Dramedy | 90-100 min | 10-15 performers
THE WALL OF REJECTION
scenes of comedy & carnage
from the college admissions front
Who knew applying to college would be so stressful? Follow five high school seniors through sadistic SATs, a Madison Avenue essay writing boot camp, and the Interview from Hell. These satirical scenes about the road to college have plenty of laughs (and maybe even some zombies!), but also take on topics of mental health and What’s It All For? Success? Happiness? Maybe it's time to reject the rejections.
CHET: We can’t keep talking about kids struggling…and doing nothing. We don’t need killer resumes. We need a childhood that doesn’t kill us. So, can you please, please, figure out a way to stop crushing the life out of us?
SOFIA: I'm sorry but. But since you're so up on every single "like" on every single post known to man, maybe someone should let you know that you don't actually need to post every time you take a bite of food or see a cute cat. It's like every five minutes: bing! there's a new Instagram from Lulu, bing! there's a new Instagram from Lulu, bing! there'a a new Instagram from Lulu. And if I don't like every single one of them, you're like: why didn't you like my panini? Why didn't you like my goat? I mean, from one friend to another, people are un-liking you because you're draining our freaking will to live. So, sorry I didn't like your chiffon cake or whatever the hell. It's really nice but Jesus! If I've got to see another thirty posts from you today, I'm seriously gonna puke on the sidewalk!
Dramedy | 10-15 min | 5 performers
A Loser Like You
Published in BULLYING, INK., an anthology
of 10-minute plays about bullying
for high school students
Five teens in five two-minute scenes experience the cruel ups-and-downs of any old school day. At first, Kade seems to be a real jerk. He whips a ball at this kid for no reason! But in the very next scene, we find ourselves marching backward in time and realize that Kade was smacked down—literally and figuratively—by a so-called friend just moments before.
Scene by scene, this same dynamic plays out as the injured becomes the perpetrator. And there’s no end in sight to this cycle of cruelty.
Dramedy | 75-90 min | 15 performers total
Lockdown
It’s just another day in the CliffsNotes Library (more books, less filling!) until a siren sounds, the doors automatically lock, and the not-so-studious students discover they are trapped.
What’s going on? Did the high-tech security system malfunction again? Or are they the subjects of a sinister state-sanctioned experiment? Then someone hears a gunshot (maybe), a freaked out substitute teacher is found barricaded in the bathroom, and Crazy Lily has a diabetic seizure.
In a claustrophobic pressure-cooker of fear, paranoia, and social strife, this motley crew of hackers, delinquents, surfer dudes, and prom queens must rise above the chaos to save a life and discover the meaning of tolerance along the way.
Commissioned and premiered by
South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA)
ALICE: It was just...normal. And then you hear this noise. I would say gunfire but that's not what it sounds like because it's not like it sounds in the movies. And normal is turned inside out like one of those frogs in biology class. You don't know what happening but you do know it's bad and you do know right then and there that it's going to take years to recover from this. You're like: this is traumatic. I'm experiencing trauma.
DR. FEAR: And where do you think you're going?
CLARE: Actually, we're leaving. You know, before our parents miss us and call the police and there's a whole to-do and misunderstanding. I'd hate for that to happen.
DR. FEAR: Oh no, no. This is not a problem. The police will never find us. We're all quite safe here is Scareville.
CLARE: Oh.
DR. FEAR: In here, you'll never see your parents again. Or your little baby sister, Loulou. She's so cute sucking her little thumb in her little bitty crib. Or your bunny, Bigwig. Or your doggie, Stuart. In fact, you'll never see sunshine Ever Again. So don't worry your pretty little head about misunderstandings.
Comedy with Music | 45-60 min | 5 performers
Scareville
Suitable for middle school and older performers and audiences of all ages.
Milo and Clare are afraid…of lots of things. And there's good reason when they find themselves trapped in Scareville one dark, haunted night, surrounded by six-foot spiders, zombies, and Dr. Fear himself.
Will they end up being eaten by Sally the Black Widow? Or will Mike the Zombie's lesson on brains teach them a thing or two about fear?
The play includes a handful of songs. Original music with recorded tracks by Matt Buchanan is available for purchase through YouthPLAYS or productions are welcome to create their own.
Workshopped in Ensemble Studio Theatre Winterfest 2015.