An Evening of One Act Plays
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
Forum Discription: Need help finding a show that's right for your theater? Ask here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2459
Printed Date: 11/25/24 at 2:57am
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Topic: An Evening of One Act Plays
Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Subject: An Evening of One Act Plays
Date Posted: 6/20/07 at 9:59am
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Our stage is a simple stage. We have no way of hanging backdrops or flying anything. We can build a nice set, but can't do much in the way of changing a set in between acts. We also have no curtain. We would like to do an evening of one act plays (2-3). How do we go about finding plays that work with the same set or with a minimal set? It seems that finding plays that work together could be very difficult. Any ideas would be most helpful. Barb ------------- Barb Hofmeister, MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona. |
Replies:
Posted By: biggertigger
Date Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:01pm
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There is a show called All in the Timing by David Ives. http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=30 - http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=30
It is six one-act comedies. Simple settings.
Since you have little space, I would suggest using various size boxes to create levels and suggest areas. A large box with two small boxes for seating is a table, rearrange the boxes by placing three boxes together you have a bench or sofa. ------------- The two greatest days in a theater persons life, the day you start a new show and the day the damn thing closes. |
Posted By: Debflo
Date Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:37pm
| We recently did an evening of one acts and we have the same type of set up. (no curtain, small stage) We had a few of the David Ives pieces that Biggertigger suggested and we paired that with a few pieces from "An Adult Evening With Shel Silverstein" It was a lot of fun and a big success. The set was black box, with 6 large white boxes to move around for set pieces. The boxes were a bed, a desk, a counter, chairs... etc.... |
Posted By: TimW
Date Posted: 6/21/07 at 11:24am
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Here are a couple one acts which may or may not work for your setup. We went overboard and changed the set (we made the set a little smaller to put the props backstage). I would imagine that just by moving pieces around you could accomplish the same effect. Also, in our production, both actors performed both acts. This coud be done with different actors in each act. Here are some pics to look at.
http://www.paradiseplayhouse.com/pix/scrapbook/twicearound7/twicearound.html - http://www.paradiseplayhouse.com/pix/scrapbook/twicearound7/twicearound.html
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Posted By: donzolidis
Date Posted: 6/21/07 at 11:28am
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The "Good Doctor" by Neil Simon also has a bunch of funny one-acts in it that don't need hardly anything by way of a set. ------------- www.donzolidis.com |
Posted By: ManMan
Date Posted: 6/21/07 at 3:15pm
| Graceland is funny and it is about two women getting into Graceland first on the first day it open to the public.....funny minium set |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 6/21/07 at 7:52pm
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Oh, my!
It's been years since I've heard about "Graceland!" What a charming little play that is! |
Posted By: tdsands
Date Posted: 6/21/07 at 8:35pm
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2 one acts that worked well together for a group I know were "Businessman's Lunch" by Michael David Quinn and, "The Cowboy, The Indian, and the Fervent Feminist", by Murray Shisgal. Both use table and chairs and a few props that can be easily changed between shows. 5 cast members in the first and 3 in the second. I also like "All in the Timing" by David Ives that biggertrigger suggested. ------------- tdsands @ NRT |
Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Date Posted: 6/22/07 at 10:54am
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Thanks everyone. These sound great. I am out to find them and order copies so we can read them. If I can't find them, I will come back for help. ------------- Barb Hofmeister, MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona. |
Posted By: eveharrington
Date Posted: 6/23/07 at 4:38am
I was just going to say "Good Doctor"! A start-up group did it here in what was basically a corner of a cafeteria with nothing but two small tables, three ladderback chairs, and a floor mirror (which was lavish). They did have a curtain rigged behind them for their exits, but they could easily have exited to one side between "acts". Besides, if you have any budget at all, it can be fairly simple to build a curtain/backdrop setup. All you need really is a forked post on either side and a crossbeam. Just make sure the bottom of the post is wide enough to be stable and the crossbeam can be removed and it's easily stored and good for a variety of things. sorry for the long post, I just came off an opening night, I'm kinda jazzed.  ------------- "If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights." |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 6/24/07 at 10:14am
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Not sure what you are going for, but we just had a what I think went over well in our "second stage slot" We had been considering a reader theater for a short reheasal slot we wanted to fill and the director came up with doing an evening of old time radio shows.. The are in the public domain so no royalties.. We did a total of four episodes, one each of Dragnet, Our Miss Brooks, Sorry Wrong Number and All About Eve.. We used the previous set (Steele Magnolias) Threw a little paint on it to make it look kind of run down and institutional, came up with a folley system of hands on sound effects, set up some wooden chairs, three stand mics, put the actors in rudamentary period costumes (street clothes from the period) and then they read thier parts, just like they would have in the radio shows... it was complete with commercials, and announcer spots... Some actors did multiple episodes, others were only in one spot. In my opinion it was a great night of entertainment.. and was quite cheap to do, with minimal rehearsal.. Just a thought ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Date Posted: 6/24/07 at 10:20am
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I really like that idea. Thanks so much. Barb ------------- Barb Hofmeister, MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona. |
Posted By: biggertigger
Date Posted: 6/24/07 at 10:14pm
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Talk about a fun time, I would laugh just watching the sound person create the sound effects like the folley artist - (door opens) are they on cue or late or wrong sound effect. Even funnier with one or two people having to run around the stage doing the effects.
Then having the actors do the various parts, and watching their expressions, etc. Would be fun to do, even having them with little or no rehearsal time to make it more spontanious. ------------- The two greatest days in a theater persons life, the day you start a new show and the day the damn thing closes. |