Dramedy

Variable gender-casting. Flexible cast size. Excellent small scene and monologue opportunities. What more do you need? Box by Lindsay Price is a relatable middle school vignette play that you don’t want to miss. Sometimes we choose the way the world sees us. Black box – indestructible. Jewelry box – plain on the outside, shiny on the inside. Sometimes our box is defined by others – our parents, our friends, our enemies. A box built by others can feel small, confined, impossible. How do we handle the boxes imposed upon us because of our gender? Our race? From peer pressure? From parent pressure? Do we have to live with our box for the rest of our lives? Can we change? Director Bri Wehman had nothing but great things to say about her student group’s production of Box. The talented team from Wilson Middle School in Plano, Texas allowed their student directors to take themselves and their audience on an extremely relatable middle-school journey: “Teachers, parents, students… you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who isn’t touched by this script and its characters. We used BOX as a student-directed play for my advanced 8th graders. It has its challenges, it’s touching, and it’s very real-to-life. I cannot recommend this enough to any director or group considering it. TIPS: Embrace the use of your ensemble!”

Somewhere, Nowhere by Lindsay Price is a full-length play made up of four one-act plays. See the characters grow, change, and stumble through four seasons. Somewhere, Nowhere is a place to call home. A place to leave. The best place in the world. Nothing but a memory. How many of us feel one way or the other about the place we grew up? How many of us love or hate our hometown? Maybe it’s both at the same time. The characters in Somewhere, Nowhere face a dilemma: Do they stay close to home at the end of high school, or do they get as far away as possible? What if they want to do both at the same time? What then? We were thrilled that SerenaRae Stein and the drama group at Millwoods Christian School in Edmonton, Alberta shared their experience and fantastic photos of their production of Somewhere, Nowhere with us. They were able to take their audience along on their journey, sharing their heartwarming – and heartbreaking – story with everyone: “This was a fabulous show to work on with my grade 10 drama class. So very relevant to the challenges that many of them face (new kid, people’s perception of you, deciding your future, small community).”

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Nice Girl by Amanda Murray Cutalo is a great play for female performers that asks the question “Is there such a thing as being ‘too nice?’” Mia, a teenage girl at an all-girls school, knows how to be a confident and assertive young woman who is not afraid to stand up for herself; the only problem is she can only act this way in her fantasies. In Mia’s reality, she is the kind of girl who does her friends’ homework, lets people cut in front of her in line, and pretends to be someone she’s not in order to get a boy to like her. As she repeatedly learns, being the “nice girl” requires a great deal of sacrifice and, often, frustration. As Mia eventually nears her breaking point, she decides the time has come for her fantasies to become reality. Why did we publish this play? This is such a relevant middle school topic: Girls who think being nice means you get more friends, especially when being “nice” means you don’t stand up for yourself. The main character in Nice Girl has quite the dilemma and it’s the reason we chose the play. We want to show middle school-aged characters going through middle school problems. Not high school problems adapted down. Not only do the characters have to face the dilemma of sacrificing character to be “nice” they also make mistakes, and deal with those mistakes. All in a lovely theatrical package. A great show. Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? I am an English teacher, so I’ve taught many “nice girls” over the years. The inspiration for this play came from a conversation that I had with one of my students. She approached me at the end of a group assignment, feeling frustrated that she had done the bulk of the work and that her friends had taken advantage of her. She felt voiceless and powerless. I related to this struggle, specifically the pressure that girls and women often feel to be nice, or risk being called shrill, aggressive, difficult to get along with, or other words that I’m not sure I’m allowed to write here. To demand respect means to be unlikeable. I wrote this play because I wanted to explore what it looks like to confront these pressures and redefine a healthier sense of self, which leads to healthier relationships with others. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. It’s a play about redefining female identity by challenging the mask of the “nice girl” that girls and women often feel pressured to wear. 3. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Have fun with the fantasy scenes! (When Mia says exactly what she’s thinking, completely unfiltered, and in one instance even punches Jen and grabs Maggie by the hair). Besides using different lighting to distinguish between fantasy and reality, it definitely helps for the acting to be as over-the-top and exaggerated as possible in these scenes. 4. Why is this play great for student performers? I hope that student performers will see pieces of themselves in each of these characters and be able to think more about what it really means to be a “nice girl” and what it means to be friends with one.

