So I'm currently in "script reading" mode and trying to find some new plays to put up. My CT is specifically focused on edgy, darker, less-known works. We do drama, comedy, and we have just put up our first musical (which seems to be a pretty big hit! fingers crossed....) So now, I'm trying to find a few plays to suggest to my board. Of course, this means I'm trying to find several needles in one giant haystack.

What I'm specifically looking for:

 

straight play/non-musical

cast of 7 or more

unit set
less-known, dark-comedy

 

Any suggestions out there?

Thanks so much!

 

For dark and very edgy there's Dark of The Moon (I don't recall the authors at the moment), based on the ballad of Barbara Allen and set in the Ozarks. It includes adult themes and is considered by some to be controversial, but done well, it's very entertaining.

 

Another is Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning...some dark themes but a real hoot. Mock Shakespearean dialogue your actors can really have fun with.

 

Both are written in verse, but are delivered conversationally.

 

 

Depends on how edgy you want to get. If you want to get so edgy that you have eight people in the audience and no one knows what's going on, by all means, go for Sarah Kane.

 

I also have a play that is edgy and completely inappropriate for schools called The World's Largest Rodent - here's the blurb:

 

"Billy's life was pushed to the brink of insanity when his father disappeared and his mother slipped into a catatonic state after a failed suicide attempt. His older sister, Meg, has enough on her hands with a job at Wal-Mart to pay off medical bills and a Latin lover who is determined to teach Billy how to be a man. Billy's only friends are a home schooled lesbian evangelist named Chastity whom he desperately lusts after and a large, magical talking capybara, the world's largest rodent. Together, they must find a way to revive Billy's mother and save Billy's world."

 

You can read it for free here: