History, Fake news, disinformation, great roles for female actors, bullying, large cast, flexible cast, TYA Musical, mean girls, high school students
    (Full Length)
    TRUE or FALSE?* 1) Vikings wore horns. 2) Napoleon was short. 3) Marie Antoinette said "let them eat cake"
    History comes alive as students learn that fake news is old news and disinformation can be disastrous. With the school principal waiting for the slightest excuse to fire the students' favorite teacher, Mr Parker, and Charlotte Locus manipulating the media...
    (Full Length)
    TRUE or FALSE?* 1) Vikings wore horns. 2) Napoleon was short. 3) Marie Antoinette said "let them eat cake"
    History comes alive as students learn that fake news is old news and disinformation can be disastrous. With the school principal waiting for the slightest excuse to fire the students' favorite teacher, Mr Parker, and Charlotte Locus manipulating the media to become Student Council President, will the students learn from the past or will they be doomed to repeat it? A trope-filled, historical myth-busting comedy, with a couple of songs thrown in.

    *FALSE!

    (This play has been edited from its original 2019 version performed in France. It is now full length.)
  • Out, Out Damned Bird! by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 13
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: pigeon, escape + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: pigeon, escape, Lady Macbeth, man and woman, dollar store, sensitivity
    (A very short tragedy) A woman helps a pigeon escape an overheated dollar store but not quite the way she'd hoped.
  • THE PHYSICS FOR POETS CLUB by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    8–31
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: ensemble, female leads + 4 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, period, young audiences, zoom
    Keyword: ensemble, female leads, tya, large cast, women in STEM, high school students
    (full length) Four teenage girls serving a detention for various misdemeanors discover that "we don't live in a clockwork universe, it's always breaking down." By exploring the lives of the female scientists, mathematicians and intellectuals of the Enlightenment and early Romantic period: Emilie du Châtelet, Mary Somerville, Nicole-Reine Lepaute, Sophie Germain, Mary Anning, Caroline...
    (full length) Four teenage girls serving a detention for various misdemeanors discover that "we don't live in a clockwork universe, it's always breaking down." By exploring the lives of the female scientists, mathematicians and intellectuals of the Enlightenment and early Romantic period: Emilie du Châtelet, Mary Somerville, Nicole-Reine Lepaute, Sophie Germain, Mary Anning, Caroline Herschel, Ada Lovelace and Lady Mary Montagu, the four girls come to a better understanding of themselves.

    A new full length version of the original one act.
    https://newplayexchange.org/plays/1524436/physics-poets-club-one-act
  • The Physics for Poets Club (one act) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    11–26
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: enlightenment, female scientists + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, period, zoom
    Keyword: enlightenment, female scientists, stem, science, History, herstory, flexible cast, large cast, feminism
    NEW full length available here: https://newplayexchange.org/plays/3140717/physics-poets-club

    60 minute One Act For Zoom or Stage--Four teenage girls serving a detention for various misdemeanors discover that "we don't live in a clockwork universe, it's always breaking down." But as Voltaire's lover Emilie du Châtelet believed, it is the "best of all possible worlds....
    NEW full length available here: https://newplayexchange.org/plays/3140717/physics-poets-club

    60 minute One Act For Zoom or Stage--Four teenage girls serving a detention for various misdemeanors discover that "we don't live in a clockwork universe, it's always breaking down." But as Voltaire's lover Emilie du Châtelet believed, it is the "best of all possible worlds." By exploring the lives of the female scientists, mathematicians and intellectuals of the Enlightenment and early Romantic period: Emilie du Châtelet, Mary Somerville, Nicole-Reine Lepaute, Sophie Germain, Mary Anning, Caroline Herschel, Ada Lovelace and Lady Mary Montagu, the four girls come to a better understanding of themselves and their potential in the modern world.
  • PRIDE & PREJUDICE: A Play with Music from Jane Austen's Songbooks by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    18–30
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 6 more
    ·
    Keyword: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, holiday, musical, opera, period, romantic comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, play with music, romance, large cast, great roles for female actors, chamber opera
    (Full length) The classic story by Jane Austen woven with songs she wrote out in her own hand and is known to have played regularly. Ensemble cast. Piano accompaniment.

