Play Suggestions: Ten Minute Plays

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Ten Minute Plays

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4749
Printed Date: 11/25/24 at 8:00pm
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Topic: Ten Minute Plays

Posted By: mrlloyd23
Subject: Ten Minute Plays
Date Posted: 8/12/10 at 3:13pm

The last couple of years I've had a lot of success staging evenings of ten minute plays and I'm always looking for suggestions of new plays to try or collection of plays that I haven't read. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Some of my favourites are:

"Watermelon Boats" by Wendy McLaughlin

"That Midnight Rodeo" by Mary Sue Price

"Brother" by Mary Gallagher

"Sure Thing" by David Ives

"Louis and Dave" by Norm Foster

Replies:

Posted By: Martin
Date Posted: 8/13/10 at 7:41am

"The Mistake" (Heuer Publishing) www.hitplays.com
2 men (Flexible casting—see note below)
2008 Finalist The Rogue Valley Ten-Minute Play Festival in Ashland, Oregon
Synopsis:
Finger-pointing, name-calling, and shocking revelation! Blame, guilt, and a verbal battle royale that has lasted for years, (all of their lives!), through childhood’s laughter and as an adult’s sad tears. "The Mistake" is a fast-paced character study of two friends revealed in a nostalgia-based argument of comic memories, charged bickering and banter, and an unexpected reversal. A madcap, modern, private conversation and a humorous biting look at best friends.
While "The Mistake" was originally written with two male characters in mind, it has been successfully produced with a mixed gender, male and female casting, as well as an all female cast. The casting is flexible. Have fun with it!

Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 8/13/10 at 11:29am

How's that work for the royalties for you? I looked into doing an evening's worth this summer and it looked like it would cost as much as a musical for the rights to eight ten minute plays.

Posted By: Lazy Bee
Date Posted: 8/15/10 at 11:11am

mrlloyd23 - care to be more specific about your tastes and any other constraints? (Otherwise, I will have to offer the full http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/cgi-bin/Search_Results.asp?iMT=10&iAR=4&iC%286%29=1&iC%2810%29=2&iC%2812%29=2&iC%2821%29=1 - 123 scripts listed here .)
That list includes
"A Beautiful Day for a Duel" by Gerald P. Murphy, along with several of his adaptations from Chekhov short stories.
"A Captivating Situation" (amongst others) by Damian Trasler
"Behind Closed Doors" (amongst others) by Iris Winston

-------------
Stuart
Lazy Bee Scripts
http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk - http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk read complete play scripts on-line

Posted By: mrlloyd23
Date Posted: 8/15/10 at 5:32pm

The royalties run about the same as a full length play by the times it's all said and done, but I do the ten-minute plays to give more students a chance to have "their moment" in the spot light, as opposed to a way of saving money.

Posted By: Theatermama
Date Posted: 8/15/10 at 10:57pm

I work with a New Play theater and they do 10 minute plays all of the time. You could maybe have people submit original plays and you choose those you would like to perform. The prize is getting to see it staged.

They have several they do: One called the Playoffs where you Get 9 team owners (people to put up money) and 9 agreed playwrights and 9 agreed directors and then as many actors as you can get to come. The opening pitch is put out at 6 p.m. on a Friday Night. The team owner draws a playwright, the playwright draws a director and the directors take turns drawing actors until all used up. We usually get 2-3 actors per. They are then given a line of dialogue, a theme and an object that must be used in their 10 minute or less play. They have 12 hours to write it and the actors have then 12 hours to produce it - it is 24 hour process and then it is produced 3 more night over 2 weekends. First Weekend is Saturday night and Sunday matinee and second weekend is Friday night and Saturday night with the winner being announced Saturday night. Audience members get to vote for their top 3 choices. The top 3 get a prize of some sort - not expensive. It is a great way to get new actors in your theater.

University of Minnesota theater department does something similar. Depending on your theater's values - you may have to give guidelines to the writers - no language, no nudity etc.

They also do a Box Office Blizzard where they have people submit 3 minute plays or less and they then try to do a certain number with in 90 minutes in random order.

They did this year something called the Shorts and again people submit 10 minutes plays to be considered. It is a fun evening of theater.

We also have a Mini Play festival where kids write 10 minute plays for a contest and then they are produced by other kids but then later the next year we have had the winners produced by adults and toured in local schools - they didn't do this this year but it has happened in the past.

The other theater I work for does what is called a Director's Symposium and have produced new plays or old royalty free scenes and that has worked very well as well.

Posted By: mrlloyd23
Date Posted: 8/16/10 at 10:54am

The Playoffs sound like a really interesting concept. Does each playwright get a different theme and line of dialogue or does everyone use the same one. It would be neat to see how different writers incorporate the same cues differently.

