Circus Olympus

““Oppositicitis. Like appendicitis. Only different.”” Anxiety is Orange by Lindsay Price helps us examine how we navigate the world through a sea of green, grey, blue, red, pink, yellow and orange. Does orange make you anxious? Colours can be symbolic. Red is fiery. Purple is royal. Blue is calming. Sometimes, colours can take on too much meaning. I can’t date you – you wear wenge! He sent yellow flowers! Orange gives my brother anxiety! The talented student performers at Gulf Coast Academy of Science and Technology in Spring Hill, Florida were able to utilize the short, vivid scenes in this vignette play to maximize their experience and character-development opportunities. Director Stephan Hoda was thrilled to share their success: “The play went beautifully and was, according to the students, their favorite, thus far. We’ve also performed Circus Olympus, Sleepy Hollow, Lord of the Pies, and Snow Queen. Vignette plays are WONDERFUL for middle school. I hadn’t directed one before but it really made life much easier. The students were able to learn their lines faster and we were able to focus on performance almost immediately. This is essential for a four-week turnaround.”

Ready for some fun with Greek mythology that also gives your students a chance to stretch themselves through physical action? Circus Olympus by Lindsay Price is all of that plus three plays in one – full length, one-act, and a twenty minute competition piece. The characters and staging are fun and the costuming is flexible – welcome to the circus! The circus has come to town! Well… sort of. There’s no elephant on a bicycle but there are the Greek Geeks and have they got a story or two to tell. More specifically, a myth or two: Pandora’s Box, Persephone and the Underworld, King Midas, Athena and Arachne, and don’t forget the Mythapalooza Slam Jam! A gleeful celebration with excellent large cast expansion and parts for all abilities. Circus elements are optional and are suggested for each myth. With a cast size of 48 students, the talented performers at Wabasha Kellogg High School in Wabasha, MN definitely understand the true meaning of the word “ensemble”. Director Cris Medina was thrilled to share their success with their production: “Circus Olympus was a great script to build ensemble and give many students acting roles.”

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten Plays For…Beginning Actors. Everybody has to start somewhere. Every drama student has to be in their first play. So here’s 10 to choose from! Every one of these scripts is a great place to start and a great first play for your beginning actors. Click the link and you’ll be taken to the webpage for each play. There you’ll get the details and read sample pages. All the best with your search! Circus Olympus A gleeful celebration of greek myth with excellent large cast expansion and parts for all abilities. Circus elements are optional and are suggested for each myth. Start here to introduce your students not only to greek myths but unique characters that are well within their wheelhouse. Rainbows vs Bunnies: Annihilation Aaron is failing history. Worse than that he’s been drawn into the epic battle between rainbows and bunnies. For centuries rainbows and bunnies have been locked into a bitter rivalry to make people happy. Easy to stage and costume so all your beginning actors have to focus on is the characters. Yes your students can play rainbows…. And bunnies. ths phne 2.0: the next generation Vignette plays are perfect for beginning actors. These plays are compiled of short scenes on a theme, so everyone can get their scene just right. What’s the theme? Communication has come a long way, baby. Are you 21st century savvy? We Open Tomorrow Night?! We Open Tomorrow Night?! is a scripted talent show where you are the stars. Each production can insert their own acts (dance, comedy, singing – the choice is yours) for an hilarious and entertaining evening for all. This type of script makes for a great transition to scripted stage work for beginning actors. Much Ado About High School Don’t just introduce your students to acting, throw in some Shakespeare too! What if Much Ado About Nothing took place at a high school dance? Mayhem ensues at Much Ado High School. Student Council president Don Pedro schemes to set up new student Claudio with Hero. Hero schemes to set up Beatrice with Benedick. And Don John schemes to mess up everything! An enjoyable introduction to this Shakespearean tale with lightning-fast pace, hilarious characters, and witty dialogue. Letters Readers Theatre is one way to introduce beginning actors to the stage. They have to bring a character to life, but they don’t need to worry about memorization or blocking. For many wars, letters home were the only form of communication between soldiers and their loved ones. Letters is thought-provoking and character-driven. It’s not hard to visualize these characters reaching out with pen and paper. Anne-Arky One of the best ways to get beginning actors started is to give them characters their own age. In Anne-Arky, a high school drama club prepares for opening night. Things start out normally but anarchy quickly ensues. Wigs fall off, ankles are sprained, and the stage manager sets fire to the prompt script. The Fried Kobassa Inspector Kapusta will leave no stone unturned to find the camp cook’s missing kobassa. Okay, maybe he’ll leave a couple of stones unturned. Okay, maybe he’s a pretty bad detective but that just makes the play all the more hilarious. A light-hearted romp with the funniest of all the red meats at its centre: FRIED KOBASSA! Hairball Another vignette play with a topic every person, let alone every student, can relate to – hair. Good hair makes your day. Bad hair gets you dumped. Good hair gets you to the prom. Bad hair makes you look like an eggplant. Good hair means you’re popular. Bad hair means hat head for the rest of your life. Christmas in July This collection of two one acts give beginning actors something smaller to work on. Lots of small parts where students put their best foot forward. In Christmas in July the calendar gets all mixed up so the holidays are not where they’re supposed to be. In What do you do when the Elves have the flu, Christmas could come to an screeching halt with elves out of commission with Elven Flu.