Lies are inevitable, but the quality of our relationships are what save or damn us. One Hundred Lies by Alan Haehnel, is so much more than a “game show” play. Prepare for something deeper, more poignant, and by the end, heart breaking. In this poignant comedy, teenager Liz Nostrand presents her life as a competition, complete with scoreboard and time clock. The goal of the game: To dramatize, in only 30 minutes, 100 significant lies told by and to Liz. By the final buzzer, though, we see that the most crucial lies in Liz’s life are those she has told herself. One Hundred Lies brings you in laughing and sends you out thinking. David Lubin, Sarah Rappaport and the drama group at Seminole Middle School in Plantation, Florida took their production of One Hundred Lies to new heights, with an award-winning performance: “We used this one-act for our Junior Thespian District competition and were lucky enough to be selected for State Competition at the Florida State Junior Thespian Festival. We received a Superior for the show, as well as recognition for how great the scoreboard was. This one act is challenging, however, with rehearsal and hard work it is a great show. If you are looking for a one act that is different than the ‘norm’ this is a good choice. TIPS: Have fun and be creative with the use of a scoreboard and running clock. It can be as fancy or as simple as you’d like-just make sure you are clear with the score. Make sure you cast a strong, experienced actor for Liz. Memorizing all those lines is challenging!”

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Tick Talk by Lindsay Price is a wonderful technical exercise for high school student performers that also serves as a fantastic starting point for discussions. The teenagers in Tick Talk have a lot to say, but no way to say it. Most characters are limited to only ONE WORD for the whole play. A fascinating challenge for actors: What happens when a character has just one word to express hopes, fears, and frustrations? What if they have something terribly important to say but can’t? They’d better find a way soon: Time is running out. Why did we publish this play? “What If” questions are great questions to explore in theatre – “what if” characters only had one word or phrase to share their story and their experience? That is the world of the play in _Tick Talk. _ How do we encourage students to find ways other than dialogue to create a three-dimensional characterization? Plays that challenge form, challenge students, and challenge the audience are important and that’s why Tick Talk is in our catalogue. Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? I love writing challenges. What if wrote a play where the characters have only one word or phrase to tell their story? What would that look like on the page? What would that look like in performance? 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. The teenagers in this play have much to say but no way to say it. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? There is a character named Great Dance, who puts on the visual of being completely “happy” but we learn that she is also bulimic. The idea that people often hide darkness behind a positive face is something we often miss. We only focus on what we see. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? It’s all about the subtext. Every single line a character says in the play, even though it’s the same line over and over, has a different subtext. It’s important for students to figure out the meaning behind each line in order to help them know how to say it. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? It’s a great challenge for students to take characters their own age who are limited in their dialogue. How will they make a three-dimensional character out of one word?

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Among Friends and Clutter by Lindsay Price is a character-driven piece that is loved by students for its well-rounded characters and its wealth of comic and serious moments. Among Friends and Clutter presents a montage of characters who experience the most important relationships in life: friends, family, and love. Starting with seven classmates, the play explores what they imagine their lives will be, and shows what their lives eventually become. They grow, succeed, and sometimes fail. Why did we publish this play? So this goes back to the very beginning of Theatrefolk. Among Friends and Clutter is one of the first plays we published, and it’s over 20 years old now. The fact that it still gets done to this day amazes me. But it speaks to the question “how do we identify stories with longevity?” And the answer is relationships. It doesn’t matter what piece of technology comes and goes – moms are going to fight with their daughters. Couples will get together and break up. People start out as children, find success and failure. And that’s why Among Friends and Clutter is in our catalogue. It’s a play that looks at humanity. And that will never go out of style. Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? Necessity is the mother of invention. I was supposed to direct a play and we didn’t get near enough actors for the parts. So instead of cancelling the production, I very naively said “I’ll just write one.” It’s the experience that made me realize I loved watching an audience respond to my words and changed the direction of my professional life. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. This character driven piece explores the most important relationships in life: friends, family, and love. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? We see these characters at the beginning of each section as grade two students, where they respond to the themes of the play as children would. I love how different productions have created “Mrs Morton’s Grade 2 class.” This is the visual that anchors the whole play. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? The play works best without blackouts or complicated set changes. Use a unit set and have the different scenes use the same cubes, risers, and other pieces. Bonus advice: do character profiles for each character! Your actors should fill in all the missing pieces that the script doesn’t answer. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? It’s an excellent opportunity for students to dive deep into character development. How do human beings change over time? How do they embrace different types of relationships?

