CHECK OUT AN SFL SCRIPT
(shhhh: it's not all Shakespeare!)
Big old libraries have "stacks"— up and down from the ground floor, shelves and shelves of BOOKS! (Always a great place to make new friends!)
In our stacks, you'll find our lightly-edited scripts to download and use for your next Shakespeare production or research project. Some of them have slightly unusual concepts, but remain truer-than-true to the play you're looking for. You can load each script on your computer or phone. Or, you can print your copy directly from these pages.
In our stacks, you'll find our lightly-edited scripts to download and use for your next Shakespeare production or research project. Some of them have slightly unusual concepts, but remain truer-than-true to the play you're looking for. You can load each script on your computer or phone. Or, you can print your copy directly from these pages.
Quiet, please! Remember, other people are here reading their Shakespeare, too.
TRAGEDIES
Romeo and Juliet, 2009
69% of the original
This version was performed at "Get Thee to the Funnery" camp in Craftsbury Vermont. It starts with Juliet awaking in the tomb for a brief moment. The rest of the play is a flashback, but just for fun, Juliet's point of view begins the story. Check this script out.
Romeo and Juliet, 2012
72% of the original
The mainstage fall play at the New England Youth Theatre. You have the option to begin with a quick tableau of Juliet in the tomb, awaking to find Romeo dead in her lap. The sight shocks her back into a flashback, which is the rest of the play. With beautiful music playing, and the Friar shouting "I can no longer stay!" and the hubbub around the arriving Prince, you have a very strong, unconventional beginning. This script comes with that pre-scene; you may ignore it, of course. Our auditions yielded quite a few excellent young female actors; therefore, we cast one of them as the Prince, and called her "Princess." The 15 year old girl who played her discovered new layers of feminine compassion and frustrated peacemaking--and feminine line (that extra 11th syllable) that generated some new shades of interpretation in her speeches. Check this script out.
Macbeth, 2011 & now 2018
72% of the original
This version was performed in Craftsbury, Vermont in 2011, and with updated editing, will be performed at the 20th anniversary Northeast Kingdom Funnery in August, 2018. It has several original quirks that you can choose to employ, or not. We structure our Funnery performances to give more stage time to up-and-coming young actors; therefore, two characters who do not exist in the original Macbeth can be found here. There is a "newsie" who keeps the audience informed--in street-corner news-hawker style--about late-breaking events. If you wish, this role can be excised with no impact upon the story. The famous "Knocking At the Gate" scene has archaic humor that can be difficult for modern audiences to get. Therefore we include here a young bawdy woman who wakes up with the porter, hears the knocking first, and while trying to wake him up, reflects upon his prowess. Check this script out.
Hamlette, 2008
64% of the original
This Hamlet features many unusual interpretations, but with very little language changes. At the Funnery, in our constant desire to give good parts to girls, we created this 'female' Hamlet. Hamlet becomes a princess; the ghost is her dead mother. Her father has married a trophy wife, the queen's younger sister. Ophelia goes off to college, and artistic, sensitive Laertes stays home and goes mad for love of the princess. Horatia is Hamlette's best friend. Two treacherous girl friends come from Wittenberg to make trouble. Ophelia and Hamlette get to fight the exciting final duel. In no way does the gender flipping make this play comic; it is serious and demanding, and wonderfully empowering for the girls (or women) who play the main roles, and for the audience as well. Expect spontaneous applause when Hamlette says, "Frailty, thy name is man!" Check this script out!
The 36% reduction was accomplished mostly by removing the Fortinbras subplot, and some of the ruminations on diplomacy, kingship, acting technique, etc. All of our favorite action, speeches, and dialogues remain. Contact us for more stage directions and notes regarding the gender changes. See below for a version of Hamlet with the original genders intact.