I have used locally written plays in the past. I have hoped to have an entire evening of new works, but that hasn't happened yet, but this playoff idea might work as a catalyst to get some stuff happening.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.

Posted By: Theatermama
Date Posted: 8/16/10 at 4:23pm

Yes everyone uses the same one and you get lots of different plays. The comedic ones usually seem to win but there have been some very good serious ones.

You could do other things, this is just the way we do it. It is a lot of fun, one of my favorite events of the year. I usually direct as I find learning lines in less than 12 hours a little daunting.

Posted By: Shanahan
Date Posted: 8/16/10 at 5:28pm

Visit my site, http://johnshanahan.net/playwright and you'll find a few 10-minute plays for your consideration. Several have won "Best Of"-type awards at short play fests around the country. All have been previously produced. (They're audience-tested!)

-------------
Laughter guaranteed. Plays by John Shanahan

http://www.johnshanahan.net
Dinner for Several
One Before Forty
Bob's Date
Brushstroke
Worst Possible Time for Writer's Block
& more!

Posted By: jonplaywright
Date Posted: 8/20/10 at 10:40pm

I wasn't entirely sure of your specifications (for example, the age of the actors or the subject matter), but if you're looking for plays that are suitable for younger actors, I'd recommend perusing the two dozen (and counting) excellent ten-minute choices at YouthPLAYS ( http://www.youthplays.com - www.youthplays.com ).

Personally, I also have quite a few ten-minute plays that have been produced at schools, college, community and professional companies. Some are suitable for young actors, while others work well for adult performers. You can browse my plays here:

http://jondorf.com/index2.html - http://jondorf.com/index2.html

Cheers,
Jon Dorf

Co-Chair, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights
Resident Playwriting Expert, Final Draft and The Writers Store

Posted By: mrlloyd23
Date Posted: 8/23/10 at 7:11pm

I want to use plays that work for actors 14 to 18. I'm not afraid of pushing the enevelop a little bit with content. We've used shorts that deal with teen pregnancy, abortion some other controversial topics.

I also don't mind having students play characters who are a little older as long as I feel it's a script the students can understand.

Posted By: jonplaywright
Date Posted: 8/23/10 at 7:32pm

In that case, of my own work, I'd recommend the following:

A-Bomb Wedding
Comedy. Two young adults look for love in a convenience store--with more than the usual baggage. (1m 1f)
Available through YouthPLAYS:
http://youthplays.com/plays/view/1 - http://youthplays.com/plays/view/1

The Cooking Gene
Dramedy. When a high school home economics family budgeting assignment requires each student to choose a pretend husband or wife, a gay teen wants his boyfriend to be his husband. (2m) Available through YouthPLAYS:
http://youthplays.com/plays/view/5 - http://youthplays.com/plays/view/5

Newt Gingrich Visits A Residential Youth Facility Not Near Omaha
Dramedy. A pair of residents at a home for troubled teens wait for a photo op with Newt Gingrich. Finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville Heideman Award. (2m) Available through Brooklyn Publishers:
http://https://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=sd&st=Newt+Gingrich+Visits+a+Residential+Youth+Facility+Not+Near+Omaha - https://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=sd&st=Newt+Gingrich+Visits+a+Residential+Youth+Facility+Not+Near+Omaha

Sudden Death Debating League
Comedy. When a high school debate tournament's sudden death round turns out to be exactly that, losing is no longer an option... (1m 1f) Available from Brooklyn Publishers:
http://https://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=sd&st=Sudden+Death+Debating+League - https://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=sd&st=Sudden+Death+Debating+League

Ten Minutes
Drama. After two of their classmates stage a Columbine-style massacre at their high school, a pair of students hiding in a custodian's closet must decide whether ten minutes of silence means it's safe to come out, or something else entirely... (1m 1f) Available from Brooklyn Publishers:
http://https://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=sd&st=Ten+Minutes - https://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=sd&st=Ten+Minutes

All are previously produced.

YouthPLAYS also has quite a few plays that might be of interest. Among the titles that seem perhaps best suited:
Almost Perfect
Boys Gone Mild
Detention
Do These Jeans Make My Butt Look Massive?
Midnight Snow Falls Softly
An Old-Fashioned Christmas
Options
The Trestle
Wrong End of the Stick

If you visit http://www.youthplays,com - www.youthplays,com , you can order as many as you like as free electronic perusals. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Jon

-------------
Co-Chair, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights
Resident Playwright, Final Draft

YouthPLAYS, plays for young actors and audiences
http://www.youthplays.com - www.youthplays.com

Posted By: bnk01
Date Posted: 9/01/10 at 11:04pm

Original works online has some ten minute play collections you can peruse samples of:

http://www.originalworksonline.com/guiltymoments.htm