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Emotional Baggage by Lindsay Price is one of our most unique plays, based solely on action and no dialogue. Suitable for performance and in-class work, the play focuses on non-verbal storytelling through mask and movement. Seven strangers meet in a train station. Instead of luggage, they all carry their “emotional baggage.” They must confront themselves and one another. Everybody carries emotional baggage with them. What’s yours? Why did we publish this play? Emotional Baggage is one of our most unique plays. There is no dialogue and so the play’s story is told through the physical action of the characters. This presents a wonderful creative challenge for students and directors. We’ve seen many different productions of the show over the years and each one is different than the next. Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? I love a challenge. So why not write a play in which there is a clearly defined story, but none of the characters have any words to express that story. It went through a number of workshops to get the description just write on the page so that anyone picking up the script would know what they were supposed to do, and convey with an action. This is one of the plays I’m most proud of. 2. Decribe the theme in one or two sentences. Everybody carries emotional baggage with them. What’s yours? 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? The heaviness of the “baggage” each character carries with them. It doesn’t matter the size of the baggage (one character carries a small purse), the weight is enormous. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Know exactly what each character is “saying” with each movement. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? What a great challenge for students! How do you tell a story when you don’t have any words? Also, all of the characters are archetypes so there’s a lot of fun to be with costume, hair, and make-up.

More and more students are dealing with issues surrounding depression and anxiety. darklight by Lindsay Price helps start a relevant and meaningful dialogue and lets students know they are not alone in their struggle. darklight examines depression and anxiety in teens. Characters fight their inner thoughts, search for their truths, and have surreal conversations with death. Some fail, some find hope. This is a relevant and necessary issue to explore. Director Karah Janssen and the skilled student group at Marie Murphy School in Wilmette, Illinois were able to tap into and share the strong social messages in darklight, while allowing themselves to be challenged by the themes and the material: “The middle school I teach in has many mature, skilled actors and this show gave them a challenge both in scene work and in ensemble work. We felt good about doing a show with a relevant, meaningful social message, not just doing fluffy “middle school” material. There was a bit of hand-wringing on the part of my administration — we had support from our counseling staff for cast members, if they needed it (they didn’t) and for the student audience, if they needed to talk afterwards. (There was one student who did.). It prompted fantastic, meaningful discussions in classes after the school saw the play, and got featured in two local papers. It’s a risk for my age level of students, but it was very worthwhile. A few tips: Don’t skimp on the quality of lights/sound. It made a huge difference in overall quality. Also, be creative with set design. You can do anything you want, which is really rare.”