Hamlet, 2007
62% of the original
This Hamlet was edited for the flagship Vermont high-school arts program, the Governor's Institute on the Arts. It captures all the essential dramatic narrative of the original play, minus the Fortinbras of Norway subplot, and, as in the Hamlette version above, it also leaves out most of the King's--and Hamlet's--ruminations on nobility and statecraft. Without Fortinbras, part of the motivation for the important "How all occasions do inform against me" speech is missing, but the kernel of truth in Hamlet's continuing indecision remains. Also, without Fortinbras, the kingly succession at the end of the play can be easily transferred to the ambassador--since this is by no means the most important information at play's end. Hamlet is a great starting play for young companies, as it is an excellent vector for teaching such important physicalization concepts as breath, focus, escalation, framing, atmosphere. Contact us for a full list of these essential techniques. Check this script out!
69% of the original
This version was performed at "Get Thee to the Funnery" camp in Craftsbury Vermont. It starts with Juliet awaking in the tomb for a brief moment. The rest of the play is a flashback, but just for fun, Juliet's point of view begins the story. Check this script out.
Romeo and Juliet, 2012
72% of the original
The mainstage fall play at the New England Youth Theatre. You have the option to begin with a quick tableau of Juliet in the tomb, awaking to find Romeo dead in her lap. The sight shocks her back into a flashback, which is the rest of the play. With beautiful music playing, and the Friar shouting "I can no longer stay!" and the hubbub around the arriving Prince, you have a very strong, unconventional beginning. This script comes with that pre-scene; you may ignore it, of course. Our auditions yielded quite a few excellent young female actors; therefore, we cast one of them as the Prince, and called her "Princess." The 15 year old girl who played her discovered new layers of feminine compassion and frustrated peacemaking--and feminine line (that extra 11th syllable) that generated some new shades of interpretation in her speeches. Check this script out.
Macbeth, 2011 & now 2018
72% of the original
This version was performed in Craftsbury, Vermont in 2011, and with updated editing, will be performed at the 20th anniversary Northeast Kingdom Funnery in August, 2018. It has several original quirks that you can choose to employ, or not. We structure our Funnery performances to give more stage time to up-and-coming young actors; therefore, two characters who do not exist in the original Macbeth can be found here. There is a "newsie" who keeps the audience informed--in street-corner news-hawker style--about late-breaking events. If you wish, this role can be excised with no impact upon the story. The famous "Knocking At the Gate" scene has archaic humor that can be difficult for modern audiences to get. Therefore we include here a young bawdy woman who wakes up with the porter, hears the knocking first, and while trying to wake him up, reflects upon his prowess. Check this script out.
Hamlette, 2008
64% of the original
This Hamlet features many unusual interpretations, but with very little language changes. At the Funnery, in our constant desire to give good parts to girls, we created this 'female' Hamlet. Hamlet becomes a princess; the ghost is her dead mother. Her father has married a trophy wife, the queen's younger sister. Ophelia goes off to college, and artistic, sensitive Laertes stays home and goes mad for love of the princess. Horatia is Hamlette's best friend. Two treacherous girl friends come from Wittenberg to make trouble. Ophelia and Hamlette get to fight the exciting final duel. In no way does the gender flipping make this play comic; it is serious and demanding, and wonderfully empowering for the girls (or women) who play the main roles, and for the audience as well. Expect spontaneous applause when Hamlette says, "Frailty, thy name is man!" Check this script out!
The 36% reduction was accomplished mostly by removing the Fortinbras subplot, and some of the ruminations on diplomacy, kingship, acting technique, etc. All of our favorite action, speeches, and dialogues remain. Contact us for more stage directions and notes regarding the gender changes. See below for a version of Hamlet with the original genders intact.
Hamlet, 2007
62% of the original
This Hamlet was edited for the flagship Vermont high-school arts program, the Governor's Institute on the Arts. It captures all the essential dramatic narrative of the original play, minus the Fortinbras of Norway subplot, and, as in the Hamlette version above, it also leaves out most of the King's--and Hamlet's--ruminations on nobility and statecraft. Without Fortinbras, part of the motivation for the important "How all occasions do inform against me" speech is missing, but the kernel of truth in Hamlet's continuing indecision remains. Also, without Fortinbras, the kingly succession at the end of the play can be easily transferred to the ambassador--since this is by no means the most important information at play's end. Hamlet is a great starting play for young companies, as it is an excellent vector for teaching such important physicalization concepts as breath, focus, escalation, framing, atmosphere. Contact us for a full list of these essential techniques. Check this script out!
