The School Play Shopping List

You’re shopping for your next play. The stack of catalogues is to your left. There are seven tabs open on your computer from various companies. Your eyes are bleary. And if you have to read one more peppy description, only to be disappointed by the sample pages you may run screaming from the room. 

High School productions can have a pretty rigid criteria to follow. Maybe it has to fit in a classroom. Or it has to accommodate a variety of acting abilities and flexible casting. It has to fit a specific time limit. It has to be staged with minimal set. How do you make choosing a play simple and straightforward without wasting hours of your time?

Before you start looking at scripts, follow the recipe below and create a shopping list of ingredients. Corny? Sure! But it will help you avoid spending time on plays that were never going to fit your needs.

Click below for a School Play Shopping List Worksheet!

Base Ingredients

Start with the elements that will not change. The shape of your space, the general size of your cast, your budget, and what technical elements you have access to. You can eliminate a lot of plays just by mapping out the basics.

General Cast Size:

• Are you looking for a small (5 and under), medium (6-12), large (13-20) extra large (over 20) or maximum (everyone who auditions) cast size?

Shape of the Space:

• Do you perform in a classroom, gymnasium, cafetorium, proscenium stage, thrust stage, black box theatre?
• Do you have wing space, fly space or an orchestra pit?

Budget size for sets, costumes, props:

• Do you have a non-existent, small, medium, or large budget?

Access: Do you have access to…

• cubes, risers, flats
• stock furniture pieces/unique hard-to-find pieces
• costume closet
• students for set construction, costume building, prop gathering
• adults for set construction, costume building, prop gathering
• stage management, lighting operator, sound operator

Primary Protein

Think about the subject matter. A comedy is going to be a different experience than a drama. Does your administration like or dislike issue-based plays? Hone in on what type of play you’re looking for before you start reading. 

What if I like all types? Maybe you like all kinds of theatre. But at some point, a decision has to be made. Start the process with questions: 

• What did you do last year?
  • Or if it’s your first year, what was done last year? What was the response to the play last year? Do you want to swing in the opposite direction, or stay in the same wheelhouse?
• What do you like?
  • Never choose a play that irritates or annoys you. You have to spend a lot of time with it! There’s nothing worse than rehearsing a play you hate for months.
• What don’t you like?
  • Theatre is personal and subjective. It doesn’t hurt to avoid subject matter that doesn’t appeal to you. 
• Does the play need to fit into the curriculum?
  • Does the subject matter have to address specific curriculum strands? Adaptations and issue-based plays will be fantastic choices for you.
• Does the play need to fit within any admin policy?
  • Find out if there are certain types of plays your admin wants you to steer clear from. 
• What’s the status of your drama club?
  • Is this a rebuilding year? Large cast comedies are a great way to draw new drama club numbers. Do you have seniors who need a showcase? Think of a meaty drama. 
• What do your students want to do?
  • It never hurts to poll your drama club or class to find out what kind of plays they’d like to perform. You might want to assign the task of reading and evaluating scripts to seniors. 
• Who is the audience? 
  • The intended audience can play a huge part in play selection. Are you looking for something for competition? Do you want to try and draw a large audience from your community? Are you looking for something to do at feeder schools? 
• What is the purpose of this production? 
  • Always have a purpose for each play you produce. Are you rebuilding? Is this a fundraiser? Are you presenting a play on a specific issue? Are you competing? Challenging your students? Challenging yourself? There is no wrong answer here, but by defining the purpose, you can narrow the possibilities.

Flavour Enhancers

Once you’ve defined a subject, think about a specific genre. For example:

• Comedy?
• Drama?
• Kitchen sink? 
• Fantasy/Fable?
• Absurd?
• Abstract and poetic?
• Musical?

And just like defining what you like and don’t like in subject matter, do the same for genre.

• My favorite genre of theatre is………….
• My least favorite genre of theatre is………….

Once you’ve identified what you like, connect it back to your program. How would your students react to this choice? What would they learn? How would it help them grow as theatre practitioners?

Finishing Touches

These are the questions that don’t fit in the above categories, but need to be addressed because they’re specific to your situation. 

• Are there rules to consider? For example: does your competition have a time limit?
• What can’t be in my play? For example: language. Is there a policy on certain words and situations?
• Is there an actor you want to feature? 
• What’s the gender make-up of your audition pool?  
• How long is the rehearsal period?

I’m still stuck! Need more help? Check out Theatrefolk's free Play Concierge Service. Click the link to let us know a bit about your group or what you're looking for and we'll send a curated list of perusal play titles right to your Inbox!