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Puzzle Pieces by Krista Boehnert is a monologue-based play that is a fantastic vehicle to introducing monologues to your student performers. Puzzle Pieces explores teen issues through a series of monologues. The characters speak frankly about their fears, their futures, and their day to day life. The serious dramatic scenes are balanced with humour, and the play is ultimately uplifting. The characters choose to embrace life and all its struggles, rather than shy away from it. Why did we publish this play? Monologues are a challenge. They are also inherently theatrical – they don’t often happen in real life. This is exactly why you should be tackling monologues in the classroom and in your theatre. Puzzle Pieces is an excellent play to introduce monologues to your student because the entire play is made up of monologues. Characters talk frankly about their fears, their futures and their day-to-day lives. I’ve loved this piece since I first read it for it’s characters, it’s structure, and it’s message. Why is this play good for online platforms? Because this play is written in monologue form, it adapts really well to a virtual performance format. Characters connect directly to the audience, and this will work whether they are on stage, or they are staring right into their computer camera. Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? I wanted to experiment with format and write a monologue-based play. The characters in Puzzle Pieces each share their own story – the plotlines of the characters don’t intersect. This is both challenging and liberating for the director and actors when producing the play. Puzzle Pieces is instead woven around a common theme all characters are grappling with, which allowed me to explore a multitude of storylines rather than diving into just one topic. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. Growing up is complicated. You can try to be picture perfect, but real life is messier than that. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? Each character brings their own experience and story to the play. They each embody a puzzle piece for how a life can take shape, and for how to navigate life. The variety in their approaches is my favourite visual in the play. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Although the play is monologue-based, it should be a collaborative experience both in the rehearsal and performance. Because the characters’ worlds don’t intersect, there is lots of rooms for character development that can be tackled by the individual actors, or as a collective. The staging can also be more collaborative than solitary. Actors can support each other with the monologue performances whether that be direct contact, like holding their hand or comforting them while they speak, or acting out scenes they describe in their speech. It’s very open to experimentation and interpretation, so don’t be shy about trying different ways to bring the play to life. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? It’s a great opportunity for practising character development, for learning how to prepare and perform monologues, and for experimenting with creative staging – both with their own monologues, and in supporting their fellow cast members as they perform their pieces. 6. Do you have any tips for those looking to perform this play online? Both Have you Heard? and Puzzle Pieces? lend themselves nicely for online performance. As a monologue-based play, it allows for that intimate connection between the audience and a single performer. Settings in the performance space provider (such as Zoom) can be set to highlight the speaker, which results in the performer filling the whole screen, rather than the audience seeing all actors at once, if the director wishes to present it this way. The plays are flexible, however, and do lend themselves to an ensemble performance as well. While actors are performing their monologues, the remaining actors can support the performances in a variety of ways. The director and cast can choose if all actors participate, or if only a select number do. If not all actors are participating in the scene, the director can ask them to simple turn and face their back to their camera, or walk out of frame thus “leaving the stage.” Using the example of Jamie from Puzzle Pieces, talking about playing football, some staging options for supporting cast in a virtual environment include: • Mime – actors can silently act out playing football, crowd members cheering, etc. • Tableaux – actors can strike various poses that indicate a football game or game attendees • Props – actors can hold up football themed props – jerseys, pompoms, football, foam fingers, cowbells, popcorn buckets, etc. • Costume add-ons – team jackets, jerseys, ball caps – to help set the “game day” scene • Virtual Backgrounds – actors can turn on virtual backgrounds that mimic signs people hold up at football games to cheer the team on • Reaction Buttons – actors can engage their “applause” or “Thumbs up” reaction buttons to indicate crowd cheering the football team on The staging for Have you Heard? and Puzzle Pieces is flexible regardless of the staging environment – live, virtual, live-streamed. In their simplest form, each scene can be performed with only the actor(s) in the scene who are speaking being “on stage” (or on screen depending on the scenario). The bulk of both plays are monologues, so for the majority of the play, you could have a single actor on stage/screen. To enrich the performance experience for the audience, I would recommend engaging cast members to enhance the monologues by employing tactics such as mime, tableaux, use of props and costume add-ons, virtual backgrounds and reaction buttons. This creates a space where the audience and the cast are all part of each “monologue moment” and heightens the impact of each characters’ story/experience by bringing it more fully to life.

*Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. * Stressed by Alan Haehnel is a symphony of sound and character that is a true theatrical experience. A challenging but incredibly fun piece, this vivid character play is an excellent competition piece. For Alex, it’s school. For Josh, it’s his girlfriend. For Carmen, it’s dealing with her coach. And Mindy’s frustrated with her parents. Stress is driving this quartet crazy – so much so they can’t stop talking about it. Why did we publish this play? Alan describes Stressed as a Teen Symphony. I love this description and it’s so accurate! Characters blend and crash, emotions swell like strings. It’s a fantastic piece to teach students not only how to create a character but how to listen to each other. Add to that, the structure is monologue-based, so you’re also teaching students the craft of preparing multiple monologues. This play has gone on to great success in competitions and I’m thrilled we were able to publish it. Why is this play great for online platforms? This play is written in monologue format, and each character is in their own space – so it easily transfers to an online format. There is some unison speaking and some sound exploration under text, so that will take some creative thinking and problem solving. But if there’s anyone who can do it, it’s drama teachers and students! Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? Because stress has been increasing lately for everyone, and I wanted to give students a humorous way to express their feelings about it. 2. Decribe the theme in one or two sentences. Well, the theme is in the title. But an important sub-theme is that we are all in this stress-filled world together. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? This is more an exploration of rhythm and vocal variety than it is a visual play, but I think a creative director could have a lot of fun with costuming and lighting to enhance the different characters and the quick pace of the piece. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Remember the sub-title of the play: “A Teen Symphony.” The vocal work has to be tight and musical. The voices should truly interplay like instruments in a quartet. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? Besides relatable subject matter, this play gives four student performers a ton of juicy lines, lots of stage time, a full range of emotional states, and great chance to put together a tour de force entry for any drama contest.

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Get ready to challenge your students physically with the futuristic tale, The Factory by Lindsay Price. The Factory is efficient. The Factory runs like clockwork. The Time to Begin song always begins at 7 am. The official Greeting always takes place at 7:02. The Factory workers follow the rules and do their jobs to the letter. Why shouldn’t they? They are humanoid robots programmed to be efficient and follow the rules. Robots will always do their jobs better than real people. And rules are what make the Factory productive. Or do they? Rules come with red tape. And red tape can act like a wrench in the works… Why did we publish this play? Any time we can offer a script that gives a different style of character, that’s a good thing for us to publish. And as we push further into the 21st century the notion of rules, when to follow them, why we follow them and when to break them continues to be a relevant issue. Students are always going to be pressured to conform and to explore that concept in a theatrical form offers a great starting point for discussion. Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? I had just come back from Japan, which while being an inspiring place, is also a place that has an interesting relationship with rules. I’m all about exploring interesting relationships. That was the starting point, and then I went down the road of exploring non-human characters as robots, typically, are programmed to stick to the rules. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. When conformity becomes consuming. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? That each character has a specific action related to the product the factory makes as well as a specific action that relates to their specific job, 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Physicality is key! It would be a mistake to put the characters in a straight line across the front of the stage. Lines are static, shapes are active. Put shapes into your staging. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? Non-human characters give students the opportunity to be creative with physical gestures, and movements. Encourage students to extend and exaggerate their characters!

Relevant themes, easy-to-connect-to characters and fun, fun, fun! Hoodie by Lindsay Price examines appearance and image in middle school, allowing students to immerse themselves in subject matters and issues that they deal with every day. Middle schoolers face a tornado of questions every day. What do I wear? What if I wear the wrong thing? What is she wearing? What do I look like? Stop looking at me! Hoodie examines image and appearance in the vignette style and poses what may be the most difficult question of all – Do I stay in the clump or do I stand alone? The incredible middle school student performers at Gill St. Bernard’s School in Gladstone, New Jersey had an amazing experience with their production of Hoodie. Director Todd Ross shared how the show and performance really resonated with the entire cast – starting with a unique casting experience that really started off things on the right foot: “Some of the interesting and unique things I did with this show was to “audition” by having all 18 kids pick a character out of a hat. They were all like WHAT???? Are you serious??? To tell the truth, it is amazing how certain people got characters that were exactly like them, I don’t think I could have cast it better that what happened randomly. Several kids came to me after the show and told me that at first they didn’t like the play but by the end they loved it. They felt awkward at first (too close to reality) but through the process gained the confidence and comfort to be in those type of places. Wow, we (you, me, the show) did our job. The head of the middle school thinks this show should be on tour at schools all the time.”