Hamlet, 2015
62% of the original
This is the play script about to be used at the 2015 "Get Thee to The Funnery" production of "Hamlet" in Craftsbury. This version also removes the Fortinbras subplot, and seriously reduces observations about statecraft and about war, but not about how to put on a play (Hamlet's advice to the players). Most of the notes to the 2007 version, above, still apply. You'll note as well that we recommend shortening your work--if you wish--by doing the play within a play solely in dumb show, and skipping the lines of explanatory dialogue. That's up to you. Our Funnery productions are outdoors, and as the afternoon grows on apace, sometimes a strong summer sun finds its way through the hedgerows and tent apron. In consideration of our audience, we find ways to slightly shorten the performance. "Hamlet" is a long play; be kind to your audience, too, and they will come back for more. Check this script out!
62% of the original
This is the play script about to be used at the 2015 "Get Thee to The Funnery" production of "Hamlet" in Craftsbury. This version also removes the Fortinbras subplot, and seriously reduces observations about statecraft and about war, but not about how to put on a play (Hamlet's advice to the players). Most of the notes to the 2007 version, above, still apply. You'll note as well that we recommend shortening your work--if you wish--by doing the play within a play solely in dumb show, and skipping the lines of explanatory dialogue. That's up to you. Our Funnery productions are outdoors, and as the afternoon grows on apace, sometimes a strong summer sun finds its way through the hedgerows and tent apron. In consideration of our audience, we find ways to slightly shorten the performance. "Hamlet" is a long play; be kind to your audience, too, and they will come back for more. Check this script out!
COMEDIES
A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2013
74% of the original
This slightly-shortened "Midsummer" was prepared in the summer of 2013 by Peter Gould for our original flagship camp, "Get Thee to the Funnery" at Craftsbury Common, Vermont. There is no imposed high concept here. We suggest that directors who do this version with a troupe of young actors spend a lot of time on the read-through. The use of rhymed couplets stands out, as do the incredibly prescient speeches by Titania, in which she describes a post-climate-change world whose problems are caused by dissension in the fairy Royal House. We have given more lines, and therefore more power, to Hippolyta, (who after all IS an Amazon) by dividing some of Theseus's speeches and giving her a voice. For instance, a vot'ress of Diana would not necessarily discourage a young woman like Hermia from a single life; living unmarried (yet with the benefits of the nocturnal forest life) and worshipping the moon are thus made to look a bit more attractive in our version--a good subject for discussion! Directors who feel unable to give the "rude mechanicals" the real treatment they deserve for their nuptial play should hire an able physical comedian or clown to direct that scene. There are lots of these types around and they need work. They can also help out with finding all the possible physical zaniness in the confrontation scene of the four lovers, dazed and confused. check this script out.
74% of the original
This slightly-shortened "Midsummer" was prepared in the summer of 2013 by Peter Gould for our original flagship camp, "Get Thee to the Funnery" at Craftsbury Common, Vermont. There is no imposed high concept here. We suggest that directors who do this version with a troupe of young actors spend a lot of time on the read-through. The use of rhymed couplets stands out, as do the incredibly prescient speeches by Titania, in which she describes a post-climate-change world whose problems are caused by dissension in the fairy Royal House. We have given more lines, and therefore more power, to Hippolyta, (who after all IS an Amazon) by dividing some of Theseus's speeches and giving her a voice. For instance, a vot'ress of Diana would not necessarily discourage a young woman like Hermia from a single life; living unmarried (yet with the benefits of the nocturnal forest life) and worshipping the moon are thus made to look a bit more attractive in our version--a good subject for discussion! Directors who feel unable to give the "rude mechanicals" the real treatment they deserve for their nuptial play should hire an able physical comedian or clown to direct that scene. There are lots of these types around and they need work. They can also help out with finding all the possible physical zaniness in the confrontation scene of the four lovers, dazed and confused. check this script out.
