10 – 15 minute plays:
24th Hour
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
A couple’s “friendly” game of gin has hostile undertones for reasons that only gradually become apparent.
Annunciation
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1F, 1M
Sarah is surprised by a visit from the Archangel Gabriel, who tells her that she has been given a mission from God. Sarah is less than impressed, especially when she finds out the exact nature of that mission.
Production History
February 2016
Cohasset Dramatic Club: Briefs III
Cohasset, MA
Director: Lisa Pratt
Bad Girl
10 Minute Play
Cast: 3F, 2M
Emily Frick is a teenage rebel, what with her obsessions with hoop skirts, waltzes, and embroidery. Can her mother make her conform to the 21st Century?
Production History
November 2006
Winnisquam Regional High School Drama Club: A Short Night Out 2006
Tilton, NH
Director: Karen Shepherd
Banana Therapy
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1F, 1M, 1 Either
Roy and Ellen are a married couple who can’t seem to communicate any more. The therapist will try to solve their problems with the Talking Banana.
Production History
October 2014
Hovey Players: The 3rd Annual 24-Hour Play Festival
Waltham, MA
Director: Vivian Liu-Somers
Big Eddie
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
A love triangle between a man, a woman, and an inanimate object.
Production History
July 2013
Hovey Players: Summer Shorts 2013
Waltham, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
November 2011
Image Theater: The 7th Annual Naughty Readings
Lowell, MA
Director: Jerry Bisantz
November 2008
Company One: SLAMBoston
Boston, MA
Director: Risher Reddick
Winner, Best Play
November 2006
Image Theater: Naughty Readings
Lowell, MA
Director: Jerry Bisantz
Buddy and Chester
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
Sandra is in mourning for her beloved Chester when a stranger named Edwin appears, revealing that Chester had a past that Sandra knew nothing about.
Production History
December 2013
Hovey Players: The 2nd Annual 24-Hour Play Festival
Waltham, MA
Director: Nick Martucci
The Change
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
Mr. MacMurray awakens after an operation to discover that, aside from having his appendix removed, he has been given a sex change. For some reason, he finds this objectionable.
Production History
January 2016
Acme Theater Productions: New Works Winter Festival 2013
Maynard, MA
Director: Lisa Burdick
July 2012
Hovey Players: Summer Shorts 2012
Waltham, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
Photo Gallery
November 2007
Image Theater: Naughty Readings
Lowell, MA
Director: Jerry Bisantz
The Complaint Department
10 Minute Play
Cast: 4 (any gender)
All of the problems of humanity are handled in Heaven’s complaint department. But the endless hours of going through mortal’s complaints leaves the workers there jaded, until a brand-new employee shakes things up.
Production History
November 2019
Western Connecticut State University: No Strings Attached – An Evening of One Act Plays
Danbury, CT
Director: Camry N. Young
April 2019
Lake Forest College Theater Department: A Season of Student Work
Lake Forest, IL
Director: Bianca Shofner
May 2018
Boston Playwrights’ Theater/Greater Boston Stage Company: The Boston Theater Marathon XX
Boston, MA
Director: Sarah Elizabeth Bedard
The Door
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2 (any gender, but both characters should be of the same gender)
Our protagonist relates to an interested listener the odd and surreal story of how he found a strange door inside his apartment, one that had never been there before. As the tale unfolds, we learn what ultimately lay behind the door: the listener him/herself, whose intentions toward the protagonist are not benign.
Production History
May 2019
Boston Playwrights’ Theater/imaginary beasts: The Boston Theater Marathon XXI
Boston, MA
Director: Matthew Woods
End of Messages
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F (offstage)
Brad is eager to listen to the voice mail left by the woman with whom he spent the previous night, until she lets slip a few details she really ought to have mentioned before. As, for instance, the existence of an insanely jealous husband.