Vignettes. Flexible casting. Expandable cast size. Excellent small scene and monologue opportunities. If you’re looking for a middle school play for your students that truly has a bit of everything, look no further than Box by Lindsay Price. Sometimes we choose the way the world sees us. Black box – indestructible. Jewelry box – plain on the outside, shiny on the inside. Sometimes our box is defined by others – our parents, our friends, our enemies. A box built by others can feel small, confined, impossible. How do we handle the boxes imposed upon us because of our gender? Our race? From peer pressure? From parent pressure? Do we have to live with our box for the rest of our lives? Can we change? The talented middle school group at Punta Gorda Middle School in Punta Gorda, Florida had an amazing experience with their own production of Box and director Rudi Wolfahrt was happy to share how the show struck a chord with everyone involved: “Very simple to produce, but the greatest experience was how the message of Box resonates with cast members, students and adults. We received many positive comments after our production. I recommend producing this show in front of the student body. The audience was engaged and related to the characters.”

*Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. * Hoodie by Lindsay Price is one of our most popular middle school plays that asks all of the tough questions that middle schoolers deal with every day. Middle schoolers face a tornado of questions every day. What do I wear? What if I wear the wrong thing? What is she wearing? What do I look like? Stop looking at me! Hoodie examines image and appearance in the vignette style and poses what may be the most difficult question of all – Do I stay in the clump or do I stand alone? Why did we publish this play? Hoodie was our first middle school specific play. We started solely focused on the high school market but as we went to more and more conferences, we started meeting more and more middle school teachers. And what middle schoolers didn’t have a lot of was plays that had characters their age dealing with issues they were specifically going through. It was either fairy tales which are too young, or high school plays that aren’t right either. I’m proud of Hoodie (and the other plays that we’ve published that are middle school specific) and it remains one of our most popular plays to date. Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? This was the first play I wrote specifically for middle school. We started going to middle school specific conferences and realized these students don’t want to do fairy tales – they want characters and subjects that are relevant to their experience. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. This play examines appearance and image in middle school. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? The Clump. I love this group of characters and I feel for them! 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Don’t give up on the Clump! This is the one group of characters that I get the most questions about. There are no shortcuts, it takes practice, practice and more practice both with movement and with dialogue. But when you get it, it will look and sound amazing. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? The topic is relevant, the characters are easy to connect to, and it’s fun!

Somewhere, Nowhere by Lindsay Price is both a heartwarming and heartbreaking story that follows its characters as they grow, change, and stumble through four seasons. Somewhere, Nowhere is a place to call home. A place to leave. The best place in the world. Nothing but a memory. How many of us feel one way or the other about the place we grew up? How many of us love or hate our hometown? Maybe it’s both at the same time. The characters in Somewhere, Nowhere face a dilemma: Do they stay close to home at the end of high school, or do they get as far away as possible? What if they want to do both at the same time? What then? Kevin Walsh and the student performers at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Indiana had a great time with their production of Somewhere, Nowhere – particularly enjoying the fact that there were roles for everyone of all experience levels: “A very positive experience. I liked that the set could be as simple or complex as I wanted. I really liked the fact that the playwright answered my messages and was willing to allow me make minor changes to the script to suit our needs. One of the positive comments my students made was that they liked the wide variety in the sizes of roles – leads for the people who wanted them, but plenty of roles for people who didn’t have confidence in their performing abilities yet.”

Need a vignette play with flexible casting for your middle school performers? Box by Lindsay Price can be expanded or reduced to suit a variety of cast sizes, plus it offers excellent opportunities for small scenes and monologues. Box is a middle school vignette play with flexible casting. It can be expanded for a large cast or reduced to a cast of 10 with doubling. Excellent small scene and monologue opportunities. Sometimes we choose the way the world sees us. Black box – indestructible. Jewelry box – plain on the outside, shiny on the inside. Sometimes our box is defined by others – our parents, our friends, our enemies. A box built by others can feel small, confined, impossible. How do we handle the boxes imposed upon us because of our gender? Our race? From peer pressure? From parent pressure? Do we have to live with our box for the rest of our lives? Can we change? Under the direction of Kellybrooke Brown , the accomplished student performers at Albertville High School in Albertville, Alabama were able to work together to examine the boxes that we all find ourselves in. A truly successful ensemble experience for them all! “Box was wonderful for my new actors! It gave everyone a chance to shine with no star vehicle!”

*Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. * Being sixteen isn’t easy. Choosing a play collection that illustrates the ups and downs of being sixteen is. Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less by Bradley Hayward is a collection of plays that can be performed as a full-length evening of entertainment, or as one or more stand-alone plays that stand perfectly well on their own. The lives of seven teenagers become intertwined in this humorous and oftentimes bittersweet collection of ten minute plays. From extracting a gummy bear out of a new set of braces to coping with bullies, these characters share their innermost hopes and fears with each other, ten minutes at a time. As the audience drops in on these intimate moments, they will come to understand that being sixteen isn’t always easy. Why did we publish this play? We adore a flexible play here at Theatrefolk. This play is a suite of 10 minute plays on what it’s like to be 16 that can be done individually or all together for a full evening of theatre. We also adore well written three dimensional characters which Bradley Hayward is exceptional at creating. It’s so easy to short change or stereotype teen characters. Bradley offers a wealth of multi-faceted personalities who face the sweet and bittersweet of teen life. Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? I wanted to write a character driven full length piece that would be accessible to a wide variety of performing groups. So I devised the idea of short plays that would work well independently, but also overlap enough to create a moving piece of theatre as a whole. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. Each of the plays has its own individual theme, but the overall theme is how sixteen year olds maneuver the challenges of making human connections while still in the process of discovering their own identities. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? In the first scene, Friend Request, the characters are all communicating through Facebook messages in a very static way. The dialogue is performed straight to the audience and none of the actors physically interact. But then in the final scene, Status Update: A Symphony, the actors are working together to create a fluid piece. The dialogue overlaps, the characters make eye contact, and the final image of the play is when all of the characters physically connect by holding hands. This visual gives me chills every time because it shows the overall theme of making connections and how that affects self identification. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? I highly recommend that actors sit in on rehearsals of the scenes they are not in at least once. Almost all of the characters are referenced in each of the individual plays, so hearing what perspective the other characters have of yours will help inform how you play the role. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? First and foremost, this play is about allowing student actors to dig deep into the characters they are playing. Each character has a back story that is only hinted at, so it is up to the actors to discover and even create their own histories in order to enrich their performances. And because the play is broken up into a series of short plays, rehearsals are easier to schedule, which allows for more in-depth scene study. 6. Do you have any tips or suggestions for those who are performing this play online? The plays would be perfect for online performances because they are all about teenagers talking to each other, and quarantine has forced us all to communicate via services like Zoom and Facetime, so young actors should be very comfortable with this already. Also, the plays Friend Request and Status Update: A Symphony are already written as online dialogues, so those plays in particular seem like they were tailor made to be virtually produced!

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Are you ready for summer camp – and all of the ups and downs that go along with it? Then you’re ready for Finishing Sentences by Scott Giessler – an issue-based dramedy that your students won’t want to miss. After being arrested for vandalizing a classmate’s car and perpetrating criminal harassment, Kendra serves her community service at a summer camp looking after a frequently bullied kid. Her journey through this surreal summer camp exposes Kendra to her own raw underbelly. Taking the perspective of the bully, the play forces us to consider the human side of the people we often dismiss. Why did we publish this play? Awesome character play. Awesome character play. Awesome character play. Shall I say it again? Awesome, awesome character play. I love that we can look at teen life from unique and interesting perspectives and provide unique and interesting characters for student performers. (Did I mention this is an awesome character play?). Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? I have been an avid participant and supporter of Summer Camping since I was a kid. I wanted to write a show that captured the spirit of the experience both comedic and dramatic. Although our time at camp is short, we live lifetimes there. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. There are no such things as bullies. (It’s a two-dimensional idea. We are all on a journey that are often filled with mistakes. ) 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? Transitioning from the stark real world to the colorful world of camp life. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Let the world around Kendra be crazy. Camp is comedy and tragedy all at the same time. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? It lets the actors tap into both ingredients: Comedy and Drama. It demands range, timing, and sheer fun.