    Demo scenes/songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbjMf0v8IS8iF-3sEpxJE-ejWWDuDvt3R
  • Ragnhild's Monologue from EINAR'S RAGARNOK by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: ragnarok, Norse mythology + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, docudrama/historic, period, young audiences
    Keyword: ragnarok, Norse mythology, fate, Creation myth
    RAGNHILD, the teenage sister of EINAR, has been helping him write down his tales of the norse gods and goddesses. But he has avoided telling the end of the story which ends in the death of the beloved god Baldr and the end of the world, Ragnarok, and has started again from the beginning with the creation of man and woman from an ash tree and an elm tree. RAGNHILD desperately wants to hear how the story will end...
    RAGNHILD, the teenage sister of EINAR, has been helping him write down his tales of the norse gods and goddesses. But he has avoided telling the end of the story which ends in the death of the beloved god Baldr and the end of the world, Ragnarok, and has started again from the beginning with the creation of man and woman from an ash tree and an elm tree. RAGNHILD desperately wants to hear how the story will end but is frightened to write it down.

    Published in Smith & Kraus "The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2023" edited by Debbie Lamedman
  • Robin Hood & His Merry "Men" by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    18
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: Robin Hood, adventure + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, comedy, fable/folktale, period, young audiences
    Keyword: Robin Hood, adventure, Sherwood Forest, Maid Marion, Merry Men, justice, Prince John
    (45 minutes) Join a talkative minstrel, a feisty Maid Marion, Robin and his merry 'men' (all women save for the rotund Friar Tuck) on a fun romp through Sherwood Forest.
  • The School Dance by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    5–25
    ·
    Genre: comedy, movement/physical + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: school, dance + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, movement/physical, romantic comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: school, dance, love, wallflower, punch, wanting to be cool, shyness, carpe diem
    (A short comedy of 5-25 minutes*)
    Star-crossed lovers' orbits literally collide at a school dance.

    (Could be repeated 5 times with actors exchanging roles for a half hour length play; or recast each time up to 25 players--flexible)
  • Sitting at a Red Light in America by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 7
    ·
    Cast: 
    1–2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: gun violence, gun control
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: gun violence, gun control
    (A monologue) A woman drives with her teenage son to a gun shop in America.
  • Take a Deep Breath by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    3–6
    ·
    Genre: horror, mystery/thriller
    ·
    Keyword: halloween, horror + 6 more
    Genre: horror, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: halloween, horror, house of mirrors, Mental Health, seeing, facing fears, anger, facing death
    (short) Harriet enters a Haunted Hall of Mirrors where she faces the past and her hatred of Halloween.

    Written for the 2023 Playwrights Thriving Halloween Bake Off
  • There Are No Bad Hair Days (under revision) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, zoom
    ·
    Keyword: travel, lifetime + 4 more
    Genre: drama, zoom
    Keyword: travel, lifetime, cancer, carpe diem, bus, France
    Two women meet on a bus crossing the French-Italian border. It's stiflingly hot, wildfires have stopped the trains into Nice and it's getting late.
  • There Are No Closets in My Classroom by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 10
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: androgyny, classroom + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: androgyny, classroom, freedom of expression, nonbinary, gender roles, transgender issues, sexual identity
    (A Monologue) A teacher stands before a disciplinary board as one of their students has declared they want to write like Virginia Woolf. -- "Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Many people still are..."-Andrew Martineau

    Published in 2023 by Smith & Kraus "WE/US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters Anthology."
    Produced in June 2024 by Different Strokes!...
    (A Monologue) A teacher stands before a disciplinary board as one of their students has declared they want to write like Virginia Woolf. -- "Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Many people still are..."-Andrew Martineau

    Published in 2023 by Smith & Kraus "WE/US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters Anthology."
    Produced in June 2024 by Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective's for their 369 Monologues and Short Play Festival pt 2.
  • THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–24
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: France, 12 days of Christmas + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, holiday
    Keyword: France, 12 days of Christmas, Modern day fable, Hunters, wild boar, Flexible Casting, large cast, holiday
    PUBLISHED in March 2023 by Next Stage Press (60-70 minutes) Twelve short interconnected plays based in modern day France at Christmas time. Twelve stories set in Paris, Brittany, Normandy and Provence which weave together wild boars and hunters, swans on the Seine, partridges in plum trees, lonely lovers and more...

    "What a complete joy this cycle of short plays is. Immensely enjoyable on...
    PUBLISHED in March 2023 by Next Stage Press (60-70 minutes) Twelve short interconnected plays based in modern day France at Christmas time. Twelve stories set in Paris, Brittany, Normandy and Provence which weave together wild boars and hunters, swans on the Seine, partridges in plum trees, lonely lovers and more...

