School Daze
by Lindsay Price
Middle school is the tricky tightrope between being a kid and being a teenager. The characters try to keep their balance on the first day of middle school.
Average Producer Rating:
About 30 minutes
Times given are approximate and do not include intermissions/scene changes/breaks
54
16 M | 24 W | 14 Any Gender, Doubling Possible
Simple Set
28 pages
Reviews from Past Producers
"We're standing here like idiots and the whole cafeteria is filled with people talking and laughing and everyone has friends and everyone's in little groups and I like brown bread peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches! There I said it! Shun me if you must!
You remember middle school. That first day can be a funhouse or a hall of horrors. Will I fit in or be left behind? Did I wear the right clothes? How will I find the right class? Why do those eighth graders look so big...
Middle school is the tricky tightrope between being a kid and being a teenager. How did you fare? Did you fall off the tightrope? Did you hold on?
See the characters in School Daze try to keep their balance on the first day of middle school.
Click here to read production tips for this play.
This is a vignette play! What is a Vignette Play?
Awards and Accolades
- University School of Nova Southeastern University invited to perform at Florida State Junior Thespian Festival
Characters
54
16 Men, 24 Women, 14 Any Gender, Doubling Possible
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.
Guys
-
Dad
8 lines
- Can’t find the camera.
-
Big Kid Two
5 lines
- Proud of his Evil Laugh.
-
Jimmy
2 lines
- Knows Grade 7 is the perfect grade.
-
Fear Boy
5 lines
- Hates being the new kid.
-
Positive Boy
3 lines
- Can’t wait to go to different classes.
-
Negative Boy
5 lines
- A glass-half-empty kind of guy.
-
Forward Boy
1 line
- Hates being treated like a kid.
-
Backward Boy
7 lines
- Misses recess.
-
Locker One
6 lines
- Fears the inevitable.
-
MacDougal
28 lines
- Thinks that it’s a fine day for a race.
-
MacGregor
19 lines
- Agrees.
-
Johnson
1 line
- Is gonna go out hard.
-
Bully
8 lines
- Is a coward, as all bullies are.
-
Invisible
8 lines
- Wants to go unseen.
-
Marty
18 lines
- Can’t believe their starting a project on the first day of school.
-
Edwin
19 lines
- Can’t believe he’s paired with Marty.
Girls
-
Lacy
13 lines
- Has a zit.
-
Mom
13 lines
- Has an overreacting daughter.
-
Mary-Jean
2 lines
- Dresses differently than the other girls. One monologue.
-
Fear Girl
5 lines
- They say everyone can chose to live in hope, or fear. She doesn’t choose hope.
-
Positive Girl
9 lines
- A glass-half-full kind of gal.
-
Negative Girl
7 lines
- Hates school. Doesn’t mind the flute. One monologue.
-
Backward Girl
3 lines
- Misses her old classroom.
-
Forward Girl
2 lines
- Can’t wait to leave all that kid stuff behind.
-
Locker Three
5 lines
- Walks a razor’s edge between Lockers 2 and 4.
-
Locker Four
7 lines
- Loves lockers. But then, who doesn’t?
-
Announcement Girl
5 lines
- Tries not to be a woman of success, but a woman of value. One monologue.
-
Baranova
1 line
- Definitely has a lock.
-
Stewart-Rosen
1 line
- Never gets detention.
-
Cara
18 lines
- Once a friend of Amee. Not so much anymore.
-
Tammy
16 lines
- Another of Amee’s abandoned friends.
-
Amee
10 lines
- Used to be okay. Now what’s her problem?
-
Snobby Friend
4 lines
- You know how everyone has that one snobby friend? This is that friend.
-
Girl One
3 lines
- Thinks that Middle School is different, when it comes to clothing choices.
-
Girl Two
4 lines
- Agrees with Girl One.
-
Girl Three
2 lines
- Agrees with Girl Two.
-
Girl Four
2 lines
- Concurs with the three previous girls.
-
Home Ec Two
2 lines
- Isn’t afraid to make some big statements, like “blech.”
-
Crush One
13 lines
- Likes Joey Delson. But then, who doesn’t?
-
Crush Two
12 lines
- isn’t so big on the whole “Joey Delson” thing.
Either
-
Big Kid One
8 lines
- Wants Jimmy to be afraid.
-
Big Kid Two
5 lines
- Working on his evil laugh.
-
Eighth Grader, (One through four)
0 lines
-
Locker Two
5 lines
- What if they forget their locker combo?
-
Sam
22 lines
- Not freaking out. One monologue.
-
Pat
21 lines
- Wants to know if Sam is freaking out.
-
Short One
7 lines
- Also has a short attention span.
-
Short Two
6 lines
- Impressed by mustaches.
-
Frustrated
1 line
- Doesn’t like spit balls. Hey, I get it.
-
Home Ec One
2 lines
- Asks the big questions, like “why blech?”
-
Defensive
1 line
- Doesn’t have time for homework.
- Subgenres
- Issue-based
- Settings
- Present day
- Dress
- Contemporary costumes Simple costumes
- Audience
- Pre-teen Teen
- Features
- Variable Cast Size Poetry Tableau Ensemble
- Set
- Simple set Interior set
- Themes
- Adolescence Childhood Friendship Self-image Bullying
- Other uses
- Audition material Class work Scene work
- Awards & Accolades
- Plays with Awards & Accolades
Prop List
Book bags, Cafeteria trays, Lunch bags, Lunch boxes, A book for Mary Jean, A class schedule and textbook for Baranova
Production Photos
Multimedia
Related Titles
Customer Comments
I wanted to let you know that we just finished our production of School Daze. My middle school students performed it at an in-school assembly (audience was K-8) and it was wildly popular. The staff and parents loved it was well. I had several people who stopped by to tell me that they particularly loved how "real" the play was. Characters like Marty/Edwin, MacGregor/MacDougal and Cara/Tammy allowed my students to go full out with characterization.
Thank you for stocking plays like this - large and flexible casting, lots of short scenes, quick and active, with content that doesn't talk down to my students. These plays are hard to come by, especially with content appropriate for a public middle school.
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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.
School Daze
by Lindsay Price
About 30 minutes
Times given are approximate and do not include intermissions/scene changes/breaks
54
16 M | 24 W | 14 Any Gender, Doubling Possible
Simple Set
28 pages