Production History
October 2010
Atlantis Playmakers: The New England Fringe Festival (segment of A Brush with Death)
Burlington, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
Winner, Fringe Favorite (as part of A Brush with Death)
The Evaluation
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1 Either
Roger is dead, to begin with. Now he is in the afterlife, to have his life evaluated. Is he worthy of spending eternity in the Blessed Kingdom? He thinks so, but the criteria by which he is being judged is not what he was expecting.
Production History
July 2016
Hovey Players: Summer Shorts 2016
Waltham, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
November 2015
Arlington Friends of the Drama: ArlingTEN ShortWorks Festival
Arlington, MA
Director: Vivian Liu-Somers
Evolution
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1F, 2M
Frid and Nella are primitive creatures, low on the food chain. Frid has the brilliant idea of evolving into a larger size, so as to become master of the Earth. But is bigger necessarily better when it comes to world domination? Nella doesn’t think so.
Production History
January 2020
Huntsville Festival of the Arts
Huntsville, Ontario
Director: Caroline Heyblom
April 2017
Community College of Rhode Island Players: Some Ten Words Long
Providence, RI
Director: Trey Hendley
May 2016
Boston Playwrights’ Theater/Imaginary Beasts: The Boston Theater Marathon XVIII
Boston, MA
Director: Matthew Woods
Published in:
The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2017
Smith and Kraus, Hanover, NH
2017
Final Project
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2F, 1M
For her final project in her literature class, Tina has created a walking, talking version of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130. The results are not to her professor’s liking.
Production History
May 2008
Lasell College/in vivo Productions: The Class Acts Project
Newton, MA
Director: Lisa Hamel
The Green Room
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2F, 2M, 1 Either
A young actress decides she’s had quite enough of the demeaning roles her director casts her in.
Production History
October 2009
Atlantis Playmakers: The New England Fringe Festival (segment of In Your Dreams!)
Burlington, MA
Director: Andrew Wetmore
Photo Gallery
Winner, Producer’s Award, Best Performance
Hypothetically
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2F
Sandy wonders why her husband called out her sister Amelia’s name during a moment of intimacy. Does Amelia have any explanation? She has quite of number of them, actually.
Production History
September 2018
Eden Prairie Players: 14th Annual Collection of Once Acts
Eden Prairie, MN
Director: Chad Giefer
November 2012
Image Theater: Naughty Readings
Lowell, MA
Director: Jerry Bisantz
The Little Death
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2M 2F
Paul and Janie are a young couple anticipating their first night together, but events go awry when a mysterious woman appears and announces that this is the night Paul is destined to die.
Production History
June 2006
Playwrights’ Platform 34th Annual Festival of New Plays
Boston, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
Winner, Audience Choice Award for Best Play, Series B
Runner-Up, Playwrights’ Choice Award for Best Play, Series B
Winner, Audience Choice Award for Best Actor (Todd Radford), Series B
April 2006
Image Theater: Guy Stuff
Lowell, MA
Director: Peter M. Floyd
July 2005
The MIT Community Players: What Can Happen in Ten Minutes?
Cambridge, MA
Director: Peter M. Floyd
Photo Gallery
Published by:
Heuer Publishing, Cedar Rapids, IA
2006
Please contact Heuer Publishing for information on production rights and royalties.
Love, Billy Bunny
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
Jean is convinced that Robert has become obsessed with cute, adorable Billy Bunny… so she’ll just have to blow its little stuffed head off.
Production History
November 2019
The Robinson Players at Bates College: The One-Act Theatre Festival
Lewiston, ME
Director: Muskan Verma
June 2015
Santa Paula Theater Center Backstage Productions: Playzapalooza
Santa Paula, CA
January 2013
Acme Theater Productions: New Works Winter Festival 2013
Maynard, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
May 2012
Boston Playwrights’ Theater/Emerson Stage: The Boston Theater Marathon XIV
Boston, MA
Director: Anna Trachtman
Michael Isn’t Yours
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2M, 1F
As Steph and Bill watch TV, she casually announces that his son… isn’t really his son.
