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Close Encounters of the Undead Kind

Close Encounters of the Undead Kind

by Jeffrey Harr

Wendy walks into a typical teen support group. Claire thinks Halloween is going to be humdrum as usual. Rachel wants her parents to be nice to her new boyfriend. Three ordinary scenarios… or are they? Is that a werewolf at the support group? A vampire at the door? A zombie boyfriend? With some close encounters of the undead kind, these plays are far from typical and humdrum!

With quick humour and fabulous characters this is not your ordinary collection. The plays can be performed individually or all together for a ghoulishly delightful evening.

Comedy Black Comedy

Average Producer Rating:

Recommended for High Schools and Middle Schools

Running Time
About 60 minutes (for the full collection)
Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes
Set
Simple Set
Length
59 pages
Free Excerpt

This Book is a Collection of 3 Plays

License the entire book, or license individual plays separately. To license a single play, click its title below.

3 M, 3 F · Approx. 25 minutes

Rachel has bad taste in boys: Jerry with the forehead tattoos, Nicky with the prison sentence, and Ed with the "being a zombie" thing.

She knows her parents will never understand or approve of her zombie boyfriend and that's the way she likes it. But what happens when her parents welcome Ed with open arms?

2 M, 3 F, 2 Any Gender · Approx. 20 minutes

Claire thinks Halloween is going to be humdrum as usual... until a vampire shows up and asks to be invited in.

All of a sudden Claire is bonding with the undead over Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Twilight.

3 M, 5 F · Approx. 15 minutes

Wendy walks into a typical teen support group. However, she quickly discovers that the others are anything but typical.

Who is Vladimir and why does he speak with a Transylvanian accent? Why does Lucy only speak one word (braiiinnnnssss)? And why does Janet think she's Batman?

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Performance Royalty Fees

Royalty fees apply to all performances whether or not admission is charged. Any performance in front of an audience (e.g. an invited dress rehearsal) is considered a performance for royalty purposes.

Exemption details for scenes and monologues for competition.

Characters in this play are currently identified as male or female. Directors are welcome to assign any gender (binary or non-binary) to any character and modify pronouns accordingly.


Bad Taste in Boys
RACHEL [F] 79 lines
Teen. Has it bad for bad boys.
CINDY [F] 68 lines
Rachel’s younger sister. Conniving and intelligent: a dangerous combination.
MR. HARRIS [M] 53 lines
Rachel’s father
MRS. HARRIS [F] 112 lines
Rachel’s mother
STEWART [M] 22 lines
The Harris’s nerdy neighbor.
ED [F] 18 lines
Rachel’s zombie boyfriend

Beggar's Night
SAMANTHA [F] 106 lines
Teen girl. Hosting a small party far away from the cool kids shindig.
CLAIRE [F] 78 lines
Teen girl. Samantha’s friend.
JAMES [M] 8 lines
Teen boy. Socially awkward. Freezes when scared.
TRICK OR TREATER 1 [A] 12 lines
Teen boy or girl. Out for Beggar’s Night!
TRICK OR TREATER 2 [A] 11 lines
Teen boy or girl. Wants candy, but beggars can’t be choosers.
NECO (pronounced Neck-oh) [F] 34 lines
Tween girl. Older than she looks.
AKELDAMA [M] 3 lines
Teen boy. Brother of Neco. Dark, mysterious, maybe a little handsome.

The Support Group from Hell
DR. TAMMY [F] 47 lines
Counselor
WENDY [F] 39 lines
Teen girl
VLADIMIR [M] 25 lines
Teen boy, very well dressed in clothes from another era, speaks with a thick Transylvanian accent
WOLFGANG [M] 12 lines
Teen boy with an absurdly crazy beard
HECUBA [F] 12 lines
Teen girl in all black
LUCY [F]
Teen girl, pale, in ripped jeans and T-shirt, spattered with blood. Various moans and groans.
FRANK [M] 12 lines
Teen boy in plain T-shirt and blazer, a few long scars on his face with stitches
JANET [F] 6 lines
Teen girl in completely normal clothes and a Batman mask

Praise for Close Encounters of the Undead Kind

Robert Ford / Cindy Genzano (Theater Arts Teacher, Producer of the show)
North Branford High School
We had a very positive audience reaction and the students enjoyed working with the scripts.

More Plays Like Close Encounters of the Undead Kind

Ten / Two

by Lindsay Price

Ten plays for two actors. The plays can be performed individually or all together for a full evening of theatre. Excellent for the classroom or competition.

Boat

by Lindsay Price

In this one-act middle school vignette play, characters come face-to-face with the fact that there are other people in their boat. Some are different. Some only seem different.

A collection of five hauntingly humorous tales.

Wendy joins an online teen support group. However, she quickly discovers that the others are anything but typical.

A Box of Puppies

by Billy Houck

We can all relate to feeling small in a big world. The characters in A Box of Puppies share their insecurities, their frailties and how they cope.

Eight quick classroom comedies throw middle school students into absurd crises, from indoor rainstorms to zombie classmates, offering flexible staging and roles for casts of all sizes and skill levels.

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