    "What a complete joy this cycle of short plays is. Immensely enjoyable on so many levels; funny, moving, informative but full of atmosphere and Christmas cheer. A sparkling seasonal gem."
    -- Paul Smith, playwright and critic

    "These short plays are woven together to make one beautiful holiday blanket. They're poems. They're paintings. And honestly very inspirational."
    --Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn, playwright

    "I love the concept of using a song, lyric by lyric, to create a sequence of short pieces that form a whole. This has the feel of France and the comic tone meshes with the nostalgia for a holiday time that we all think we miss. This lets us revel in our own memories because the writer gives us the space and time to do that. Lovely work."
    -- Emma Goldman-Sherman

    "Daedalus and a wild boar in a Christmas tale? It works beautifully. And it doesn’t need to be Christmas to appreciate this story of care."
    -- Claudia Haas (of the first of the plays: A PERDRIX IN A PEAR TREE)
  • Walking Warm by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Chincoteague, ponies + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: Chincoteague, ponies, COVID, political, Politics, crabs, sibling rivalry, Sisters, QAnon
    (12 minutes) Three sisters reunite on the island of Chincoteague, VA. Tensions below the COVID19 crisis and growing political divide cannot help but surface.

    Written for the the PDC ten minute Bakeoff 2020.
    Semi-Finalist for the 2021 TASN Short Play Festival.
    Published online: https://www.americanpopularculture.com/review_americana/fall_2021/syran.htm
  • Aesop's Favorite Fables (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    6–21
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Aesop, tales + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: Aesop, tales, Morals, large cast, collection of shorts, animals
    Cast of 21-23 (8 minutes) An ensemble retelling of the classic tales. Includes the following fables: The Tale of the Popular Rabbit, The Tale of the Ant and the Grasshopper, The Tale of the Dog and the Wolf, The Tale of the Fox and the Crow, The Peacock and the Crane, The Tale of the Two Crabs, The Tale of the Mice and the Cat and The Tale of the Mouse and the Lion
  • The Boy Who Cried Wolf on Old MacDonald's Farm (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    21–24
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Little Red Riding Hood, wolf + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: Little Red Riding Hood, wolf, Fairytales, large cast, collection of shorts, the boy who cried wolf
    Cast of 21-24 (15 minutes) An original retelling and blending of two classic tales: The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood.
  • The Bremen Town Musicians Mashup (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    20–24
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: large cast, bremen town musicians + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: large cast, bremen town musicians, fairytale, mashup, hansel and gretel, snow white, animals, Goldilocks
    Cast of 24-31 (15 minutes) There's a lot going on in that cottage in the woods....Hansel, Gretel and Snow White lead a host of fairy-tale creatures through the classic tale.
  • Buckingham Palace (adaptation of AA Milne's poem) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    10–40
    ·
    Genre: comedy, period
    ·
    Keyword: A.A. Milne, Buckingham Palace
    Genre: comedy, period
    Keyword: A.A. Milne, Buckingham Palace
    They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace...pah-pum, pah-pum, pah-pum, pah-pum.
    This was a cute show for primary aged children. I am polishing up a collection of AA MILNE poems adapted for the stage so this was draft one which does not quite capture all the antics we added. Working on these...
    If you're curious and want to read more of them, reach out and I'll put them to the...
    They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace...pah-pum, pah-pum, pah-pum, pah-pum.
    This was a cute show for primary aged children. I am polishing up a collection of AA MILNE poems adapted for the stage so this was draft one which does not quite capture all the antics we added. Working on these...
    If you're curious and want to read more of them, reach out and I'll put them to the top of my 'list'--where is that list....?
  • Jack and the Beanstalk of Banbury Cross (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    16–25
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: jack and the beanstalk, ogre + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, musical, young audiences
    Keyword: jack and the beanstalk, ogre, large cast, fairy tale, collection of shorts
    Cast of 24-26 (25 minutes) "Well, first there's a family who drinks nothing but tea...with parents whose children can never agree. And children with parents too lazy to work.... and then we move on to the Ogre Family." -- Jack has lost his beans at the market. But he and his cow come up with a plan which ends up teaching the whole village a lesson or two about hard work and not judging (even...
    Cast of 24-26 (25 minutes) "Well, first there's a family who drinks nothing but tea...with parents whose children can never agree. And children with parents too lazy to work.... and then we move on to the Ogre Family." -- Jack has lost his beans at the market. But he and his cow come up with a plan which ends up teaching the whole village a lesson or two about hard work and not judging (even ogres) by their appearance.

