# High school plays - what shows are you doing and have you done?



## Sayen

Every year it seems like I'm reading through stacks of bad plays looking for something new. I get tired of plays that are over produced, even if they're still new to the students. Really, does anyone need to see _Arsenic and Old Lace _again? I had a list started on my computer that I was tracking by surfing different school websites, but I seem to have lost it.

Anyone who's tried to plan a high school season knows there isn't a great deal of material out there that is school appropriate, offers decent female roles, is reasonably current, and doesn't stink.

So...what plays did you do in high school? Those of you in high school, what are you doing / have you done? I'm mostly looking for non-musicals, but I'd love to hear some seasons out there. Other theater teachers frequently ask me this as well, so a list might be of value.


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## tech2000

We just did Noises Off last Spring.


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## derekleffew

Sayen said:


> ...I get tired of plays that are over produced, even if they're still new to the students. Really, does anyone need to see _Arsenic and Old Lace _again? ...


Yes, they do!--exactly for the reason that they are new to the students and young audiences. _You Can't Take It With You, Wait Until Dark, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Harvey,_ any Neil Simon comedy, any Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neil, Tennessee Williams have all stood the test of time and many are just as pertinent today, and NOT exposing your students to the Great American Classics, even though YOU'VE seen/done them to death, is a disservice.


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## DHSLXOP

A play that my school did 2 years ago was _Rehearsal for Murder_ which is based on the movie of the same name by Richard Levinson and William Link. It is a very good show, and all of us involved really enjoyed working on it. Its a murder mystery, and has a some-what surprise ending. You can read it on google books. Edit: You can read parts of the play on google books, some pages are missing.


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## hhslights

I am in high school and I have been a part of

High School Musical
The Man Who Corrupted Haddleyburg
Hello Dolly

Going to be doing

Pride and Prejudice
Alice in Wonderland
Beauty and the Beast

Has been done but I have not been a part of

The Legend of Sleepy Hallow
12 Angry Jurors (men)


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## Sayen

derekleffew said:


> Yes, they do!--exactly for the reason that they are new to the students and young audiences. _You Can't Take It With You, Wait Until Dark, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Harvey,_ any Neil Simon comedy, any Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neil, Tennessee Williams have all stood the test of time and many are just as pertinent today, and NOT exposing your students to the Great American Classics, even though YOU'VE seen/done them to death, is a disservice.


I wouldn't write any of those plays off completely - but when three schools in a local district all did Arsenic in the same year, there's a problem. There are plenty of good playwrights out there, and plenty of modern classics to be explored. We've hit all of the authors you mentioned except Williams, and that's partially due to the limited appropriateness of his works. We read _Glass Menagerie_, but we owe audiences better than just classics.

Harvey is a potential on my list, if it helps redeem me at all.


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## MSLD

We have done _Meet Me in St. Louis_


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## MillburyAuditorium

Since I have been in charge of the schools theatre, we have done, in order

Oklahoma
The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree (My favorite!)
The Princess and the Pea (Or I think its called something else...)
Guys and Dolls
The Wizard of Oz
Get Up and Go! (Junior kids did that one.)
Back to the 80's The totally awesome musical! (Was a good one)
Bedside Manor (I have to say was the worst play we have ever done. Not that acting was bad, was actually pretty good, but the plot and the play itself was kind of blah.)

Might be missing one or two.


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## Sayen

I should add some of what I've done. Off the top of my head:

House of Blue Leaves
Get Smart
Curious Savage
Crucible
Arsenic and Old Lace
Importance of Being Ernest - hit a little to close to home with my population
Noises Off - fun, too inappropriate
Macbeth
Midsummer Night's Dream
Steel Magnolias
The Philadelphia
Blyth Spirit
Skin of Our Teeth
Miracle Worker
Crimes of the Heart
Thurber Carnival
2 different Draculas
Cyrano
Tartuffe
12 Angy Jurors/Men
Beauty and the Beast (non musical)
Night of January 16 - Highly recommended, audience loved it


That's without musicals and one acts. At four plays a year though, I'm always looking for more.


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## misterm

i'm enjoying this thread because i'm getting some new ideas for shows for my group!!
some we did in high school/college/current teaching position that were different but good:
Shadowlands
The Curious Savage (or its sequel, The Savage Dilemma, which is actually funnier)
The Right to Remain Silent
The Imaginary Invalid
The King Stag
The Diviners
A Bad Year for Tomatoes
The Boys Next Door

We also do a yearly night of one-acts where we feature 2 to 3 plays, one of which is our competition piece. Lots of fun because you get to work with a lot of new students and find new talent and do some fun short plays without getting burned out.


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## Seldred

What a great thread! I run a HS theater program, and am always mired in the problem of finding plays that a) deal with issues that are compelling to students and their families, b) have good female roles, c) are castable in "non-traditional" ways, and d) bring in audiences.

We normally do 3 productions a year - a classical (usually Shakespeare), a modern, and a musical. Our recent classical productions:

Taming of the Shrew
The Lady's not for Burning (a verse play written in the 40's but set in 14th century England)
12th Night
Constance Congdon's adaptation of Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" - only do this play if you like fart jokes!
A Midsummer Night's Dream
As You Like It

Recent "modern" plays:

The Rimers of Eldritch, by Lanford Wilson - 17 characters, ensemble piece, powerful melodrama about hypocrisy in small-town life.

On the Verge, by Eric Overmyer - smaller cast, but 3 terrific lead female roles! Very funny, very witty, very imaginative journey by 3 "victorian" explorers who somehow magically wind up in a lounge bar in the middle of the 20th Century.

The Madwoman of Chaillot, by Jean Giraudoux. Once again, GREAT female roles. Very topical for this year's Wall Street headlines. A beautiful romance set in Paris in the late 1940's. There are about 35 roles, which should be doubled down to about 25 actors. I made the mistake of casting 35 actors - don't do it!

All In the Timing, by David Ives - this is a collection of 6 One-Acts that becomes a full-length theatrical entertainment (he's since written another 8). This was our biggest hit in years - VERY funny, very diverse, and even better - very easy to rehearse because students are only cast in 1 one act and only have to show up to rehearse that one. We're taking a hint from this and trying out a "1-act fest" for this year's winter production.

Our recent musicals:

Cabaret
West Side Story
The Wizard of Oz (on 100th anniversary)
A Chorus Line
Anything Goes
Sweet Charity (a surprising hit!)
This year, we'll do "Bye Bye Birdie".


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## Seldred

Oh! I forgot to mention a terrific resource that we're looking at very seriously for future productions - the plays of Charles Mee - particularly those plays that are part of his "re-making project". Mee has written a number of very imaginative, very playable adaptations of obscure classics. They are re-imagined in quirky, contemporary forms. The entire scripts are posted online, here:

the plays

Please look around his website to learn more about what he's doing - it's fascinating!


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## Sayen

I do a couple of one act festivals as well, when I can stomache one acts. So many of them are very preachy. I've moved to having students write most of those.

