One Act Plays for Middle School

Choosing a one-act for middle school performers is not an easy task.

Middle schoolers are at an in-between point in their lives. They no longer want to be seen as “kids” yet many are not quite ready to tackle heavier issues. Play selection is a total “your mileage may vary” situation. It depends on each specific set of kids. Some will be content with fairy tales while others will want intense make-’em-cry dramas.

Here is a direct link to all of our one-act plays for middle schools.

Need helping picking a play? Ask our play concierge for suggestions!

What are some of the major factors our customers need to consider when selecting a one-act play for middle school?

Appropriateness

Appropriate is in the eye of the beholder. Standards vary depending on where you are in the world! Our customers request plays that run the gamut between requests to remove all references to dating from a play to our most challenging plays, some of which aren’t even on our recommended list of plays for middle schools.

Cast Size

This one is almost universal. A large cast size is important because many teachers are putting on plays with their middle school classes and everyone has to be involved. It’s challenging in the one-act play format, but not impossible!

Some of our one-act plays that achieve this nicely are:

• Funhouse. This large-cast play about bullying is specifically written for middle school performers.
• The Absolutely Insidious and Utterly Terrifying Truth About Cat Hair. A fun play with a long title and a huge cast.
• Shuddersome: Tales of Poe. A very large-cast adaptation of Poe’s most theatrical stories.
• Our competition version of Rebootilization. A cast of 27 plans to save the world from story obliteration. 
• Help! My Classroom is Overrun By….. A collection of mid-to-large-cast-sized short plays

Students Can Relate

The plays we publish and promote for middle schools tend to have mostly middle-school-aged characters (except in the case of literary adaptations). It’s important that the characters and the situations they find themselves in are realistic and relatable—not necessarily how adults see the middle school student, but how they see themselves.

The Play Stretches the Performers

It’s important that the play stretch middle school students as performers. But “stretch” doesn’t have to mean a different age, like grandparents. A quiet student can be stretched by playing a bully. A straightlaced student can be stretched by playing a troubled kid. These types of plays require a lot of discussion (sometimes students don’t want to be seen as a certain kind of character), but at the end of the day, educational theatre should be a learning experience. 

For example, our middle school play The Happiness Shop looks at the issue of middle school depression. This is a serious topic and allows middle school students to tackle a big issue in a theatrical manner.

The Fractured Fairytale Debate

Some of our customers say they love fractured fairytales for middle school performers, and others are sick of them. We think there’s a great middle ground for plays that explore the adventure that makes fairy tales engaging but are also written specifically for middle school students. For example:

• Slay. When a monstrous beast threatens her kingdom, a princess who can't slay dragons or pass a math test decides not to wait around for a rescue. 
• Treasure Island. An excellent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel. The epitome of adventure!

Or if you want adventure but not fairy tale, look for adaptations of ancient Greek stories. (They almost always have a big chorus for an unlimited cast size!) For example:

• Swoop. What happens when a clown looking for total freedom decides they want total control?
• Ariadne's Thread, The Adventures of Theseus and the Minotaur. A fantastic modern version of the Theseus and the Minotaur myth.
• Circus Olympus. A collection of Greek myths come to life. The script encourages liberal use of circus skills, and what’s more theatrical than a Greek myth and circus mashup?

Simple Staging

In our experience, the middle school budget is limited. The middle school play is more about putting as many students on stage as possible, rather than having the most elaborate staging. We got you there, too. We always aim for scripts that are easy to stage. Our running joke is that most of our plays can be staged with two chairs and a cube, and if you’re really pressed for budget, then one of the chairs could be cut.

Personal Taste

Sometimes it all comes down to choosing a play that you like, and that you know will work for your specific students. This is the main reason that every play on our website comes with sample pages. This way there are no surprises when you order a play for production, and you don’t have to order a dozen perusal scripts based on a catalogue blurb. We want you to pick something that you like and works for your situation!

Click below for a Scene for Classroom Study from our most popular middle school play, Hoodie, complete with close reading questions, staging suggestions, and character questions.