I need to have a stage, but I can't use any wood. what should I do?

First, you have to get past the idea that a stage is a raised platform with curtains and lights, etc. A very influential theatre theorist and practitioner, Peter Brook, wrote a book called The Empty Space. A play can be done anywhere. I used to teach theatre in a high school where the theatre was originally designed to be the school's pool. In fact, the apron of our stage could not have things nailed into it because it was concrete -- it would have been one side of the pool and in direct contact with water. Back near the curtain line, the floor became wood. The audience sat in what would have been the actual pool.

Now, hopefully, you've already got publicity out if your play is in 3 weeks. If it directs them to a building only, you can be creative and perform anywhere in that building. Again, I'm thinking of my old high school, but if something went wrong in the auditorium, I would have tried doing shows in the library, in the cafeteria, in our "Mall" (where several hallways opened on to a large gathering area), outside (the football field even has seating provided), in the gym. But you will have to be creative to handle this, and you cannot feel as if because you do not have a stage that you will put on a second rate show. People perform on street corners; it's where Robin Williams got his start!

I had a friend who made a stage out of sturdy cardboard boxes and styrofoam good luck

Plastic milk crates from your local grocery store! Make sure you tie them together and you can put cardboard on top for a surface!!

rolled up newspapers