A great short script dealing with teen social issues is _And Stuff_, the follow up to the less compelling _Voices from the High School_. Students and adults liked _And Stuff._


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## ReiRei

The first show I ever did in high school was _The Spoon River Anthology_. This was when I was thrust into theatre by my friends. I didn't like it at all and I don't suggest it. I did costumes and every time I went up to watch for wardrobe malfunctions I went back down to our dressing room wanting to hang myself.

My first REAL season consisted of just _Little Shop of Horrors_ and _Beauty and the Beast_. Little Shop will always be my most favorite show that I have ever done. It's pretty catchy. Though BatB is a little cliche it's GREAT for bringing in big crowds because think about it... little children MUST come see BatB live with their parents. Plus it's a good musical to have a big cast in.

My second and last season at my high school consisted of _Company of Wayward Saints_, _The Pajama Game_, and _Anatomy of Gray_. Company was a good show but it's a cast of fifteen at the most, and it's not very tech heavy. While it's a fun show to do I wouldn't really suggest it. Pajama Game was a good show with a good amount of ensemble and whatnot. It was NOT my favorite show for my own personal reasons but I would suggest it to other people. Anatomy was a pretty good show too, I wasn't around for much else but the lighting calls so I can't really say too much about it. When I saw the first half though I thought that it was pretty good.


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## Chris Chapman

Due to budget restrictions and program needs we rotate through types of shows each season. This year we are doing:

Pride & Prejudice (adaption by Jon Jory. EXCELLENT adaptaion, great script for those looking for strong female roles. Available through Playscripts.com)
War at Home: Students Respond to September 11th
Bleacher Bums


Last season:
Charlottes Web (Middle School Production)
Story Theatre (One Act)
Guys & Dolls

Going into the past you'll see the headache I deal with. For our Middle School production, I am hands off on the play selection, and usually they are the horrid stuff (in my opinion) from Pioneer Drama, usually written by Tim Kelly. I officially banned Kelly as a playwright to be performed in our space. One Director I work with only knows Neil Simon (see below). I have been pushing more edgy stuff in our One Acts and have had great response on them. Don't fall into the trap that you have to do High School "Issue" plays as your One Acts. Anyway, here's my list from 1999 on:
The Hobbit
Bury the Dead (One Act)
Footloose
Arsenic & Old Lace
The Good Doctor (One Act)
Music Man
How The West was Done (Middle School Production)
The Grapes of Wrath
A Christmas Carol
Don't Drink the Water
Becoming Arthur (One Act)
Godspell
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (Middle School)
Fortress (One Act)
Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jungle Book (Middle School)
Ducktails & Bobbysox (Middle School)
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
Bullshot Crummond (One Act)
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Beauty & the Beast (Not Disney, Middle School)
The Diviners
The Wizard of Oz (RSC)
California Suite
Get Smart (Middle School)
Once Upon a Mattress
Much Ado About Nothing
The Mousetrap
The Lion, the Witch & The Wardrobe (Middle School)
Final Dress Rehearsal (One Act)
Class Action (One Act)
Bye Bye Birdie
The Glass Menagerie
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Annie


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## misterm

Yeah, its hard to find good one-act plays that of any decent quality that aren't preachy or written specifically for that playwright's school. i've gotten where i search out older ones that arent in print anymore, like "The Valiant" or "Mannequin's Demise." we can't afford a big musical every year so we try to do smaller ones (which are usually just as fun and well-written!). recently, i started doing playwriting jams with the students with the possibility of performing the better ones they write.


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## Dionysus

Back in Highschool, off the top of my head:

The Compleat Works of Wllm. Shakespeare (abridged)

Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus; By: Christopher Marlowe, adapted by Warren Robinson. This has now been published for high-school use, including some of our original production notes

The Orestia by: Aeschylus Adapted by: Warren Robinson, I think this may also be available now.

Fiddler on the Roof, MTI

Triple header "Trigon" : Heroes, Martine Continued & All show (I believe all student written one-acts)

Lysistrata by: Aristophanes, Adapted by: Warren Robinson. Possibly also available published.

That's all that jumps to mind.


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## erosing

The Tragedy of Richard II, By Robert J. Myers.

"The life and times of Richard II (1367-1400), King of England (13&&-1399) 
Compared to those of Richard of America in His Second Administration"

ISBN 87491-371-3 (cloth)
ISBN 87491-372-1 (paper)

You know you want to...


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## Jinglish

Well, when I started doing lights my sophomore year, we did Agatha Christie's _And Then There Were None_, _The Foreigner_ (my favorite of our plays so far), and _Beauty and the Beast_ as our spring musical. The year before that consisted of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ and _Fiddler on the Roof_. Last year had _Romeo and Juliet_ and _The Music Man_, and next year we're doing _Into the Woods_ as the spring musical; we're still not quite sure what we're doing in the fall and/or winter.


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## Sayen

How did you pull off Lysistrata in a high school? I've heard of colleges not liking the sexual content.


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## Dionysus

Sayen said:


> How did you pull off Lysistrata in a high school? I've heard of colleges not liking the sexual content.



Our school's administration liked the message of "Peace" and the fact that it is a major classic. It also fits into the drama curriculum as it is an ideal example of a classic greek play.
Also as I had indicated it was an adaption. The Sexual content was made quite tasteful, save for a few rude jokes.

For example when the "old men" chorus attempted to break though the gates, they indeed used a giant phallus (not obvious) that indeed was to be a tree trunk. They had quite the hilarious blocking, in which they fumble in their attempts and at one point one of the old men is at one end of the "battering ram" and the others on the sides and in attempt not to fall over the other end is raised... At which point the phallic status is clear.
A very classic greek moment.

No actual sexual acts or nudity were indeed used. It actually advanced to the final "provincial showcase" of the SEARS Ontario Drama Festival!

Here is a Photo from the production. We Set it in the good-ol flapper days, without changing the script at all for such.
Lysistrata's Pledge.


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## Tex

I've been at my current school for three years (I'll be a senior this year! )
Here's the rundown:
Cinderella Waltz
Once Upon a Mattress
Mariner
Gypsy
Eurydice
Grease
Romeo and Juliet
Gint
And this year...
Blood Brothers
The House of Bernarda Alba
Tartuffe
One Act yet to be determined (but destined to win the state contest )
Some others that I'm proud of from way back in the day:
The Visit
Rhinoceros
The Adding Machine


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## HayleySargent

We did Pygmalion and it actually went really well. It takes a pretty talented cast though.

Hayley


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## midgetgreen11

Since I've been in High School, we've done these shows:

Anything Goes
Rumors
Fiddler on the Roof
The Importance of Being Earnest
Annual Drama Showcase (Comedic One Acts)
42nd Street (I don't recommend this one...)
Anatomy of Gray
The Wiz
The Laramie Project
Drama Showcase Again

We will be doing (confirmed):

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Pippin the Musical


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## deadlygopher

Last year (my senior year) we did:
Moon over Buffalo
Rent: School Edition
Chicago
Ah, Wilderness
The Miracle Worker
Bad Seed
The Heidi Chronicles
The Majestic Kid

Junior Year:
Kid-Simple
The Sound of Music
The Laramie Project
Boy Gets Girl
Twelfth Night
Miss Witherspoon


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## Sayen

I can't find it in this thread, but either here or another forum someone recommended _Done to Death._ I ordered the script, and it's perfect for high school. Some minor language, but the humor carries it. It's a murder mystery that blatantly abuses the 4th wall.

I love the lists here, this is an awesome resource!


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## erosing

I forgot about that show, that is a good one, the kids would have a lot of fun with it. Another one, that can be pushed to heavy audience interaction is Scapino, but it's pretty crude in parts.


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## edmedmoped

We did Grease in 2008, did 'His Dark Materials' in summer of this year, and we're doing Annie for christmas.
Don't remember what we did in 2007/2006...


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## seanandkate

Some uber-flexible casting scripts I've done in the past include:
All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden. based on the Fulghum book. It sounds sappy, but it's not.
Metamorphoses - Mary Zimmerman. Awesome. And you get to build a pool in your theatre.
The Laramie Project. Again, amazing. Really powerful.
Departures and Arrivals - Carol Shields (Canadian, if you're having trouble finding it)
Other than that, large cast scripts I've done include, 1949-David French (will appeal more to Canadian schools), Accidental Death of an Anarchist-Dario Fo, Good Woman of Setzuan - Brecht, Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet-Anne Marie MacDonald (It's Canadian as well. Great script), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead -Stopppard (I used 2 females as R and G, and it still works), Seven Stories-Morris Panych (Canadian), A Company of Wayward Saints (great use of Commedia in a contemporary context), Village of Idiots-Lazerus, and You Can't Take it With You-Kauffman and Hart.

Does it show that I'm more about straight dramas than musicals?


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## Soxred93

To be fair, the title is "plays", not "musicals"...

Plays are also rediculously easier to direct than musicals.


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## TShane

A few of the plays we have done here are:
Every Christmas Story Ever Told!
Danny, King of the Basement (we perform one show a year for the elementary crowd)
Our Town
12 Angry Jurors

We are currently doing:
The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge
and
You're A Good Man Charlie Brown


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## slingsandarrows

Well for just straight plays I've done A Christmas Carol, Rumors, A Delightful Quarantine, The Crucible, and am starting You Could Die Laughing.


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## MarkMark

Welllll I'm a senior in high school and I only jumped on the lighting team last year.

We did Frankenstein (nobody but those of us with the script in our hands actually got it), and RENT (amazing).

This year we are doing The Outsiders and Beauty and the Beast.


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## Studio

West Side Story, Rehearsal for Murder.

We are currently doing Singin' in the Rain


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## chris325

Done to Death this year, we did Up the Down Staircase last year, along with many in previous years when I wasn't there. As for musicals, we've done Into the Woods, Fiorello, Annie, Grease, and many more.


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## DuckJordan

Here comes a short but insightful list from most recently to farthest back:
Currently: Legend of Sleepy Hallow
Black Birds and Dragons
Everything I learned I learned in Kindergarten
Wizard of OZ
Greater Tuna
(Blank Spot in my Memory)
Happily Ever After
Flowers For Algernon
Jungle Book
Fiddler on the Roof

i have forgotten about half the shows I've participated in I am sure if i looked back into my playbill/poster box i could get the whole list but that is currently in the attic and i loaned my ladder to the theater.


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## icewolf08

Here are the shows that we did while I was in high school:

_Eastern Standard
Cabaret
Taking Steps
The Cripple of Innishman
The Man Who Came to Dinner
George M!
Macbeth
Diary of Anne Frank
Lilies of the Field

(Sins of the Father, Sins of the Son)
Harvey 
Father of the Bride
The Foreigner
Kiss Me Kate
An Inspector Calls
A Little Night Music
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Doll's House
Ten Little Indians

Once on This Island
She Loves Me
Richard III
Mystery of Irma Vep
The Trip to Bountiful
Wait Until Dark
The Rimers of Eldritch
Moon Over Buffalo
Marvin's Room
Grease

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940's
Tender Offers
Lend Me a Tenor!
The Miracle Worker
Unexpected Guests
West Side Story
Crimes of the Heart_

Yes, in four years of high school we did all those shows, and I worked on every one in some form or another. We did have two theatres in the building, and the Shakespeare was a joint production with the other HS in town every year.


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## renegadeblack

I have done (in order, including non-highschool productions)

The Marriage of Anansewa
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Merry Wives of Windsor
Fiddler on the Roof
The Crucible
Pirates of Penzance
Godspell
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (recently made into an actual musical)
Dea by Dea (in production, we're doing the US premier of this show, some folks are coming from Europe to see it)


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## mjw56

Did these shows before high school.
Annie Jr.
Through the looking glass

Did these shows in high school.
Les Miserable (found out it was possible to get buzzed off fog juice on this show)
Into the Woods
Evita!
Bye Bye Birdie(designed sets and SM for this one)

And Moderated the student stage crew and designed the sets for these.
Its a Wonderful Life
Oliver
Miracle on 34th street
The Man Who Came to Dinner

i definitely had the most fun on Les Mis and Bye Bye Birdie though


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## scarlet0906

Actually i am now in College. And, the most recent play that i did was The Age of Innocence. s a novel by Edith Wharton, which won the 1921 Pulitzer prize. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Innocence#cite_note-0 The story is set in upper class New York City in the 1870s. I played the role of Countess Ellen Olenska. It was a challenging role for me because she is mostly where the story revolves. Try doing it. It was a really good master piece and perfect for a stage play. The story was good and brilliant.


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## Bobby

Freshman year: _Grease_
(I was in a brand new school which was nice 

Jr. year:
Are Winter play was _A Christmas Carol_ and the Spring show was _Beauty and the Beast.

_


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## hyperbuddha

We just did Neil simons rumors to a packed house (last year the house was empty for Shakespeare in Hollywood) Laramie project was also popular in our progressive district. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## GrayeKnight

Freshman year: _Beauty and the Beast_
Sophomore year: _Sound of Music_
Junior year: _West Side Story_
Senior year: _Macbeth _and _Kiss Me, Kate_

We're just starting work on Kiss Me, Kate when we get back from winter break. We'll see how it goes!


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## MarshallPope

I didn't get involved in Theatre until my senior year, so the only shows I was involved in were "Way Out West In A Dress" (in the cast) (A musical. Was as good as it sounds...) and "Defying Gravity" by Jane Anderson. (LD) (Very good show. Based on the Challenger disaster. We did it as a competitive One-Act, so it had to be cut down to 45 minutes and transportable. I would love to do the full show one day.) Before I became involved, the school did High School Musical, Rumors, Little Shop of Horrors, and that's all I can think of. Since graduation, I have helped them with On The Night of January 16th, Ruthless, The Wiz, and Epic Proportions.