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten Plays For…Large Casts! Maybe your policy is to give a part to everyone who auditions. Or maybe your drama club is bursting with students. Either way, you need plays with a lot of characters. And not just characters who stand in the background holding up the scenery. Click the link and you’ll be taken to the webpage for each play. There you’ll get the details and read sample pages. All the best with your search! The Pauper Princess Cast size: 10M+28W+34 Either A twist on The Price and the Pauper with two girls in the lead roles and Elizabethan England as the location. The Princess is Princess Elizabeth and the Pauper is a girl hiding as a boy in a location theatre production. A huge cast with roles for everyone who tries out. Rebootilization Cast size: 13M+15W+25 Either, Expandable to 85+ Stories all over the world are under attack. Pages are going blank in a pandemic so big, the government’s involved. SynCryn has the original narrative DNA for every story and it’s an easy reboot process, so long as…. nothing goes wrong. Parts for everyone. The Absolutely Insidious and Terrifying Truth About Cat Hair Cast size: 8 Either, Plus ensemble of 8-100 A hilarious piece with an insanely large cast. How will you theatricalize cat hair that is plotting the downfall of humanity even as we speak? Personification at its best. Circus Olympus Cast size: 6M+9W, expandable to 12 M+20W A gleeful celebration of greek myth with excellent large cast expansion and parts for all abilities. Circus elements are optional and are suggested for each myth. Being Bianca: The Semi Complete Guide Cast size: 2M+10W+38 Either When told she should engage in volunteer work, Bianca decides on a great service to mankind: She will teach us all how to “Be Bianca.” (the semi-complete guide). Every life step is Bianca-ized! It may not be the best idea, but it is the most entertaining. The Myths at the End of the World Cast size: 2M+3W+2 Either, Expandable to 30 Four campers are not only lost in the wood, they are lost at the edge of the world with no land, water, stars or sun. The only thing to do is to release stories from around the world and from the wind. Excellent opportunities for mask and movement. A unique cross- curricular storytelling adventure. The Art of Rejection Cast size: The Art of Rejection 1M +1W+14 Either, Chaired 13 Either Two plays that look at being alone – whether it’s the only letter in a sea of numbers, or alone in making the right decision to sit or stand. A combination of humanity and the avant-garde the two together make for a great competition piece. The Canterbury Tales Cast size: 4M+4W, Easily Expandable to 16+19W Chaucer’s classic collection of tales comes to life in a full-length adaptation. Great characters, lots of humour, and strong ensemble work. Text uses modern English. Cobweb Dreams Cast size: 2M+17W+7 Either Cobweb Dreams is a fun-filled fantasy that runs parallel to the events of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Cobweb is not having fun in Titania’s train. She dreams of a life where she plays pranks all day long and doesn’t have to be a stuffy, stuck-up fairy in waiting. Oh will this midsummer night never end? The Snow Queen Cast size: M+20W+31 Either A magical theatrical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of a sister’s love, an ice cold heart, and a fantastical journey. It’s the original Snow Queen story brought to life.

I was one of those math and science kids. But I also loved drama. I started university as a computer science student but left with a degree in theatre. I enjoyed studying calculus, chemistry, physics, etc. But when I think of the atom, when I think of all the lectures I sat through, the drawings, the protons, the neutrons, the electrons, the periodic table and so on, the clearest picture in my mind is still Venus Flytrap’s explanation on the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati. WKRP in Cincinnati, for the uninitiated, was my favourite sitcom. On this particular episode, one of the DJ’s (Venus Flytrap) befriended a cleaning woman at the station. Her son was getting involved with gangs and she asked Venus for help to straighten her son out. Here’s the resulting scene:

Choosing one act plays for middle school is not an easy task. The students are at a very in-between point in their lives. They no longer want to be seen of 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. I reached out on our Facebook page for some feedback from middle school teachers: “What are the major factors you need to consider when selecting a one act play for your middle school?” Here are some of the more representative responses we got. “Large cast size (25-35) for my classes, appropriate for their age, doesn’t focus on typical angst of the MS student, it needs to be mostly funny (they’ll get enough serious stuff at the HS level), and I LOVE vignettes which allow me to cast many kids in roles The Snow Show ~ Jessica Landry Stafford “It has to have a message. My students don’t like fluff. They want something to sink their teeth into. It also has to have a good ending. I have found most one act plays just drop off and don’t have strong endings.” ~Leslie McKibben “Cast size over 20. Smart script. Age/audience appropriate but not talking down to teenagers. Would love to see more stories that weren’t necessarily anchored in school angst.” ~Aidan O’Hara “A play “the cast and crew will care about.” Most middle schoolers are not yet such experienced theatremakers that they’ll enjoy doing any show for any reason–the story needs to engage them pretty quickly for them to commit to the process.” ~Becky Schlomann “I always think about the talent that I have available at the school and choose a show that will make all their talents shine. I want to pick a show that will both challenge the students, but also engage them and nurture their love for theatre.” ~Bethany Kennedy “No more mangling of fairy tales or Shakespeare! Something that they can sink their teeth into without being angsty. Heavier on girls. Boy roles where they don’t have to be ‘manly.’” ~Amy Medina “Opportunity, creative challenges, meaningful and accessible character development. LOVED Tick Talk for middle schoolers in particular, BTW.” ~Jessica Shulman McGettrick As you can see, the answers are wide and varied. There’s no magic bullet. There’s no “one size fits all” play for a middle school group. Choosing a one act play for middle schools depends heavily on the group of kids that you have at the time. Here are some of the main factors brought up by our Facebook fans. AppropriatenessAppropriate is in the eye of the beholder. It would be impossible to say what’s “appropriate” because standards vary. Our customers request plays that run the gamut between requests to remove all references to dating from a play (a play that doesn’t show a date, it just uses the world) to our most challenging plays, some of which aren’t even on our recommended list of plays for middle schools. Cast sizeThis one was almost universal. A large cast size is important. This is particularly tough in a one act play format. Writing a play that has a lot of characters isn’t challenging, but it is challenging to develop them all, to give them individual traits so the actors feel like they can contribute as individuals to the production. Some of our one act plays that achieve this nicely are: • Funhouse – a bullying play with a cast of 20 • 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 • Lord of the Pies – a delicious parody of Lord of the Flies Students Can Relate to ItThe plays we publish and promote for middle schools tend to have the majority of characters of student age (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 PerformersIt’s important that the play stretch them as performers. But “stretch” doesn’t have to mean “a different age, like grandparents” In the professional world, for example, I’ve always played roles that fit my age and every experience I’ve had has stretched me as a performer. A meek student can be stretched by playing a bully. A straightlaced student can be stretched by playing a troubled kid. Typecasting is lovely and it makes casting easy, but if you’re looking to stretch kids then it’s important to cast against type sometimes. At the end of the day the most important thing in educational theatre is the students’ 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 DebateSome people on our Facebook post said they love fractured fairytales, others are sick of them. That’s what makes art so wonderful – there are plays to suit every taste. We don’t have any fractured fairytales but I don’t think there’s a single thing wrong with them besides the fact that it’s very easy to write a bad one. I’ve seen so many come through our submission process that just aren’t theatrical. They are just re-worded versions of fairytales – parodies or spoofs. They are funny on the page and that’s probably the medium they belong in. The best way to tell if a script is theatrical or not is to ask yourself these questions: How will staging this play (bringing it to life) differ than just reading it? What parts of the script would be enhanced by live performers? Can you visualize the script in action when you read it? Do you see people moving? Are there moments that will affect the audience? If you struggle to answer these questions then there’s probably not much theatre written into the play. I have no doubt that we’ll publish a fractured fairytale at some point but when we do it will also work as an engaging piece of theatre. Here are a couple of examples of **adaptations/parodies that work as theatre:** • Drop Dead, Juliet! – Juliet tries to change her inevitable death at the end of the play and engages in a battle of wills with William Shakespeare. • Circus Olympus – A collection of Greek myths come to life. The script encourages liberal use of circus skills – what’s more theatrical than a Greek myth & circus mashup? • Rebootililzation – Not a one act, but this clever play incorporates a ton of fairtytale and literature based characters. More Girls than BoysThis is a purely logistical issue. More girls audition for middle school shows than boys. Pretty much all of our plays have more girls than boys for this very reason. We also try our best to get some gender-neutral characters in there for casting flexibility. Bradley Hayward’s Apostrophe’s and Sixteen in Ten Minutes or Less are both fantastic choices for flexible casting. Simple StagingIn our experience, the middle school budget is limited. The middle school play is more about putting as many students on stage, 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 TasteBecky Schlomann had this to say about what kinds of plays she looks for: “Something I personally like. I’m going to be spending more time with the script than anybody, and if at the beginning of the process I hate it, by the end of the process I’ll be ready to poke my eyes out.” This is the main reason that every play on our website comes with an extensive free excerpt. That 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 only to end up disappointed that none of them appeal to you. There are a lot of one act plays for middle schools on our website. If that overwhelms you, feel free to email us or use our live chat through this page. Tell us your likes, dislikes, cast size, and the age of your group. We’re always happy to send recommendations your way.