Production History
June 2017
Arlington Friends of the Drama: ArlingTEN ShortWorks Festival
Arlington, MA
Director: Vivian Liu-Somers
November 2016
Image Theater: Naughty Readings
Lowell, MA
Director: Moira McCarthy
Objective
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2M, 2F
Suzanne’s husband Robert may have gone off to get a cake. Or he may be lying dead on the floor with a knife in his back. Suzanne’s brother Len chooses to remain neutral about which of these is true.
Production History
July 2015
Hovey Players: Summer Shorts 2015
Waltham, MA
Director: Luke Bruneaux
February 2014
Cohasset Dramatic Club: Briefs
Cohasset, MA
Director: Lisa Rafferty
March 2008
Fort Point Theatre Channel: Exclamation Point 3!
Boston, MA
Director: Nick Ronan
May 2007
Devanaughn Theatre: The 5th Annual Dragonfly Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Louisa Richards
Perspective
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2M, 1F
A man and a woman in a long-term relationship discover that they have, quite literally, been living in two different worlds.
Production History
June 2018
Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art: Perception
Canberra, Australia
January 2012
Acme Theater Productions: New Works Winter Festival
Maynard, MA
Director: Tom Powers
October 2009
Newton Cable Television: Studio Playhouse
Newton, MA
Director: Louisa Richards
June 2009
Playwrights’ Platform 37th Annual Festival of New Plays
Boston, MA
Director: Louisa Richards
Photo Gallery
Winner, Audience Choice Award for Best Play, Series A
Winner, Playwright’s Choice Award for Best Play, Series A
May 2009
Boston Playwrights’ Theater/FortyMagnolias Productions: The Boston Theater Marathon XI
Boston, MA
Director: Anne Gottlieb
Published in:
Boston Theater Marathon XI: 2009 Anthology
Smith and Kraus, Hanover, NH
2010
Possibilities
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2F, 3M
Dragged to a club by her friend Phoebe, Donna is determined to not have a good time. Until she finds out that she might be a great novelist. Or president. Or possibly even queen of the Universe.
Production History
May 2008
Image Theater: Tales From a Tavern
Lowell, MA
Director: Dayle Ballentine
May 2006
Boston Playwrights’ Theater/Foothills Theatre Company: Boston Theater Marathon 2006
Boston, MA
Director: Bob Dolan
December 2005
Winnisquam Regional High School Drama Club: A Short Night Out
Tilton, NH
Director: Karen Shepherd
July 2005
The MIT Community Players: What Can Happen in Ten Minutes?
Cambridge, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
Photo Gallery
The Tell-Tale Heart
Adapted from the story by Edgar Allen Poe
Monologue
Cast: 1F
In this gender-switched version of the classic Poe tale, a woman speaks of how she was compelled to murder her older companion.
Production History
October 2009
Waltham Public Library: An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe
Waltham, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
Too, Too Solid Flesh
10 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 2F
Chloe, Isabel and Max are having a drunken conversation about the nature of fiction. Do the characters created by novelists and playwrights really exist? The answer unexpectedly becomes more than academic for Max.
Production History
January 2015
Firehouse Center for the Arts: New Works Festival 2016
Newburyport, MA
Director: Stephen Faria
Winner: Peter Honneger Prize for Best Short Play
July 2014
Hovey Players: Summer Shorts 2014
Waltham, MA
Director: Michelle Aguillion
May 2014
Boston Playwrights’ Theater/Hovey Players: The Boston Theater Marathon XVI
Boston, MA
Director: J. Mark Baumhardt
Photo Gallery
Published in:
The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2015
Smith and Kraus, Hanover, NH
2016
The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2015 (excerpt)
Smith and Kraus, Hanover, NH
2015
Tow Lot
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2M, 1F
In this hymn to sloth, Joe and Dee would really like to assist their friend Brian when he’s getting his car towed, but helping him out would just take so much effort.