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## MillburyAuditorium

To add to my list on the first page,

Our production of City of Angels, one of the more serious plays we have done, gos in in less than two weeks.

And the Junior High is planning to put on Aladdin this year.​


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## eventureman

while I was in high school we did:

A Mid Summer’s Nights Dream
The Mouse That Roared - very funny 
Twelfth Night
Anne Frank - intimate, 10-20 cast, possible double casting
The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Invalid - great show, small cast
Look Homeward Angel - intimate, strong message, medium cast
The Grapes Of Wrath 
The Caucasian Chalk Circle - Brecht, good for our current time
The Yellow Jacket - out of print hints of the Chalk Circle but bazar

Other productions:

Under Milkwood 
Burn This - Lanford Wilson


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## briancon7

All the shows i have done are musicals, but you should look into doing Death of a Salesman. 
The shows i have done include

West Side Story, God Spell, Grease, Anything goes, Music Man, Seusical, and currently Kiss me Kate.


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## zmb

I'm in a grade 7-9 school in Woodinville, WA (east of Seattle) and currently in 9th grade (Freshman) and have done _It's a Wonderful Life _(Lighting Design/Tech) and will be doing _The Hobbit_ (Lighting Tech, in April) and _The Nerd_ (Lighting Design/Tech, in June). I have also done shows in 7th and 8th grade and also was the light tech for _The Wild and Woolly West _at an area high school. In 8th grade, I was also a followspot operator in _Fiddler on the Roof _at Bothell High School.


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## crgerken

I am a drama director for a local high school in Bethesda MD. I have advanced students, a strong music department and liberal administration. We just finished an amazing production of Amadeus. It's a challenging script for this age level but the students really took to it. They appreciated the challenge and rose to the occasion. We got "creative" and used live orchestration as well as student singers (3 arias) performed by students.

We've also produced The Odd Couple (male and female cast), The Nerd, The Miracle Worker and hired an author to give us an original and intellectual version of Dracula.

Our musicals have been:
West Side Story - always a favorite and a sell out
Funny Girl
Aida - my favorite thus far
Songs For A New World - we took it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland
**** Yankees
Into the Woods

My students enjoy weighty material so I am interested in reading what others have done.

- Christopher Gerken


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## littleowl

At the moment I'm helping with Leader of the Pack at a high school. It's really fun and a good play for high school students it seems.


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## Gofer

my high school runs three shows a year and the ones that have gone over the best in recent years are 
Footloose
Little Shop of Horrors
Musical Comedy Murders
How to Succeed at Buisness Without Really Trying
Once Upon a Mattress
Dracula

as a student and a techie I can say that the ones that are the most fun to do are the technically inducive ones, we flew a bat across the theater in dracula, but the ones with the best reception are more contemeporary. Our current director loves period pieces (we havent had anyone dress in modern costumes in the last two years) but the audience doesnt. Weve also had a club in the school present a student written one act play and it went over very well. The next show were doing is six degrees of seperation and it is shaping up to be quite good


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## ClockworkSunrise

At my high school we do one play, one musical, and a few one-acts per year. So far we have done:

Alice in Wonderland
Aida
Arabian Nights
Chess
You Can't Take It With You
The Wiz
As You Like It 
Merrily We Roll Along

And for one acts we've done:

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
The Bald Soprano


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## RogerChapman

In no paticular order

Seusical
IMG_9691 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

"Snoopy" and "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" in tandem
IMG_6455 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Dames at Sea which we performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
IMG_4464 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The Wedding Singer
IMG_3834 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Beauty & the Beast

and next year we're doing:
Ragtime 
Tom Sawyer
I remember Mama (which were producing at a hotel in downtown San Francisco)
Aladdin.


In years past our school has put on
Fiddler on the Roof 
City of Angels
By the Skin of our Teeth
Out of the Frying Pan
Peer Gynt
A raisin in the Sun

and dozens of one act plays written and directed by students in our small black box theater


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## teejmya

Since being at my highschool, we've done Beauty and the Beast, Footloose, Clue, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Good selection.


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## mjw56

Were doing Arsenic and Old Lace. I just got the script yesterday and after a few hours screwing around with Autocad Architecture i came up with this.

i know it doesnt look very original, just another house, but the director wants a real looking house. I haven't shown it to her yet and am open to suggestions and comments. i believe the show calls for about 14 characters....shes gonna try to use 35.


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## MercyTech

mjw56 said:


> Were doing Arsenic and Old Lace. I just got the script yesterday and after a few hours screwing around with Autocad Architecture i came up with this.
> 
> i know it doesnt look very original, just another house, but the director wants a real looking house. I haven't shown it to her yet and am open to suggestions and comments. i believe the show calls for about 14 characters....shes gonna try to use 35.



I have built Arsenic & Old Lace several times. It is a real crowd pleaser. The set is all about entrances and exits. Just focus on Teddy's room upstairs, the basement downstairs, a kitchen door, front door, a window that can be climbed in and out of, and of course, the window seat under the window, that is big enough to put a body into. 

Have fun with it!


----------



## mjw56

So focus on everything! im just starting to get tired of houses i guess. bye bye birdie, the man who came to dinner and now this (not consecutively). im happy to be doing the work but definitely in the mood for something minmalist, oh well, thanks for your input


----------



## RahulSingh

Shows that i have had a part in in my high school in chronological order.
Leading Ladies
The Office Plays
Arsenic and Old Lace
Twelfth Night
Bye Bye Birdie
Eleemosynary
To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday
Macbeth
Little Shop Of Horrors
Bye Bye Birdie


----------



## WestlakeTech

Plays:
The French Have A Word For it
Peter Pan*
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Enchanted*
The Skin of our Teeth
Alice In Wonderland
Idiot's Delight
A Midsummer Night's Dream*

Musicals:
Anything Goes*
The Wizard of Oz
Once Upon A Mattress*
Guys And Dolls


* are the ones I didn't personally tech, but they had them during my high school career. However, I did help with set construction for all of them.


----------



## zmb

Can we include plays that we did outside of school while we were a student?


----------



## thorin81

This coming year we are doing:

South Pacific (Fall)
Dark of the Moon (Spring)

Previous shows:

Annie Get Your Gun
The Diary of Anne Frank
Beauty and the Beast
Fools by Neil Simon

I try to rotate a contemporary musical with a classical broadway every other year. I also try to rotate a comedy and a drama as well. Works well with the IB Theatre curriculum.


----------



## AlexDavila

In my time, our school has done:
Guys and Dolls
Talking With...+
Sweeney Todd
Grease*
12 Angry Jurors (aka 12 Angry Men)+
Bang Bang You're Dead+
Side By Side by Sondheim*
A Thurber Carnival*+
Paint Your Wagon*
Limbo*+
Juvie*+
The Triangle Factory Fire Project+
Big River*
Leaving Iowa+
(* denotes my involvement, + denotes a non-musical)

Announced for Next Year:
Once Upon a Mattress 
Les Misérables

I'm praying we do Noises Off as our spring comedy, although the set is a bit involved. I can't get enough of it!