    A rhyme-filled original play for the stage based on the classic tale. Full of fun characters and music.
  • A Day at the Circus (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts Volume 2: New Classics) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    22–27
    ·
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    ·
    Keyword: circus
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: circus
    (10 minutes) The circus is in trouble. Not even the solo acts can save it. And now the Ringmaster has fired the stagehands... What will they do? Join the clowns, dancers, acrobats, lion tamer and dare-devil for one crazy day at the circus!
  • The Counting House (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts - Volume 2: New Classics) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    10–30
    ·
    Genre: fable/folktale, period + 1 more
    Genre: fable/folktale, period, young audiences
    (10 minutes) Join a class as they count their way backward through classic nursery rhymes.
    An original play for young children.
  • The Land of Submarines / The Octopus's Garden (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts -- Volume 2: New Classics)) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    18–25
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: underwater, sea + 5 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, science fiction, young audiences
    Keyword: underwater, sea, tolerance, magic, anti-war, boarding school, forgiveness and redemption
    (10 minutes) The Octopus's Garden -- An age old family feud. Two children set off to find the Weird Sisters to set things right...Hints of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and the Beverly Hillbillies!
    (20 minutes) The Land of Submarines -- Sometime in the future. War. Students are sent under the sea to a "boarding school" for their safety. Their teacher (a shark!) teaches the children a lesson...
    (10 minutes) The Octopus's Garden -- An age old family feud. Two children set off to find the Weird Sisters to set things right...Hints of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and the Beverly Hillbillies!
    (20 minutes) The Land of Submarines -- Sometime in the future. War. Students are sent under the sea to a "boarding school" for their safety. Their teacher (a shark!) teaches the children a lesson or two about tolerance. Blends poetry, humor and an anti-war message.
    Themes: Underwater, the Sea, Adventure, Tolerance, Reconciliation, Education, Fear, Magic
  • Princess Paradigm and the Pea (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    18–23
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Princess and the Pea, collection of shorts + 3 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: Princess and the Pea, collection of shorts, large cast, fairy tale, Nursery Rhymes
    (10 minutes) "The King was in his counting house/Counting out his money...The Queen was in the parlor eating bread and honey..." and thinking of marrying off their son, the Prince... So begins the retelling of the classic tale.
  • The Stonecutter (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    21–25
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Japanese, folk tale + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: Japanese, folk tale, large cast, collection of shorts, Sakura, Noh, kabuki, hikinuki, bunraku, ningyoburi
    Cast of 21-25 (10 minutes) A Stonecutter asks for more than he should and learns a valuable lesson. A retelling of the Japanese tale.
  • She/Her Azade's 1001 Nights (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children)-(Originally Arabian Nights: Stageplays.com) by Nora Louise Syran
    Cast: 
    23–36
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Aladdin, magic lamp + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: Aladdin, magic lamp, Arabian Nights, sinbad, genie, Scheherazade, 1001 nights, folk tales, large cast, collection of shorts
    Cast of 23-27 (20 minutes) Sheherazade will not see the sun rise if she fails to please the Sultan with her story-telling. Watch how she weaves her stories together night after night, for 1001 nights...in under a half an hour! A large cast ensemble adaptation of the classic tale 1001 Tales of the Arabian Nights
  • The Sky is Falling: Henny Penny and Humpty Dumpty (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    20–22
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Henny Penny, Fake news + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: Henny Penny, Fake news, Humpty Dumpty, animals, large cast, collection of shorts, Chicken Little, disinformation
    Cast of 20-22 (10 minutes) Henny Penny (aka Chicken Little) overhears Humpty Dumpty's "fake news" and leads everyone on a literal wild gaggle of a tea-drinking goose, duck and fox chase... An original large cast stage play based on the classic tales
  • The Tale of the Name of the Tree (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    20–25
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: large cast, collection of shorts + 4 more
    Genre: adaptation, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: large cast, collection of shorts, plays for children, animals, African folklore, folk tale
    Cast of 20-25 (10 minutes) An adaptation of the Bantu tale. No one knows the name of the tree, so no fruit will fall...and the creatures are famished. Many animals try, but they just can't remember the name of the tree. Until the most unlikely of animals remembers, and saves the day...Audiences will be delighted to remember the name of the tree when the actors 'forget'!
  • Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Our Ears (In The Limelight: Short Plays for Large Casts-Adapted Classics for Children) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    13–27
    ·
    Genre: fable/folktale, young audiences
    Genre: fable/folktale, young audiences
    Cast of 13-27 (8 minutes) A Retelling of a Philippine myth; imagine feeling empathy for a mosquito!
  • A Perdrix in a Pear Tree (2 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: Hunters, partridge + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, holiday
    Keyword: Hunters, partridge, holiday, empty nesters, France, 12 days of Christmas, wild boar, Daedalus, kitchen
    (First of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    France. Countryside. Provence. A partridge fleeing local hunters stays safe in a couple's plum tree.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS

  • Two Turtle Doves (a 5 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: Paris, 12 days of Christmas + 5 more
    Genre: drama, holiday
    Keyword: Paris, 12 days of Christmas, pigeon, France, grief, loneliness, insomnia
    (Second of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    Paris. Wintertime. A woman tries to fall asleep to the incessant cooing of a pigeon outside her window.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS
  • Three French Hens (a 3 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: charity, faith + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    Keyword: charity, faith, Hope, love, 12 days of Christmas, Paris, France, Bûche de Noël, champagne
    (Third of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    Paris. A busy cafe at Christmastime. Three women gather to celebrate the opening of a charity shop.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS
  • Four Calling Birds (a 2 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: Twelve Days of Christmas, christmas + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, holiday
    Keyword: Twelve Days of Christmas, christmas, holiday, dogs, animal shelter, hunt
    (Fourth of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    France. Countryside. Provence. Four women walk their dogs in hunting season.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS
  • Five Golden Rings (a 2 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: christmas, holiday + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    Keyword: christmas, holiday, spirit, five golden rings, slot machine, generosity, Christmas carols, grocery store, France
    (Fifth of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    France. A busy shopper pays it forward just in time for the holiday season.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS
  • Six Geese a Laying (a 6 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: France, Twelve Days of Christmas
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    Keyword: France, Twelve Days of Christmas
    (Sixth of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    France. A maternity ward. An American Woman refuses to have her baby born on Christmas day.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS
  • Seven Swans a Swimming (a 5 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 6
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Notre Dame, foundations + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, holiday
    Keyword: Notre Dame, foundations, fire, swans, Paris, La Seine, breakups, restoration, mating
    (Seventh of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    Paris, France. Christmas Eve. A couple walks home along the left bank of the river Seine.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS

  • Eight Maids a Milking (a 12 minute monologue) #monthtoplay #winterlight by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: christmas, milk maid + 6 more
    Genre: drama, holiday
    Keyword: christmas, milk maid, dairy, cow, France, manger, Baby Jesus, Virgin Mary
    (Eighth of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    France. Countryside. Normandy. A woman milks a cow on Christmas Day.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS

  • Nine Ladies Dancing (a 4 minute comedy) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    ·
    Keyword: allergies, church + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, holiday
    Keyword: allergies, church, priest, Twelve Days of Christmas, Holy Spirit
    (Ninth of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    Cannes, France. Sacristy of St Patrick's Anglican Church.
    A giddy French Anglican Priest is helped to prepare for the Holy Eucharist by three English women of the Altar Guild.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS
  • Ten Lords a Leaping (an 8 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–29
    ·
    Genre: holiday
    ·
    Keyword: 12 days of Christmas
    Genre: holiday
    Keyword: 12 days of Christmas
    (Tenth of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    Ten short scenes revisiting the characters of the first 9 plays in the collection "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France"

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS

  • Eleven Pipers Piping (a 5 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: holiday
    ·
    Keyword: christmas, Bagpipes + 3 more
    Genre: holiday
    Keyword: christmas, Bagpipes, Brittany, France, Bretagne
    (Eleventh of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    A male music teacher in their late 60s leads 11 bagpipers at Christmas.

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS
  • Twelve Drummers Drumming (a 3 minute play) by Nora Louise Syran
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: holiday
    Genre: holiday
    (The final scene of "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France")
    A woman and her partner celebrate Christmas in France "à table"...which goes on for hours!

    To be published by NEXT STAGE PRESS