The Tempest, 2015
80% (approx) of the original
This newest version is slightly altered from the 2010 Craftsbury script. It is the working text of the New England Youth Theatre 2015 summer Senior Shakespeare, with Peter Gould as director, Zoe Guttenplan as assistant director, and Keely Eastly as vocal coach and text analyst. Cast members are encouraged to download a copy BEFORE first meeting, and begin to learn lines. In this summer camp version, the role of Prospero is shared. When an important part like Prosper is divided, it's fun to find unexpected places to make the switch from one actor to another. For instance, you can make the switch during Ferdinand's explanatory speech at the top of page 48: "this famous Duke of Milan." See notes below regarding the 2010 version for more valuable information. Check this script out.
80% (approx) of the original
This newest version is slightly altered from the 2010 Craftsbury script. It is the working text of the New England Youth Theatre 2015 summer Senior Shakespeare, with Peter Gould as director, Zoe Guttenplan as assistant director, and Keely Eastly as vocal coach and text analyst. Cast members are encouraged to download a copy BEFORE first meeting, and begin to learn lines. In this summer camp version, the role of Prospero is shared. When an important part like Prosper is divided, it's fun to find unexpected places to make the switch from one actor to another. For instance, you can make the switch during Ferdinand's explanatory speech at the top of page 48: "this famous Duke of Milan." See notes below regarding the 2010 version for more valuable information. Check this script out.
The Tempest, 2013
74% of the original
This version is for the New England Youth Theatre's Junior Funnery in Brattleboro, Vermont, in July of 2013. Editing by Jon Flood and Peter Gould. In this version Jonny has created two Ariels who respond to Prospero and carry out his magic. In rehearsals, some clear differences between the two Ariels were noted. This "junior" camp made further cuts during scene blocking; we will post our shorter performance version soon. Please refer to further "Tempest" notes below, regarding the essential pageant scene, and the extraordinary metaphors in this text, which directors must point out to their actors. Check this script out.
74% of the original
This version is for the New England Youth Theatre's Junior Funnery in Brattleboro, Vermont, in July of 2013. Editing by Jon Flood and Peter Gould. In this version Jonny has created two Ariels who respond to Prospero and carry out his magic. In rehearsals, some clear differences between the two Ariels were noted. This "junior" camp made further cuts during scene blocking; we will post our shorter performance version soon. Please refer to further "Tempest" notes below, regarding the essential pageant scene, and the extraordinary metaphors in this text, which directors must point out to their actors. Check this script out.
The Tempest, 2010
90% of the original
This version was performed in Craftsbury, Vermont. The missing 10% is quite hidden from view; the interpretation is traditional. Directors new to the Tempest should note that the second scene--Prospero's long-winded backstory told to Miranda--presents staging problems you'll need to solve. The Bard himself was clearly aware of this, as he has Miranda dozing off throughout. Some companies have given short shrift to the Juno/Iris/Ceres pageant scene: a move we do not endorse. Newcomers to Shakespeare need to experience the tradition of pageantry, and this one--with its local-food language, its blessings of fertility upon the young couple, and its distraction that feeds into Prospero's next, and most famous, speech--should be included in your production. In one of our best multi-age companies, we put three very small people upon the shoulders of three large people, with a long gown worn by the rider and obscuring the person underneath. Thus our young Juno, Iris, & Ceres appeared to be youthful nine-foot tall giants! Check this script out. Three notably extraordinary metaphors gleam from the pages of the Tempest, and should be highlighted and explicated to your cast. Read about them here.