----------



## teejmya

This year we're doing Eurydice and Aida.
I have been a part of Footloose, Clue, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.


----------



## Tex

We did the first amateur production of Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice! It's an amazing play...


----------



## misterm

we're doing a live version of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog" in our blackbox. then Seussical in the spring. in between, a couple of one-acts.


----------



## CSCTech

We have done,

Oklahoma
The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree 
The Princess and the Pea 
Guys and Dolls
The Wizard of Oz
Get Up and Go! 
Back to the 80's The totally awesome musical! 
Bedside Manor 
Aladdin

And coming up this year, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.


----------



## blaserk

Romeo and Juliet (site specific all over the school)
The Pajama Game
The Odyssey
In the Darkroom (Grand Giugnol)
Seussical
Grease
Pericles
Tartuffe
Urinetown
The King Stag (Commedia dell'Arte)
Hedda Gabbler
The Visit
My Fair Lady
Elements (our annual student written sketch comedy show)

Some shows we nearly did: Rhinoceros, The Liar, Dogg's Hamlet and Cahoot's Macbeth, The Laramie Project

We also do a touring children's show every year and numerous student written works in our studio theatre. Our annual Summerstock comprises of other student written pieces and pieces too short for the mainstage (and therefore probably not worth mentioning)


----------



## SoundTom

My high school did:
Plays:
Much Ado About Nothing
Auntie Mame
The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) - We completely rewrote this one, but we followed the general story line. I absolutely recommend this one if you have a cast that can pull it off.
The Crucible

Musicals:
High School Musical
Copacabana
Seussical
Willy Wonka

Side note about the musicals: we found that we had the best turn-outs for "kid shows" (HSM, Seussical, Wonka), repeatedly selling out (750 seats, 6 performances per season).


----------



## gafftapegreenia

Found out that my high school went full circle this past fall. Arsenic and Old Lace was done in 2002 when I was in the 8th grade, and the director figured it was time to roll it out again this past October (2011)


----------



## Tex

A few more for the list:
Over The River And Through The Woods
Over The Tavern
Biedermann and the Firebugs
Paganini
The Imaginary Invalid
Reckless
Mariner
Gint


----------



## chausman

We're doing two shows this year (possibly three but it's unlikely).

• Seven Keys to Baldpate.
• Noise's Off.
• Possibly doing The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds in our black box space.


----------



## RFazz15

I've done the Drowsy Chaperone, Sweet Charity, Bus Stop, Voices From The High School (Awful show), and Happily Ever, Once Upon (Also not so great). This March we're doing Cats. I'm not very knowledgeable on what's overdone, but I love Don't Drink the Water by Woody Allen, which my school did before I got here. I also saw Noises Off listed a few times, so I'm going to guess it's pretty common, but I still think it's hilarious.


----------



## Clairabelle

We've done:
James and the Giant Peach, The Crucible, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, King and I, and Once Upon a Mattress to name a few. We are currently working on Singing in the Rain and Esperanza Rising.


----------



## damjamkato

Here's a selection of what my high school has done: Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sound of Music, Pippin, Hello Dolly, West Side Story, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Odd Couple, Little Shop of Horrors, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and The Birds.


----------



## LightingMike

I work as a technical director, for a local high school. 

Last year we did:
Those Crazy Ladies in the House of the Coroner 
Bye Bye Birdie

This year we did:
A Bad Year for Tomatoes 
and we are working on Sound of Music right now.


----------



## Teber

I am also a technical director at a few area high schools and I work with a high school summer program -- in total high school involvement-- I've done:
Inherit the Wind
The Music Man
Jabberwock
Joseph blah blah blah dreamcoat
I Remember Mama
Anything Goes
Titanic the Musical
Appointment with Death
Kiss Me Kate
Rent
Pippin
Beauty and the Beast
I never saw Another Butterfly
How to Succeed... Trying
MASH
Get Smart
Sweeney Todd
West Side Story
Bye Bye Birdie
Don't drink the water
and Currently I am working on
Hello Dolly and Legally Blonde

All of these were high school -- not counting college and other shows


----------



## lightsandsoundSHS

Sayen said:


> Every year it seems like I'm reading through stacks of bad plays looking for something new. I get tired of plays that are over produced, even if they're still new to the students. Really, does anyone need to see _Arsenic and Old Lace _again? I had a list started on my computer that I was tracking by surfing different school websites, but I seem to have lost it.
> 
> Anyone who's tried to plan a high school season knows there isn't a great deal of material out there that is school appropriate, offers decent female roles, is reasonably current, and doesn't stink.
> 
> So...what plays did you do in high school? Those of you in high school, what are you doing / have you done? I'm mostly looking for non-musicals, but I'd love to hear some seasons out there. Other theater teachers frequently ask me this as well, so a list might be of value.


 

I'm a freshman in hs, and last year we did "Dames at Sea"(HS Theater Team) and "Beauty and the Beast"(MS Theater Team).
This year we have done "The Boyfriend"(HS Theater Team). We will be producing:
"The Wizard of Oz(MS Theater Team)" (Please email me if you have suggestions for effects, I need them!), and "The Lottery"(HS One Act Play Theater Team)

I like building my talent through all these shows


----------



## jlusardi

AS far as plays go I have been involved in The Laramie Project, which is simply amzing and powerful. And Almost, Maine which is pretty funny and has flexibility to have a cast on the larger side if need be. 

Also a friend of mine recently did 12 Angry Jurors, at a high school not that far from my own.


----------



## Sillocan

*Re: High school plays - what shows are you doing and havMe you done?*

My school did Beauty and the Beast last year, and this year we are doing Les Miserables.


----------



## sdauditorium

In no particular order, here we go. Keep in mind, it's one full blown musical a year through the high school music department.

Les Miserables
Guys & Dolls
Pirates of Penzance
Pajama Game
South Pacific
How To Succeed...
Meet Me In St. Louis
Fiddler on the Roof
Oklahoma
Anything Goes
Seven Brides...
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Once Upon a Mattress
The Wiz
Brigadoon
Sound of Music


----------



## sdauditorium

*Re: High school plays - what shows are you doing and havMe you done?*


Sillocan said:


> My school did Beauty and the Beast last year, and this year we are doing Les Miserables.



Goes without saying, but great show! We did Les Mis last November. Do you have the full blown or school version?


----------



## ItsNotAboutYou

slingsandarrows said:


> Well for just straight plays I've done A Christmas Carol, Rumors, A Delightful Quarantine, The Crucible, and am starting You Could Die Laughing.


Hi, just started looking at You Could Die Laughing. How did it work out for you? What did you think of the play in production?


----------



## ruinexplorer

Unfortunately, you probably won't receive an answer on that one. The user posted that three years ago and hasn't really been active since then. 

