Community Theater... I'm starting to just gather titles and names for our second season which'll be next summer (we just do one show a summer at current; wrapped a few weeks ago, having trouble moving back onto my real life).  It's a new theater, and we're only looking to do shows during the summer anyway... we were lucky enough to make a profit our first time out, but we're likely to keep it at just one show for another year while we build name and talent pool.

This past summer we performed (after a stressful, hair-pulling search) Robin Hood by Don Nigro with a speaking cast of 34 (+ 2 non-speaking) with a wonderful reception from both the members of the cast and the ever important audience.

Perhaps too wonderful.  Now we're in the difficult position of trying to equal or top for next year when we already know from post-show surveys that a majority of our 34 will be returning plus a whole new crop now that we've got a reputation and the word gets spread.

As such, I know we're likely looking for a comedy or a murder mystery.  Not a drama - that's not the direction we'll likely head yet.  And it's got to be a big cast.  30 people minimum  (nightmare as a director, but it really is a lot of fun).

Any good suggestions that I can add to the pot for the next few months?

(I remember reading on here during our first script hunt back in January about a large cast comedy that was really well-suggested... but I can't find the thread anymore... but it was basically poking fun at small town farm communities/lifestyle which is exactly the communities that we draw on)

Thanks - this is such a great resource that's really helped us get going the past 9 months.

Well, anything from the Kaufman and Hart library should fit your bill.  Like Topper says, Once in a Lifetime, and also The Man Who Came to Dinner and You Can't Take it With You are very funny.

Mike Legge's "Shake A Spear," from JAC Publishing. 23 roles, easy set, laugh-out-loud funny.

I have two recently published full-length comedies (just published today, actually!) that have quite large casts.

A play that isn't neccesarily a comedy, but has MANY comedic moments and beautifully poetic language... that can also be performed with a rather sparse set which saves money is....