Twelfth Night, 2007
95% of the original
In general, because of the layers of plot details, the cross-dressing, the extensive gulling of Malvolio, the comic set pieces with SIr Toby and Sir Andrew, the lovely songs, the tying-up of loose threads at the end, Twelfth Night is difficult to abridge handily. We have found the role of Feste can be shared among two or three young people, creating great physical comic possibilities. In this version, you'll meet Festy and Jesty, and a scullery assistant named Sally. The gender switches, same-sex attraction, bullying, practical joking, dramatic irony, and inebriated carousing make this a wonderful teaching opportunity; your teen-age participants will love this comedy more than any other. Check this script out.
Twelfth Night, 2012
64% of the original
This lean version was created by Jonny Flood of the Funnery staff, for production at New England Youth Theatre's 2012 Junior Shakespeare camp. All the set pieces, songs, cross dressings, and mad love are retained. Some longer speeches and scenes are shortened without harm to the narrative. This shorter script enables a quicker rehearsal period, deft role sharing and transitions by a younger cast, and perhaps more opportunity to concentrate on physicality. This version keeps the double Feste, and the assistant to Maria. Check this script out.
Twelfth Night, 2014
90% of the original
This newest edition was created by Peter Gould of the Funnery staff, for a seven-year anniversary production at Craftsbury Funnery. This version keeps the double Feste, and the scullery assistant to Maria. In preparing this edition for performance in August, 2014, the director/dramaturge mostly affirmed the previous (2007) cutting; he also noted that the language and issues of Twelfth Night are so clear, so understandable for young performers and their audiences, that there is surely no better comedy to cut Shakespearean teeth upon. Teen-agers will love the 400 year old allusion to the contemporary issue of "testing the waters" in Scene 17, and they will appreciate discussions centered around the historical & moral issues raised by Malvolio's gulling, and his subsequent Cromwellian curse upon theater, which ends the play. Check this script out.
Much Ado About Nothing, 2012
70% of the original
Some of the bantering—often difficult for a modern audience to understand—is omitted. No words are changed, text nor context explained; simply, we skip some of the more obscure jokes among the soldiers and householders, with, we think, no harm to the through lines of teasing and gulling. Modified versions of this 70% Much Ado have been previously performed at the New England Youth Theatre,* the Vermont Governor's Institute, and the Funnery sister camp in Chelsea. It is being performed in November, 2016, at Johnson State College in northern Vermont. "Much Ado" is already rather short; thus, a reduction of 30% makes for a bright, quick Shakespeare experience (no more than 90 minutes) for performers and audience alike. This comedy presents a wonderful teaching opportunity for directors who mean to get physical—the gullings of Benedick and then Beatrice, the malevolent behavior of Don John the Bastard, Beatrice's engagement of Benedick as challenger, the Constable & the Watch: all can be broadly, physically presented with a vaudevillian bodily abandon that in no way compromises the text. Check this script out.
* The 2005 Much Adoo (set on a Victorian India tea plantation) at NEYT included the memorable "how did they do that?" moment in the women's gulling scene, when Beatrice, eavesdropping under the table, came up in the fish tank.
90% of the original
This version was performed in Craftsbury, Vermont. The missing 10% is quite hidden from view; the interpretation is traditional. Directors new to the Tempest should note that the second scene--Prospero's long-winded backstory told to Miranda--presents staging problems you'll need to solve. The Bard himself was clearly aware of this, as he has Miranda dozing off throughout. Some companies have given short shrift to the Juno/Iris/Ceres pageant scene: a move we do not endorse. Newcomers to Shakespeare need to experience the tradition of pageantry, and this one--with its local-food language, its blessings of fertility upon the young couple, and its distraction that feeds into Prospero's next, and most famous, speech--should be included in your production. In one of our best multi-age companies, we put three very small people upon the shoulders of three large people, with a long gown worn by the rider and obscuring the person underneath. Thus our young Juno, Iris, & Ceres appeared to be youthful nine-foot tall giants! Check this script out. Three notably extraordinary metaphors gleam from the pages of the Tempest, and should be highlighted and explicated to your cast. Read about them here.
