One Act Plays

[joshwriting]

(cross posted, partially, from Sheroes)

I'm teaching a Play Directing class to 6 high school students this Spring. We're considering doing a night of one act plays as an adjunct to the course.

Do you have favorites, new or old?

Did you do/see it/them straight up or done with a twist? (inverted genders, serious play done for laughs, etc.)

A side question is if you've ever a) taken a play to a Drama Festival, or even b) gone to watch a Drama Festival?

Thanks!

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One Act Plays that have caught my eye, so far:
The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, by Tom Stoppard
http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/3934

Your Swash Is Unbuckled (Baker's Plays has a typo in their version of the typo) by Jeff Goode
http://www.bakersplays.com/store/product_info.php/cPath/7/products_id/1769?osCsid=b464e20596ce9bcf705b240fde3afa9d

Wurzel-Flummery, by A.A. Milne
http://books.google.com/books?id=AZUOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=wurzel-flummery&lr=&as_brr=1&ei=NIZrSc8GnMAy9qallQQ

Chamber Music, by Arthur Kopit
http://books.google.com/books?id=eGTDI9j3BKcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=kopit&ei=wI1rSZXcHImsNtystZ4I#PPA6,M1
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Full length plays that came up and looked entertaining, while I was looking:
Iliad, Odyssey and all of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or Less by Jay Hopkins and John Hunter
http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/7268

Ham/thello, The Moor of Denmark by Jeff Goode
http://www.bakersplays.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1845?osCsid=b464e20596ce9bcf705b240fde3afa9d

Romeo and Julius [Caesar] by Jeff Goode
http://www.bakersplays.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1770?osCsid=b464e20596ce9bcf705b240fde3afa9d

Comments

[zoethor.livejournal.com]

TOST and Turned, my student theater troupe from undergrad, did a full length professional play every fall, and a night of student-written one acts every spring. We usually aimed for 4-5 one act plays, 15-20 minutes each. Exceptions were made each year, obviously, depending on the length and awesomeness of the particular student-written plays submitted. We also strongly encouraged co-directing for these plays - it was sort of the way that we "auditioned" directors for the full length fall play.

Anyway, I think I know that you have access to some writers, somewhere, in your life. Maybe you could accrue some non-professional one acts. Those, also, come without the problems mentioned above with overly protective theater world stuff about altering lines, casts, whatever.

You know where to find me if you want to hear more about how TOST did it.

Oh, and come to think of it - I am certain that nearly every TOST one-act writer for the past 5 years would be tickled pink to have their work performed elsewhere. I could even provide you with video of the original performance, for comparison in directing decisions after your students have completed it! :)

[joshwriting.livejournal.com]

That would be cool. I'd be interested in hearing about some of those shows. And you should also mention to them the link I just gave in my next post.

I'm not inordinately worried about the casting/line issues. The raunchiness factor is there for this particular group, I think. I directed Veronica's Room (Levin) twice with the MIT High School Studies Program, dropping the necrophilia, and they handled the incest all right (as well as the murder). But this group is... not quite the same, I think.

Some time, we'll try the student-written play approach, but I know *I* am not ready for that this term.

So, whatever TOST stuff you can/would share with me will be appreciated. And, while I won't promise that we'll perform any, I can assure that the plays will at least get read.