Plays

Plays for Teens and Adults | Plays for Children

In keeping with our Mission Statement,

“To provide relevant, personal, quality arts experiences for the stage and for everyday life that dive deep, lift up, and directly engage viewers, listeners, and participants”,

Shearwater Productions offers many of its plays at a low cost for use in classrooms and on the stage. Although these plays touch on history, art, and even the sciences, are both comic and tragic, they all share an exploration of human relationships and responsibilities.

We have grouped the plays into Plays for Teens and Adults and Plays for Children. Samples from the scripts are provided here; please contact us for more information.

All scripts have an optional Study-Guide available for an additional $5 for an email version, $10 for a printed version. Contact us for a study guide.

 

Plays for Teens and Adults

Prince Ahmed and Peribanou
Based on a tale from 1001 Arabian Nights and developed with a group of homeless and transient teens, this play is about being true to oneself and finding the courage to behave with honor, even when those around you do not. Read excerpt.

45 minute interactive play

19 characters; minimum cast: 7 actors/puppeteers

Buy now: $40 for class use | $120 for 1 or 2 staged performances

About Face
Our most recent play. About Face takes place during WWI in the Red Cross Hospital in Paris and in the affiliated studio of Anna Coleman Ladd. It is here that some soldiers who lost their faces came after experimental reconstructive surgery to have masks made. The play follows newly recruited artist Eva St. Giles and the men with whom she works. Although Anna Coleman Ladd, her studio, and the hospital are all real, the rest of the characters are fictional. This play has been in development and workshops for about a year, and an excerpt won an award in Boston. A full production is expected in 2012. Read excerpt.

Approximately 90 minute play

13 characters; minimum cast: 10 actors

Buy now: $50 for class use | $150 for 1 or 2 staged performances

VOICES/lives
A soul is divided in two through a cataclysmic eruption. The halves spend ages and lifetimes trying to connect again. Their journey takes us through multiple times and spaces, including the dustbowl, nineteenth century Europe, and the underbelly of civilization, all the while illuminating our inherent capacity for love, tenderness, power and destruction.

This piece grew out the questions, “What stories do people tell of local past events, what stories do they share of their own lives, what themes recur, and how are these connected?” The Study-Guide includes discussion questions which can become the basis for developing your own Voice One and Voice Two comments during the play. Read excerpt.

75 minute performance

23 characters, 21 voices; minimum cast: 2 actors

Buy now: $50 for class use | $150 for 1 or 2 staged performances

Marassa and Midnight
This play was written after almost two years’ worth of research and workshopping with scholars and performers specializing in the arts of the African diaspora, of West Africa and the Caribbean in particular. It is very loosely based on a story by Morna Stuart, and follows enslaved twin girls (Marassa and Midnight) in San Domingo/Haiti and events leading up to the Haitian Revolution. Song, dance, and history come together in this play of struggle, loneliness, and triumph. Read excerpt.

90 minute performance

26+ characters; minimum cast: 15 performers

Buy now: $50 for class use | $150 for 1 or 2 staged performances

Ain’t I a Woman and a Sister
This play was commissioned by the National Women’s Rights Park and Museum for the 150th anniversary celebration of the women’s rights convention. Beginning in a museum with Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, this play begins when the fight for the Rights of People of Color and the fight for Rights of Women were aligned. Sometimes funny and sometimes tragic, the story of how these two quests became polarized plays out in the context of the triumphs and atrocities of the time, ending with the reconciliation of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass before returning the characters to their museum exhibits. Read excerpt.

35 minute performance

33 characters; minimum cast: 5 actors (at least one should be a strong singer)

Buy now: $40 for class use | $120 for 1 or 2 staged performances

Farce
This quick romp of a play begins as a serious performance piece in a small theatre. A few “audience members” commit small, increasingly irritating infractions, conflict arises, and of course, chaos ensues. Read excerpts.

10 minute performance

6 – 12 characters plus light/sound person; minimum cast: 6 actors

Buy now: $25 flat fee for multiple use

Plays for Children

Koi and the Kola Nuts
In this joyous and humorous adaptation of a West African folktale, a boy begins a journey to find a new home after being rejected by his community. Along the way, he discovers the true meaning of friendship, courage, and compassion. Read excerpts.

30-40 minute play (dependent on music & movement sequences)

34 characters; minimum cast: 15 performers

Buy now: $40 for class use | $120 for 1 or 2 staged performances

Paper Bag Princess
This short, fun play is based, with permission, on the Robert Munsch book of the same name, and must be used in an educational context. Our version is an interactive, facilitated show, originally performed with a human facilitator and three puppets. Princess Ronald is captured by a Dragon and Princess Elizabeth, with nothing left to wear but a paper bag, decides to rescue him, much to his chagrin. Delightful and a terrific way to address stereotypes as well! Read excerpts.

20 minute play

4 characters; minimum cast: 4 performers/puppeteers

Buy now: $30 flat fee for multiple use

Sam Can!
Developed in response to a rise in bulling and manipulative behavior, Sam Can! is designed to help both those being bullied and those caught up in a cycle of bullying behavior understand and redirect their actions. Easily adapted to a group process-performance with teacher/group leader as facilitator/Magical Being, or as a Teacher-Told-Tale with class participation and discussion. Read excerpts.

30 minute interactive mixed puppet/live performance

9 characters; minimum cast: 3 performers, with help from audience.

Buy now: $30 flat fee for multiple use

Science Rules! and Science Review Play
Written with children to help learn and master elementary school science concepts, these two plays also incorporate the beloved Bill Nye character. Intended for school use/educational purposes. Both plays were created for classrooms with over 24 children in them, but each scene requires no more than 4 children at once (but you can include as many as you need). Note: Shearwater teaching artists can come to your school to facilitate arts-learning and the creation of an original work around your curriculum! For more information, go to our Workshops section. Read excerpts.

15 minute performance time for Science Rules!

25 minute performance time for Science Review Play

Buy now: $30 flat fee for multiple use

“Parts of a Play” Play
This hilarious production was written to help elementary school children understand, use and enjoy the parts of a story or play, various genres, and character development techniques. Designed for full class participation, the script can easily accommodate a class size of 18-30. Note: Shearwater teaching artists can come to your school to facilitate arts-learning and the creation of an original work around your curriculum! For more information, go to our Workshops section. Read excerpts.

15 minute performance time

Buy now: $30 flat fee for multiple use

Skip to content