Theatrefolk’s Top 10: Small Cast Plays

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten Plays For…

Small Casts. Sometimes you need something small. Not everyone needs the cast of thousands. Or maybe you have so many great students, you want to give a group something substantial to work on. All of these plays are one acts and call for a cast of 5 or less.

Click the link and you’ll be taken to the webpage for each play. There you’ll get the details and read sample pages.

All the best with your search!

Better Than the Movie
Cast Size: 3
First dates can be the worst or the best. Especially when you’re on a date with the guy or girl of your dreams. Will the giant soda cause bladder issues? Will the Heimlich manoeuvre be needed over a popcorn kernel? Will the guy in the back ruin everything?

Ellenalicemonajune
Cast Size: 4
Ellen, Alice, Mona, and June share those uncomfortable truths that only close friends can tell each other, particularly regarding a boyfriend who wears red leather pants. A great character piece for four actresses.

Flaky Lips
Cast Size: 2
Two young women live in separated societies. One skin colour on this side. One skin colour on that side. They have never seen what the other looks like, until circumstances throw them together. A small cast but a challenging acting opportunity.

Carrying The Calf
Cast Size: 4
A teenager fed-up with being bullied drags her reluctant friend to a self-defence class. But more important than the karate training, the instructor challenges the group to find self-confidence, independence, and to choose their own destiny. Diverse roles.

Prom Night
Cast Size: 3
An unlikely pair meet in the woods – the uncool Catholic girl and the linebacker Prom King. Neither wanted to go to prom and neither wanted to be with their dates. Truth and secrets come out in this gem of a small cast play.

Power Play
Cast Size: 5
A gunshot is heard. Which of the five characters did it and why? Was it the Goth girl? The football star? What are the realities and the stereotypes of high school violence? Violence is about power. So is high school.

Stressed
Cast Size: 4
Stress is driving this quartet of teen characters crazy – so much so they can’t stop talking about it. This play is a symphony of sound and character.

Little Nell and the Mortgage Foreclosure
Cast Size: 5
A delightful small cast melodrama replete with broad comedy, memorable characters, and plenty of booing and hissing for the stovepipe-hat-wearing villain!

Master of Puppets
Cast Size: 3
Mrs Slattimore speaks to teen couples about communication. She wants Joanie to see she wears bossy pants and Chuck already has a mom. Soom the big guns have to come out – Truth puppets. That’s right, puppets who tell all.

Underneath
Cast Size: 5
Brittany is depressed and can’t hide it. Echo is excited but doesn’t want anyone to know. Trina has a secret and she wants to tell the world. It’s hard to keep emotions clamped down, even in winter. The snow is piling up as secrets rise to the surface.

Need more? Check out some of these additional options too!

Mummu
Cast Size: 4
Mummu is here to bring you a story. A good story with a great emotional landscape. Even deities who exist on an eternal plane don’t have time for bad theatre.

Franz Kafka Cancels His Cell Phone Plan
Cast Size: 5
A modern absurdist play that puts elements from three of Franz Kafka’s works into the context of the everyday absurdities of our 21st century lives.

Hamlette
Cast Size: 5
Hamlet is played by a girl in this twisty-turny comedic interpretation of the classic Danish tale.

Sweep Under Rug
Cast Size: 5
In the future the issue of poverty is solved through separation and subserviance. A teen causes trouble simply because she wants to better herself.