Production History
September 2010
Ghostlight Theater Company: The 7 Deadly Sins Festival
Concord, NH
Director: John Kneeland
Published in:
The Seven Deadly Sins: A Collection of New Plays
Ghostlight Theater Publications, Salem, NH
2010
The Wish
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2M, 1F
Judy and Gavin discover a genie who will grant any wish they want! Almost any wish, that is. Well, any wish that’s feasible. Possibly.
Production History
June 2007
Playwrights’ Platform 35th Annual Festival of New Plays
Boston, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
May 2007
Devanaughn Theatre: The 5th Annual Dragonfly Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Lau Lapides
The Yowl of the Wild
10 Minute Play
Cast: 2F, 2M
Cleopatra the cat is comfortable living her pampered life, despite the intrusive presence of the household dogs, until the feral feline Scratch shows her a wider world.
Production History
February 2015
Cohasset Dramatic Club: Briefs
Cohasset, MA
Director: Barbara Baumgarten
June 2010
Playwrights’ Platform 38th Annual Festival of New Plays
Boston, MA
Director: Ronni Marshak
Photo Gallery
Runner-Up, Audience Choice Award for Best Play, Series B
Runner-Up, Playwrights’ Choice Award for Best Play, Series B
Winner, Playwrights’ Choice for Best Director, Series B
Winner, Audience Choice Award for Best Actor (Brian Wolfe-Leonard), Series B
Runner-Up, Audience Choice Award for Best Actress (Shelley Brown), Series B
February 2010
Centastage/Shadow Boxing: Three Ring Reading Series
Boston, MA
Director: Korinne Ritchey
One-minute plays:
Arrival
1 Minute Play
Cast: 4 (each can be of either gender)
Sometimes never is better than late.
Production History
January 2012
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Benjamin Evett
Bipartisanship
1 Minute Play
Cast: 3 (each can be of either gender)
Why can’t you get along with the person who’s beating you?
Production History
January 2015
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Hatem Adell
Boston Language
1 Minute Play
Cast: 3 (each can be of either gender)
In the city of the Red Sox, there’s only one way to talk
Production History
January 2015
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Anna Trachtman
The Flaw
1 Minute Play
Cast: 2M or 2W
It’s the end of the world! But our two protagonists can repopulate the planet… Can’t they?
Production History
May 2014
Boston Theater Marathon XVI: The One Minute Sprints
Boston, MA
January 2012
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Steven Bogart
I [ ] You
1 Minute Play
Cast: 2 (M or F)
Two characters say just what they think of each other
Production History
October 2019
Cabot Fall Foliage Festival Variety Show
Cabot, VT
Director: Karen Mueller-Harder
January 2018
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Kelly Smith
I Am a Dog
1 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
A tale of a woman and her dog. No, her boyfriend. Which is it?
Production History
January 2014
Boston One-Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: James Peter Sotis
Ideal
1 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
A painter claims his portrait is better than reality. Does he really believe it?
Production History
January 2013
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Corianna Moffatt
The Match Game
1 Minute Play
Cast: 2 (M or F)
A citizen’s basic right hinges on the details of an address.
Production History
January 2019
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Alexandra Smith
May, Three Years Ago
1 Minute Play
Cast: 1M, 1F
A man tells a woman the story of how they met, which she can’t quite remember.
Production History
October 2019
Cabot Fall Foliage Festival Variety Show
Cabot, VT
Director: Karen Mueller-Harder
January 2014
Boston One-Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Anna Trachtman
Take a Look
1 Minute Play
Cast: 2 (M or F)
B’s got something in his (or her) hands. A knows s/he’ll regret taking a look at it, but can s/he resist temptation?
Production History
October 2019
Cabot Fall Foliage Festival Variety Show
Cabot, VT
Director: Karen Mueller-Harder
January 2013
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Jeffrey Mosser
The Wrong Way
1 Minute Play
Cast: 2 (M or F)
There’s a right way and a wrong way to voice your opinions. Isn’t there?
Production History
January 2018
Boston One Minute Play Festival
Boston, MA
Director: Lindsay Eagle