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. _ The Redemption of Gertie Greene_ by Taryn Temple takes an upside-down look at bullying and the importance of standing up for those who can’t do it for themselves. This play is a not-to-be-missed dramedy for middle school students. New student Gertie Greene is a bully. Gossip spreads like wildfire that she attacks kids in the bathroom, knocks down football players, and gets suspended all the time. Even teachers are afraid of her. Everyone’s talking about it so it must be true. But is she really a terrifying monster? In The Redemption of Gertie Greene the truth comes out in the most unexpected ways. Is Gertie really what everyone calls her: a freak, strange, stupid, clumsy, and mean? Or can Mrs. Fillmore’s quirky drama students see past the scuttlebutt to discover the real person behind the rumors? As they separate fact from fiction, Gertie and her fellow drama students bring to light the transforming power of kindness, and the importance of standing up for people who can’t defend themselves. Why did we publish this play? Plays about bullying can leave a sour aftertaste, especially if the message has the bully stand up and accept the error of their ways. It just doesn’t happen that way in real life. And it’s not fair to say “bullying doesn’t happen” because it does happen. Every day. Bullying is a relevant topic in every school at every level. That’s why the backwards look at bullying in this play presents a refreshing change. It opens the door to conversation about the topic, which is what all issue plays should do. It’s not about solving the issue in 30 minutes. It’s about prompting the conversation to continue after the curtain goes down. Check it out. Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? Middle school is tough. Kids are exploring the kind of person they want to be, who is “in” and who is “out” of their friend groups, and how they should treat others. I wanted kids to see their own struggles reflected in the characters in this play, and help them start conversations with other kids and with adults about what they are going through. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. It’s important to include people and stand up for others, especially those who can’t stand up for themselves. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? When each student in drama class stands up and gathers around Gertie one by one, recognizing her gifts and making her a part of the group. She’s been an outcast up until that point. It’s a lovely image of inclusion when the other students are finally the ones that stand up for her. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Use this play as a springboard to start conversations with your actors and crew about times they’ve felt like an outsider, how someone made them feel included, and how they can (appropriately) step in and help people when someone is being bullied. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? The situations in the play feel relatable and real to the actors so they buy in, plus it has some serious scenes to give young actors a chance to widen their range.

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Labeled by Lindsay Price can definitely be labeled a fantastic dramedy for high school students. It’s easy to stick a label on someone. You’re late, you’re a loser. You’re in detention, you’re bad. You’re slow, you’re not smart enough. We do it every day. We’ve done it in the past, we’ll do it in the future. And these are the kinds of labels that are near-impossible to remove. In three separate but connected scenes, characters push against the labels stuck on them by others. Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? Being Labeled is something students have had to deal with since the beginning of time. I thought about backtracking on that statement, but I think it’s true – looks label you, actions label you, relationships label you, where you live, who your parents are, all these things can slap a sticky reputation on your back whether you deserve it or not. That’s important to write about and it’s important to show students fighting those labels in a variety of ways. It’s interesting to note that I actually wrote one of the scenes for a different play. When that play didn’t work out (which happens all the time) I didn’t want to let go of the characters in the scene. Sometimes the play you start writing, isn’t the one that ends up in the finished product. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. How do you survive your label? 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? A character stands on a chair and shouts “The Titanic is fake!” It’s a great surprise moment, a great visual, especially in the response of the other characters, and a great story after the outburst. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? When you do the scene with the semi-circle of chairs don’t catch sitting-itis. No one wants to watch a scene where people sit for 10 minutes. Find out the different ways your character would use a chair, climb over a chair, get protection from a chair and so on. Think about the pictures you’re creating in your staging – you want the audience to be engaged. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? The characters are telling student stories. Everyone in the cast and every one in the audience will connect to not being heard, to being dismissed, to being misunderstood, and wanting something more.