Has anyone else done this show or seen it in an educational setting?


----------



## lwinters630

High School Plays:
Phantom of The Opera
Dracula
West Side Story
Break A Leg
Les Miserable HS (building now opens spring 2013)

Other production:
Scrooge
Little Shop Of Horrors
Fiddler on the Roof


----------



## Dovahkiin

Freshman year we did Steel Magnolias, Boys Next Door, Shadow Box, and Urinetown. Sophomore year we did Charlie Brown, Crimes of the Heart, Ruby's Story, and Sweeney Todd. Junior year we did Rabbit Hole, Curious Savage, And They Dance Real Slow in Jackson, August: Osage County, and Putnam. This year we've done Sylvia, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Auditions for God of Carnage are coming up and they haven't announced the last play or musical yet. Also, every December we do a series of 3-4 ~30 minute plays written and directed by students. For a high school, we stay pretty busy...


----------



## Martak

Has anyone done Done To Death as a high school production?


----------



## dbaxter

The High school my kids went to did/are doing 'Dead Man Walking', 'Chicago', and 'Urinetown' as their season.


----------



## andrewmeythaler

In the fall we did, you guessed it, Arsenic and Old Lace. It was new to us and a lot of fun. But we are currently working on one that to our knowledge hasn't been done in some time, Irene. This one is much different from what we are used to. Most of our team have grown accustomed to building impressive sets, but there are too many varying scenes for that to be possible. So we are doing mostly back drops, which is difficult because most of us are terrible painters. This play offers many female roles including the lead. It is a decent play as far as I can tell. However it is a musical...


----------



## Theresa

Martak said:


> Has anyone done Done To Death as a high school production?



I worked on a production of it a couple of years ago.


----------



## Txtech

In high school, I've been involved in:

Greek Mythology Olympiaganza
The Craving
Arabian Nights
Beauty and the Beast
Les Miserable
You Can't Take It With You
Crazy For You
Legally Blonde
August: Osage County
Women Of Lockerbie
Charley's Aunt
The Hobbit
Winnie The Pooh
Alice In Wonderland
To See The Stars
Radium Girls
Over The River And Through The Woods

And upcoming, we have Flowers For Algernon.


----------



## Max

doing Moby Dick: the musical
very funny


----------



## bens

We just did Fiddler on the Roof


----------



## Tex

Currently working on Over The Tavern. FUN!


----------



## JonasA

My old high school has just performed *Lady Windemere's Fan by Oscar Wilde*
Benefits:

Huge cast size - and with a lot of walk-ons, it doesn't matter if the kids can't act; they can still have a part!
Public domain script, so no fees for the rights.
A plot which has enough turns to keep the high school-aged audience interested without them also wondering what the heck is going on.
 Period costumes and set were easy enough to pull from stock.
Downsides:

 The show hinges on a few key characters, and a lot of the dialogue is in huge chunks; one forgotten line or bad casting choice and the evening gets a whole lot longer...
 Billed as a comedy, but frankly very little to laugh at in this day and age. Or it could have just been the acting which was at fault.
 More practical props than I've seen in a long time on a school stage - a pest if you have a cast who will spill the brandy, set themselves on fire instead of the letter and break the fan, although I'm sure all of this can lead to increased hilarity.

So, all up, a successful production, particularly for the cast and production team, who managed to churn it out at minimal cost and without an excess of rehearsals. Although it wasn't the most entertaining show the school has ever put on, nor the most challenging for the cast, the benefits in development of younger cast who played the minor characters and the ease of selling tickets made it an excellent standby for a year where you just need something _now._


----------



## Blake

Just did Bang Bang Your Dead! And am currently working on See How They Run. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## SHCP

We just finished The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It was not a show that I had any experience with, had not ever seen it or built it. But man, once you get it in front of an audience it is a lot of fun!

Here is a video of the strike:


Spelling Bee Strike Time Lapse-HD 720p - YouTube


----------



## seanandkate

SHCP said:


> Here is a video of the strike:



Yup -- typical strike: Three people doing the actual work, then once it's done, people finally show up!


----------



## SHCP

seanandkate said:


> Yup -- typical strike: Three people doing the actual work, then once it's done, people finally show up!


LOL... is is by design actually. I can get more done with 3 capable dads than I can with 20 kids. The dads and I work on Sunday, break it all down correctly and with no damage to the flats and units, then the kids work on Monday putting it all away and doing clean up. When I previously used the actors and crew to strike the set, it always took three times as long, and I got nothing done myself because I was managing the students. In addition, they were not very delicate, and too much of the set was damaged when student broke it down. Just works better for me.


----------



## Tex

We just announced next year's season.
Cinderella Waltz
Annie Get Your Gun
One-Act TBA (possibly Biedermann And The Firebugs)
I need some summer, but can't wait to get started!


----------



## cnnrward

Graduating from HS in a week, for the past 4 years we have done (in order):

Children's Hour
Handprint Alley
Urinetown: The Musical
Dark of the Moon
Brighton Beach and Broadway Bound (festival)
Hors D'oeuvres
Ablaze
On The Town
Robin Hood
The Warning Label Festival: Water Down, ARM, and Verge Warnings

Handprint Alley, Ablaze and ARM were world premieres written and directed by Matthew Zrebski

Water Down and Verge Warnings ware also written by others members of Playwrights West


----------



## fiona

Let's see...
The Hollow
The Sound of Music
Rumors
The Lunatic, The Lover, and The Poet (Comedic/Romantic Shakespeare selection)
Hello, Dolly!
Almost, Maine
The Dining Room
Legally Blonde

...all mainstage. This doesn't include student directed shows, dance collectives, and a slew of orchestra and band concerts I babysat a mic for. I also did a community production of The Nutcracker last year, made a decent buck for two weeks of inhumane hours and a practically intravenous caffeine drip.
I'm presently gearing up for a community production of Spamalot before heading off to school in the fall.
Compared to some of these lists mine looks tiny and insignificant


----------



## Jakepugh15

Romeo And Juliet Almost Maine (minus the gay scene) Frankenstein The Mouse Trap Taming Of The Shrew Bus Stop The Rainmaker You Cant Take It With You Is There A Doctor In The House Twelth Night Hiding in the open


----------



## ThomasMilham

Schools Plays...lets see..
Since I was in Year 8 in 2011-
2011 - Macbeth (School Production) - Assistant Lighting
2012 - Sweeny Todd (YR 12 Production) - Audio
2013 - The Terrible Infants (Adelaide Fringe) - Audio
- Twelve Angry Jurors (YR 12 Production) - Audio/Lighting

Thats just the school productions, although I have been tech. for other shows at school...


----------



## LightingGirl

Well, for fall plays these have been done: Noises off, Father of the Bride, Witness for the Prosecution, and Robin Hood
the musicals that have been done are these: Annie, A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, Once upon a Mattress, and Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat


----------



## TheaterEd

Jakepugh15 said:


> Almost Maine (minus the gay scene)



The school I just left did Almost Maine and left that scene it. The students (two straight males) did a great job and I have a lot of respect for them being able to perform that for their peers and family. The show we did before that was Legally Blonde: The Musical where they did cut the song Gay or European.
I just did a production of Aida with this new school and loved it. I had never heard of the show coming into the design process but after working on it I would definitely recommend it as a high school production.


