Large cast comedy
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4683
Printed Date: 5/19/24 at 10:04am
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Topic: Large cast comedy
Posted By: jmuns79
Subject: Large cast comedy
Date Posted: 6/23/10 at 12:06am
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I'm looking for a non-musical large cast comedy. This is a high school production, and past productions have included anywhere from 30-40 performers. I'm at a loss and looking for suggestions.
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Replies:
Posted By: donzolidis
Date Posted: 6/23/10 at 11:39pm
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Playscripts publishes a number of large cast comedies appropriate for high school. Here is a list of the most popular - most will have very large cast sizes. All the plays on the top 10 full-length list are comedies.
http://www.playscripts.com/high - http://www.playscripts.com/high
I would of course recommend my own play, The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon, which is kind of like the reduced Shakespeare Company performs all the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Click on a link from a play and you can read 90% of it online.
Hope that helps!
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www.donzolidis.com
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Posted By: Lazy Bee
Date Posted: 6/24/10 at 9:09am
Sixteen scripts http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/cgi-bin/Search_Results.asp?iMM=15&iMF=15&iAR=4&iC%281%29=2&iC%284%29=2&iC%286%29=2&iC%289%29=1&iC%2820%29=1&sAs1=Collection - listed here which may include something suitable.
(Some of them may be too short, a few will be too young - "High School" can cover a broad range of maturity! You can read them all on-line to decide.)
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Stuart
Lazy Bee Scripts
http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk - http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk read complete play scripts on-line
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Posted By: Lazy Bee
Date Posted: 6/24/10 at 9:15am
In addition to my listing above, there is also http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/cgi-bin/Search_Results.asp?iSc=1003 - Beasts which is a collection of five short plays based on short stories by Saki. Very black humour, which might well appeal to high school students. The individual casts are relatively small, but if the plays are cast separately, then the total number would be 35.
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Stuart
Lazy Bee Scripts
http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk - http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk read complete play scripts on-line
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Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 6/25/10 at 3:01pm
That's a heck of a lot of people for any play! You can't help but end up with a lot of "spear carriers."
I would recommend "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It's the one show I can think of that has at least a dozen really good roles for talented people plus opportunities for the "spear carrier" set with the troupe of fairies, and the people of the court. You've got Hermia and Lysander - star crossed lovers, Demetrius and Helena - also star crossed. Titania and Oberon - royal fairy folk on the outs with each other. Puck - the best mischief-making elf ever written. Then you have the "rustics" - the locals who are rehearsing a play to perform before the court, with Bottom (a great comic role), and the others all memorable: Quince, Flute, Starveling, Snug and Snout. (Their comic version of Pyramus and Thisbe - a Romeo and Juliet type story - is one of the funniest sequences in any Shakespeare play.
If the Bard intimidates you, I've got a "simplified" version that I adapted from the original. (The language is still there - just made a little more actor and audience friendly.) Otherwise, check out the original, or some of the other adaptations that are available. The best thing about the show - aside from the fact that it's genuinely funny - is the fact that there are so many good roles in it.
"The Taming of the Shrew" is another solid possibility. It's more than just Katherine and Petruchio. There's Bianca and Lucentio, Tranio and Biondello, Grumio, Gremio, Hortensio, Signor (or Signora) Baptista, the Pedant, and Vincentio. Again, a wealth of "good" roles.
Or maybe "Twelfth Night" - a great gender-bending comedy with an easy eight to ten memorable roles, and lot's of courtiers, etc.
Long story short - check out Shakespeare, in one form or another.
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/04/10 at 8:10am
non musical verison of Peter Pan
You Can't Take It With You
Stage Door
The Man Who Came to Dinner
The Women
edited to add: Front Page
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http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com
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Posted By: Martin
Date Posted: 7/04/10 at 11:18am
Delia Dancer, Doughnut Girl, from Heuer Publishing, with a flexible cast of 21.
Synopsis: Delia Dancer, Doughnut Girl is a modern melodrama that chronicles a ridiculous day and the challenges and struggles of a young woman who makes a living manufacturing doughnuts and sweet pastries in a small town doughnut factory. Structured as a radio program complete with phony commercials, parody songs, audience participation, and listener call-in spots, Delia Dancer, Doughnut Girl stretches theatrical forms but is deeply rooted in awful puns and wrapped around an apple pie and a cup of coffee of small town life.
Types: Full Length Play, Community Theatre
Genres: Comedy, Melodrama
Cast: 6 men, 7 women, 8 extras, flexible cast, 21 total
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Posted By: jonplaywright
Date Posted: 7/13/10 at 1:51am
I'd recommend a pair of my own plays, both of which easily allow for that many actors (and can be read almost in their entirety on the Playscripts website):
High School (non) Musical is a parody of the popular Disney hit.
http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1335 - http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1335
Tiny Tim Runs the Marathon is brand new. In a sentence: When Tiny Tim throws away his crutches and declares his intention to run
the marathon, he could inspire millions--but with big business behind
Oliver Twist as their inspirational figure of choice, Tiny Tim may never
make it to the starting line...
http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=2055 - http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=2055
You might also want to check out The Baseball King by Amelia Ross, a comedic retelling of the David-Goliath-Saul-Jonathan stories from the Bible, set in the world of high school baseball. It's available from YouthPLAYS, the online publisher of plays for young actors and audiences, where you can always read the entire script for free as a non-printable perusal.
http://youthplays.com/plays/view/68 - http://youthplays.com/plays/view/68
Hope these suggestions help.
Cheers,
Jon Dorf
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Posted By: Michael Conyers
Date Posted: 7/20/10 at 6:07am
We have a number of shows that can be performed with or without music that require a large cast.
http://www.ravenbeard.co.uk/plays_The_Complete_History_of_the_World_%28abridged%29/plays_The_Complete_History_of_the_World_%28abridged%29.htm - The Complete History of the World (abridged) has 50 speaking parts but some of the smaller parts can be doubled up.
http://www.ravenbeard.co.uk/plays_Persephone_and_the_Three_Golden_Hairs/plays_Persephone_and_the_Three_Golden_hairs.htm - Persephone and the Three Golden Hairs has 33 speaking parts - it's our newest show and is very funny indeed.
http://www.ravenbeard.co.uk/plays_Panto_Crime/plays_Panto_Crime.htm - Panto Crime may also suit your cast too.
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Michael
http://www.ravenbeard.co.uk/ - Ravenbeard Productions
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Posted By: rick491
Date Posted: 8/06/10 at 10:27pm
I have an original comedy with a cast of 18 if that might interest you. There is some profanity which could be cleaned up for your purposes.
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Rick M.
www.richardmonaco.com
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Posted By: Melvin
Date Posted: 8/08/10 at 12:55pm
I agree that A Midsummer Night's Dream fits the bill, but it tends to be about a half hour too long. Here's a wonderful shortened version that keeps the show to a manageable 90 minutes. You can read the whole script here on line before you make your decision. Also, there are no performance royalties on this show. Nice!
http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/YouthTheatre/A_Midsummer_Nights_Dream_GM.htm
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