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Tough City, Prone to Rain by Alan Haehnel play script cover

Tough City, Prone to Rain

by Alan Haehnel

In a city like this one – cold, dark, cynical, and often rainy – there are more places to hide than to be found. And let’s not forget about the shark-infested waters.

Donna Rockbridge needs the women (not dolls, dames, or sweethearts) from the Broadly Speaking Detective Agency to find her twin brother before trouble does. They’re ready to take on the case. Just don’t ask their secretary to answer the door; he hasn’t quite mastered doors and phones yet.

This noir is perfect for a competition piece – easy to stage, with a large cast and fun to play!

Comedy

Average Producer Rating: 5.0 out of 5

Recommended for High Schools and Middle Schools

At a Glance

Running Time
About 35 minutes
Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes
Cast
25 Characters
10 M 5 F 10 Any Gender
Set
Simple set
Length
29 pages
Production Tips
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Free Excerpt
Classroom Study Guide
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Performance Royalty Fees

Royalty fees apply to all performances whether or not admission is charged. Any performance in front of an audience (e.g. an invited dress rehearsal) is considered a performance for royalty purposes.

Exemption details for scenes and monologues for competition.

25 Characters

10 M, 5 F, 10 Any Gender

Characters in this play are currently identified as male or female. Directors are welcome to assign any gender (binary or non-binary) to any character and modify pronouns accordingly.

NEWSIE [A] 4 lines
Telling how it is in the big city.
DONNA [F] 63 lines
Looking for help in the big city.
PASSERBYS 1, 2 & 3 [A] 7 lines
Three city dwellers sharing deep thoughts.
AMERICAN SPY [A] 17 lines
Dogs bark at midnight.
RUSSIAN SPY [A] 19 lines
Cats bay at moon.
MYRNA [F] 68 lines
Detective. Don’t call her a dame.
LILAC [F] 68 lines
Detective. Don’t call her a doll.
ROSE [F] 64 lines
Detective. Don’t call her sweetheart.
EARL [M] 59 lines
Secretary. Can’t tell the difference between a door and a phone.
LILAC’S MOTHER [F] 2 lines
Thinks Lilac was born to be a nun.
MR. GOLDMAN [M] 2 lines
Thinks Myrna was born to be a singer.
HAROLD [M] 2 lines
Thinks Rose was born to be his wife.
LEON [M] 9 lines
Member of “The Gang”. Not great at coming up with passwords.
RATTIE [A] 3 lines
Member of “The Gang”.
FRANKIE [A] 5 lines
Member of “The Gang”. Likes Christmas.
BUTCH [M] 3 lines
Member of “The Gang”. Knows the #1 rule of the establishment.
BUSTER [A] 4 lines
Member of “The Gang”.
SLADE [M] 18 lines
A squared-jaw, wise-cracking difficulty.
MR. SUGAR [M] 14 lines
Nightclub owner. Not happy with Myrna.
ROCKO [M] 13 lines
Works for Mr. Sugar.
DONNY [M] 10 lines
Works for Mr. Sugar.
COURIER [A] 2 lines
Was never here.
WILLIAM [A] 11 lines
Donna’s twin brother.

Praise for Tough City, Prone to Rain

5 out of 5 stars
Maryellen Paquette
Burncoat Middle School for the Arts
This was the perfect play for our state’s middle school drama festival. At 35 minutes, it challenged our students with both the style and staging and received wonderful audience feedback. Several festival directors even said they’d love to work on it with their own students. With fun opportunities for blocking, costuming, set design, and choreography, it’s an excellent introduction to film noir!
5 out of 5 stars
Tara Cyganowski
Temple ISD Lamar Middle School
The students absolutely loved it! It was a lot of fun getting to mix the comedy and the seriousness of the actual story.
5 out of 5 stars
Audra Bocksnick
Alma Middle School
FANTASTIC! It is such a fun and clever show. Students were able to really embrace their characters and had very insightful performances -- even with the tongue-and-cheek style. It is truly a fun show. You can really make it your own -- and we did!

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From the Drama Teacher Learning Centre

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