----------



## Aakburns

I just got done doing a production of Grease.


----------



## dsullivan

I have directed several plays that have good female roles--The Ash Girl ( Cinderella story, but with a twist--includes the 7 Deadly Sins), Radium GIrls--about the girls who painted the radium on watches so they would glow in the dark--they get sick--want compensation from the company), To See the Stars ( about the shirtwaist factory girls who go on strike in NYC in 1909). I am always looking for more suggestions for good plays with more female than male roles. My students want to do a comedy, but there aren't many for larger (20-22) casts that are truly funny without being too corny. Any ideas?


----------



## Brayidur

I just recently Graduated. We were fairly well off funding wise, with a good administrative staff so we could get away with a lot. In order Freshman to Senior year we went

Once Upon A Mattress 
Grease

The Wedding Singer
Guys And Dolls

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Thoroughly Modern Millie

Almost, Maine ( The only play we did )
West Side Story

However part way through my junior year, a new theatre group formed within the school, utilizing the much smaller black box venue we have, we have 3 venues, an old platform proscenium stage in a cafeteria that we do not use, its only used for a few things throughout the year none of them theatrically related, a black box, and our main-stage proscenium. They only do straight plays, and the two shows they did were originals and I personally was not involved


----------



## mikeschulz530

We always do a fall play and spring musical.

25th Anual Putnam County Spelling Bee & Beauty and the Beast
Neil Simons Rumors & Hairspray
Lend Me A Tenor & Legally Blonde

This year we're doing Arsenic and Old Lace... ( not sure on the musical yet)
in the past, they have done Clue, Bye Bye Birdie and Noises Off, just a few I can remember.


----------



## MKeck

Since 2000: 
Musicals
The Wiz 4x
West Side Story 2x
It Ain't Nothin But The Blues
Beehive
Grease 2x
Once on This Island 2x
School House Rock Live
Dreamgirls
The Color Purple

Plays
All in the Timing 2x
Voices from the High School 2x
The Laramie Project
The Boys Next Door
Fences
Dearly Departed
For Colored Girls... 2x
The House of Blue Leaves
The Real Inspector Hound 2x
The Colored Museum 2x
Tracks 2x
Our Town


----------



## Goatman

My high school does three shows a year (one student-directed) and the middle school does 1 musical per year.

What I can remember of the shows that have been done (some from just seeing posters around the theater/people talking about them):

Before my time & Middle School:
- Our Town
- The Laramie Project
- Cabaret
- Grease
- Seussical
- Honk
- Oklahoma
- Annie
- Alice in Wonderland

The ones I did:

- Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940s
- Urinetown
- Plots & Eden (two 1-acts by the same playwright)
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
- A Chorus Line
- As You Like It
- Fahrenheit 451
- Pippin
- New Voices (6 ten-minute plays)
- You Can't Take It With You
- Fame
- Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon
- Imaginary Invalid
- Tommy
- Dialogues of the Gods
- 12 Angry Jurors (12 Angry Men but allowing for women to be in it too)
- A Midwinter Night's Dream (Midsummer but performed in the winter)
- Footloose (which is still in rehearsal)

Other productions I have worked on that would be fun at a high-school level:

- Lucky Stiff
- The Drowsy Chaperone
- The Beaux' Stratagem


----------



## Stacy Brown

We've done Lindsay Price's version of The Canterbury Tales. So good! Just be creative with the staging of the Miller's Tale. We also really liked Death by Chocolate and this year's Circus Olympus (also by Lindsay Price).


----------



## np18358

Here is a list of the shows my school has done in the last ten years:
2004: _Nine Armenians_* and _Ragtime_
2005: _Dames at Sea_* and _Of Mice and Men_
2006: _Trojan Women_* and _The Secret Garden_
2007: _As You Like It_* and _Ain't Misbehavin'_
2008: _Our Town_* and _West Side Story_
2009: _FAME: The Musical_* and _45 Seconds from Broadway_
2010: _Crazy for You_ and _The Last Night of Ballyhoo_
2011: _Noises Off_ and _Hairspray_
2012: _Midsummer_* and _Metamorphoses_
2013: _Raisin in the Sun_ and _Guys and Dolls_
2014: _Lend Me A Tenor_ and _Legally Blonde_
_
* Indicates a production that was mainstaged at the Florida State Thespian Festival

_


----------



## ThatsoundguyChris

I've worked on _Legally Blonde_ and _The Wiz _and did _Hercules _ in middle school


----------



## cmckeeman

Shows for this previous school year were
Night of the Living Dead (not the famous one)
You Can't Take It With You


----------



## DLee

I've been directing plays in a high school setting for 14 years. Here are some we have done. (non-musical) 

Noises Off
To Kill a Mockingbird
12th Night
Over the Tavern
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Our Town
You Can't Take it With You
Inherit the Wind
The Real Inspector Hound
Dancing at Lughnasa
Rumors
Hard Times
Midsummer
Miracle Worker
Dylan (About Dylan Thomas)
All My Sons
Diary of a Scoundrel
Diary of Anne Frank
Cripple of Innishman
Marvin's Room
Earnest
Crucible
Madwoman of Chaillot
The Time of Your Life
Brighton Beach Memoirs


----------



## Rory McMahon

I've only recently been doing school productions (taking a step out off touring whilst getting a degree!).

I don't have a say in what productions the school I work with do but they seem to be very successful...

We Will Rock You - This I can imagine being quite expensive but they provided everything you needed (slideshows, cue sheets, scripts, etc.)
The Lion King
Grease
Blood Brothers - as a stage play not as the musical
Return of the Forbidden Planet
Adrian Mole - Stage play
High School Musical
Legally Blonde - (this only worked as there were 2 boys in the group)
Fame
Stomp

The school do a high turnover of productions due to a number of Performing Arts groups, Whole School productions and various grading requirements. Budgets always vary, a lot rely on pupils actually doing fundraising!

From a technical point of view I try make it as visually exciting as possible, then if more people compliment it then there is hope on a stronger tech budget for the next one!


