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Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less

Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less

by Bradley Hayward

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.

The plays herein may be licensed together or separately. The piece was conceived as a full length evening of entertainment, but each short stands perfectly well on its own without any prior knowledge of the characters.

Comedy Drama Dramedy Character Study Experimental Form Issue-Based

Average Producer Rating:

Recommended for High Schools

Running Time
About 100 minutes (for the full collection)
Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes
Cast
12 Characters
4 M5 F3 Any Gender, Expandable to 13M+17F+3 Any Gender
Set
Simple Set
Length
88 pages
Free Excerpt

This Book is a Collection of 10 Plays

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

4 F · Approx. 10 minutes

Three teenage girls have claimed a bench as their very own and routinely chase away all the "losers" who come near it.

1 M, 1 F · Approx. 10 minutes

A teenage brother and sister squabble as they try to extract a gummy bear that has lodged itself in a set of braces.

1 M, 1 F · Approx. 10 minutes

Young love blossoms when two teenagers flip open their laptops and start chatting.

1 M, 1 F · Approx. 10 minutes

A couple of teenagers in love look up at the night sky and wait for colorful explosions to dance among the stars.

3 M, 4 F · Approx. 10 minutes

Thanks to a series of ill-fated friend requests, a doctored photo of a student spreads like wildfire among a group of teenagers.

2 Any Gender · Approx. 10 minutes

Two eyeballs get bent out of shape while defending their half of a teenager's brain.

2 M, 1 F, 1 Any Gender · Approx. 10 minutes

When a teenager loses his cell phone, he has no choice but to use a pay phone. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when a mysterious operator starts telling him what to do.

3 M, 4 F · Approx. 10 minutes

Seven teenagers express their hopes and fears online in a rousing symphony of status updates.

1 F · Approx. 10 minutes

A sweet teenage girl takes her dog for a walk in the park and discovers that there is something exciting around every corner.

2 M · Approx. 10 minutes

A teenage boy tries to repair a beat-up old truck so that he can get away from his parents and their broken down marriage.

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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.

12 Characters
4 M, 5 F, 3 Any Gender, Expandable to 13M+17F+3 Any Gender

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.

James [M] 206 lines
Hyper & jumpy
Piper [F] 186 lines
Outgoing & popular
Cindy [F] 146 lines
Sarcastic & spontaneous
Samantha [F] 143 lines
Exuberant & talkative
Laura [F] 52 lines
Artistic & lonely
Brody [M] 148 lines
Quiet & introspective
Vance [M] 168 lines
Shy & thoughtful
Right Eye [A] 75 lines
Eyeball
Left Eye [A] 74 lines
Eyeball
Operator [A] 59 lines
Voice only
Mom [F] 23 lines
Voice only
Dad [M] 13 lines
Voice only

Praise for Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less

Jo Matheson
Newlands College
This was a great choice for my group of young actors. They enjoyed the humour and the concept. It was manageable to direct with simple set and costumes, and clear characters.

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