What's the best play for a high school drama group to do?

Look more into Shakespeare, for your first time it will help you to learn more about Shakespeare. Help you to learn the ropes and Shakespear plays can be switched around to comedy or musical or just plain learning. Mid Summer Nights Dream, is a good beginning play, it's a comedy and has a good number of guy and girl parts.

I am a mother of 3 children who have been in drama all their high school and jr high school years I have seen alott of plays and Festivals. Festivals are great for learning to do plays. They help the students learn the basics and gives them the ability to withstand constuctive criticism. My 3 loved drama and everything about it. I think you will be great at it. I can recommend talking to other drama teachers in your area. I see your name phelan, are you at Serrano or one of the surrounding schools? I work at Hesperia High School and Mrs. Hunter is our Drama teacher and she is great . If you would like further help I know alott of alumni that would love to give a helping hand Just let me know.

email me at maria.castellano@hesperia.org

If not I wish you all the luck that I can give and also,

BREAK A LEG....

Unfortunately, I don't know who wrote either of these, nor where they are available.

Arsenic and Old Lace. Really allows the actors to shine, doesn't require a lot of props or effects, main characters are women. I've seen this one several times, and still the best performance of it I ever saw was the one by my junior high drama class.

Six Characters in Search of an Author. This one can be really cool if "inserted" into another play. I saw this one at the Sydney Opera House in the Eighties. All the tickets and signage outside the actual theater said it was going to a different play. As soon as you entered the theatre, the play was already in progress - stage hands were running around still trying to get things set up, props were falling down, a whole row of seats was missing etc. They finally got all that cleared up and the play "began" when all of a sudden the lights go out and then back on, and there are six people standing on stage - the rest of the play was these six characters "arguing" with the director to tell their story as well.

So no Wizard of Oz because it won't be easy to cast the munchkins because you're short on casting and it's a musical you don't want it to be musical. Most school plays involve music. But maybe you can turn a musical play to a non-musical. When I was in High School we did a play similar to "The Nutcracker" but it didn't involve singing nor dancing...just fun, great costumes (very colorful) and lots of laughter. We made it into a comedy. I found this website/link that has a list of some musical and non-musical plays you can use for your group. I hope it helps. Good luck.

I am not going to tell you a specific title but here are some tips.

Do not do a comedy. Most students don't have the timing yet.

Try a serious play with some funny aspects. Use the guide to help. You can also ask about specific plays and if they worked for other directors.

Try to pick one with easy scenery. By easy I mean easily obtained objects. eg., don't choose one with a chariot.

For my first play I did one about a farm family because I was in a rural community. Think of something the students can relate to.

Break a Leg!

Take Care.

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RE:

What's the best play for a high school drama group to do?

I'm the new drama advisor for a high school drama club and we have to pick a play for production. I'm not looking at musicals because I don't have any experience and am not musically inclined myself. We have mostly girls, maybe 4 boys.

We did Ten Little Indians with casting "variations". The only true male parts that you need are:

Rogers- the Man servant (A female cannot be used, because his wife is the first to die)

The Aide De Camp (1940's military had NO females in this role)

The Judge (see above)

The Doctor is also pretty well required to be a male, because of a "save me" scene in the 3rd act that wouldn't play well with dual females.

Perhaps try the Odd Couple with the "guys" around the poker table (including the leads) being all female, and the Pidgeon sisters being the Pidgeon brothers. As this play only has ONE set, it is great for groups with limited personnel and experience.

I agree with whoever said Arsenic and Old Lace. That one's good. (Not sure who it's by, though) Another good one is The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. My school did that one, and it only requires, from what I remember, 4 boys. 2 of them are the main characters. One of them is just a butler, so that could possibly be a maid. The other one's a preacher, and he loves this old lady, so that'd have to be a guy. It's a comedy, and there's a movie of it. Watch it and see what you think.

I can't think of any others right now. I love musicals, but I understand that you don't want to do that.

Good luck!

High School Non Musical

As a rule, if you know you have lots of girls at the audition, Women of Troy. (Sure it's Greek and challenging, but you do have more girls with stage time)

Or, Steel Magnolias, its a great play, mostly women. It's a challenge, but it will come naturally to the girls.

A great beginners play is Alice in Wonderland. They are loads of different scripts and it can be re-interpreted in many ways. And most of the characters can be a boy or a girl.

The classic " Romeo and Juliet " but make it a bit modern. Some of the male characters can be played by girls, it will all add up to the modern twist. You can even add some lines to make it funky, but don't change it too much. Try experimenting with some costumes as well. They do not have to be period peaces.