----------



## CunkyMunky

I got 'volunteed' to help with school productions a few years back. Someone told the powers that be that I teched my daughters dance school shows, ran the sound etc etc. So far, I've done;

2014 Hairspray (still in rehearsal)
2013 Chicago (first UK high school to be given the rights)
2012 We will rock you
2011 Rent
2010 Les Mis

I've also helped a colleague on Miss Saigon, Phantom & Chess

Any ideas what we could do next year? (Only proviso is that it must be a musical and something that would appeal to both the kids, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cats, dogs and pet rocks)


----------



## Rory McMahon

CunkyMunky said:


> I got 'volunteed' to help with school productions a few years back. Someone told the powers that be that I teched my daughters dance school shows, ran the sound etc etc. So far, I've done;
> 
> 2014 Hairspray (still in rehearsal)
> 2013 Chicago (first UK high school to be given the rights)
> 2012 We will rock you
> 2011 Rent
> 2010 Les Mis
> 
> I've also helped a colleague on Miss Saigon, Phantom & Chess
> 
> Any ideas what we could do next year? (Only proviso is that it must be a musical and something that would appeal to both the kids, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cats, dogs and pet rocks)




Blood Brothers is a good one. (The musical. Not stage show). I've only done the stage show before but I've seen the musical. Great songs and good humour for all!


----------



## twalker1998

I have been a part of:
Frankenstein (our own adaptation)
Shrek the Musical
A Murder At The Regency (our own dinner theatre show)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Curious Savage
Arsenic and Old Lace

I will be a part of this year:
Peter and the Starcatcher (our own adaptation)
Sherlock Holmes (our own two part adapatation-our fall show will end on a cliff hanger to be continued in our spring show)
Addam's Family The Musical
The Tempest
A Murder At The Regency (again, our own dinner theatre show)
Clue (our own adaptation)

Shows that my theatre department has done but I wasn't a part of:
Neverwhere (our own adaptation)
The Ugly Duckling
The Illusion
Frank and Rita
MacBeth
CATS
Flowers for Algernon
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Beauty and the Beast
Noises Off
Into The Woods
Les Misérables
West Side Story
The Wizard of Oz
Flanagan's Wake
Spelling Bee
Rumors
The Diviners
The Insanity of Mary Girard (our own adaptation)
Annie
Fiddler On The Roof

and many more that I'm forgetting. We also participate in numerous improv shows and other acting festivals throughout the year.


----------



## jfc123

Hmm I am a high school student we have done
9 to 5
Legally Blond
Young Frankenstein
Darkside
Over the last couple of years. They are all musicals though, except darkside which is a radio brodcast that we adapted into a play.


----------



## Amy Frank

Just did "You Can't Take It With You" at our high school. Very sweet show - lots of roles, which is a plus. BIG set, but that's ok! Students had a lot of fun with the craziness of the show.


----------



## Mason Warren

This year, we're doing 2 musicals, one at Christmas, "Yes Virginia", and one in the spring, "Young Frankenstein". "Yes Virginia" will be interesting, since the director wants to use elementary schoolers as some of the leads. At my high school, the grade range is from 8th-12th, and I'm be a freshman this year. For "Young Frankenstein" the director wants to project the scenery, which neither of us have done before. Anyone have any tips?


----------



## jjdrummer

Since my freshman year I have done:
Wicked
Frozen
Les Miserables
Rent
How I Learned To Drive
Our Town
Annie
SketchFest
Wonderland
Catch Me If You Can

And this year we're doing:
Addams Family
Big Fish
(Undecided Non-musical)
(Undecided Small cast Play)


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## TheaterEd

jjdrummer said:


> Since my freshman year I have done:
> Wicked
> Frozen
> Les Miserables
> Rent
> How I Learned To Drive
> Our Town
> Annie
> SketchFest
> Wonderland
> Catch Me If You Can
> 
> And this year we're doing:
> Addams Family
> Big Fish
> (Undecided Non-musical)
> (Undecided Small cast Play)



Your high school did Wicked and Frozen? I didn't think they were selling the rights to those.


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## jjdrummer

TheaterEd said:


> Your high school did Wicked and Frozen? I didn't think they were selling the rights to those.


Well... Those were Small Kid productions, at a nonprofit Camp over the summer.


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## Tex

jjdrummer said:


> Well... Those were Small Kid productions, at a nonprofit Camp over the summer.


Disney is very aggressive in protecting trademarks and copyrights. Exercise caution.


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## littleowl

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel. Not a big cast though but made up mostly of a female cast.

The Diary of Anne Frank.


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## Quinton Champitto

In the past four years my high school has done:
The Kings Stag (it allows you to add improvisation and your own scenes because it's comedia del arte)
Much Ado about nothing (also allows you to change things up, because it's Shakespeare)
The Crucible (Many high schools are afraid to do this play because it's dark)
Fools (very funny, very little known)


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## macattack

tech2000 said:


> We just did Noises Off last Spring.


Lookking at this. Does it seem appropriate and how hard was the revolve to build?


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## JohnD

macattack said:


> Lookking at this. Does it seem appropriate and how hard was the revolve to build?


Lots of help here with that set, here is one recent one:
http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/noises-off-set.35820/
Just do a search for "noises off" Always seems to be a crowd pleaser. Good Luck.


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## lwinters630

Phantom
West sidestory
Les Miserables
Fiddler on the roof
12 angry jurors
Dacula
Steam punk mid summer nights dream.
Metamorphoses used silver mylar and water feature.

Seussical (April 2015)


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## techwiz24

While I was there, we did:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Bye Bye Birdie
Peter Pan 
Tarzan

This year I'm returning to run sound for Beauty and The Beast.

It's a shame the higher ups are so strict, really limits us to the Disney and Disney-like shows (it's a small, relatively conservative Christian school)


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## sk8rsdad

The Stiles and Drewe musical "Just So" might be worth perusing. Plenty of meaty roles with 3 principles. The pit band is a smallish jazz band.
http://www.stilesanddrewe.biz/just_so/index.html


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## np18358

I have done and loved Just So. It can be staged in a variety of ways, with an adjustable cast. We significantly modified the production, and we had a large moving set piece in the shape of Africa on a compound rake that became multiple setting. We also built a trunk that did double duty as a boat, and operated on a wheelchair base. We also used shadow puppeteering and rear projection effects to create some settings/animals.
I would highly recommend, especially for a middle school. It could be done with a very low budget, and the music is not too hard, but also exposes people to a variety of styles.


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## spydan

So far, during my time at my high school we have done the following:
Play On! (Fall 2013)
Into the Woods (Spring 2014)
Shrek the Musical (Summer 2014)
The Crucible (Fall 2014)
Footloose (Spring 2015)
Next to Normal (Summer 2015) [Was supposed to be Chicago, but rights got revoked once a tour was announced]

This school year, it looks like we will be doing the following
Rumors (Fall 2015)
Les Misérables (Spring 2016)
[To Be Determined Musical] (Summer 2016)

Off the top of my head, we have done the following before I got into the High School, but our theater has been running for a long time, so we have done a lot of shows that I do not know of/remember:

Rent
Noises off
Annie
Hairspray
Avenue Q
Legally Blonde
Bye Bye Birdie
Little Shop of Horrors
Grease
Importance of Being Earnest
Little Women
Les Misérables

So far my favorite has been Next to Normal, but that show really isn't appropriate for anyone not in high school or older (Language, content, etc), so some schools may have trouble getting it approved, which is why we did it as our summer show since it doesn't have to go through such a rigorous approval process as it does during the school year.


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