Twelfth Night, 2007
95% of the original
In general, because of the layers of plot details, the cross-dressing, the extensive gulling of Malvolio, the comic set pieces with SIr Toby and Sir Andrew, the lovely songs, the tying-up of loose threads at the end, Twelfth Night is difficult to abridge handily. We have found the role of Feste can be shared among two or three young people, creating great physical comic possibilities. In this version, you'll meet Festy and Jesty, and a scullery assistant named Sally. The gender switches, same-sex attraction, bullying, practical joking, dramatic irony, and inebriated carousing make this a wonderful teaching opportunity; your teen-age participants will love this comedy more than any other. Check this script out.
Twelfth Night, 2012
64% of the original
This lean version was created by Jonny Flood of the Funnery staff, for production at New England Youth Theatre's 2012 Junior Shakespeare camp. All the set pieces, songs, cross dressings, and mad love are retained. Some longer speeches and scenes are shortened without harm to the narrative. This shorter script enables a quicker rehearsal period, deft role sharing and transitions by a younger cast, and perhaps more opportunity to concentrate on physicality. This version keeps the double Feste, and the assistant to Maria. Check this script out.
Twelfth Night, 2014
90% of the original
This newest edition was created by Peter Gould of the Funnery staff, for a seven-year anniversary production at Craftsbury Funnery. This version keeps the double Feste, and the scullery assistant to Maria. In preparing this edition for performance in August, 2014, the director/dramaturge mostly affirmed the previous (2007) cutting; he also noted that the language and issues of Twelfth Night are so clear, so understandable for young performers and their audiences, that there is surely no better comedy to cut Shakespearean teeth upon. Teen-agers will love the 400 year old allusion to the contemporary issue of "testing the waters" in Scene 17, and they will appreciate discussions centered around the historical & moral issues raised by Malvolio's gulling, and his subsequent Cromwellian curse upon theater, which ends the play. Check this script out.
Much Ado About Nothing, 2012
70% of the original
Some of the bantering—often difficult for a modern audience to understand—is omitted. No words are changed, text nor context explained; simply, we skip some of the more obscure jokes among the soldiers and householders, with, we think, no harm to the through lines of teasing and gulling. Modified versions of this 70% Much Ado have been previously performed at the New England Youth Theatre,* the Vermont Governor's Institute, and the Funnery sister camp in Chelsea. It is being performed in November, 2016, at Johnson State College in northern Vermont. "Much Ado" is already rather short; thus, a reduction of 30% makes for a bright, quick Shakespeare experience (no more than 90 minutes) for performers and audience alike. This comedy presents a wonderful teaching opportunity for directors who mean to get physical—the gullings of Benedick and then Beatrice, the malevolent behavior of Don John the Bastard, Beatrice's engagement of Benedick as challenger, the Constable & the Watch: all can be broadly, physically presented with a vaudevillian bodily abandon that in no way compromises the text. Check this script out.
* The 2005 Much Adoo (set on a Victorian India tea plantation) at NEYT included the memorable "how did they do that?" moment in the women's gulling scene, when Beatrice, eavesdropping under the table, came up in the fish tank.
"Hamlet, thou art slain;
no med'cine in the world can do thee good." [ Act V, Sc. 2 ]
ALSO SHELVED HERE: A FEW NON-SHAKESPEARE MATERIALS
{the previous Treasure Island script has been temporarily removed. Contact us for details.}
NEWS FLASH: SFL Founder Peter Gould wins Vermont Arts Council Arts Educator of the Year Award at ceremony on November 15, 2016!
Look right below this for a new addition to our stacks:
Slow School Slam, by Peter Gould, 2016
this is the poetic acceptance speech that Peter Gould wrote as he received the 2016 Vermont Arts Council Award:
It is meant to be read outloud, declaimed, with appropriate slam-poetry gestures. Spread it around and have fun. Artists: Take over the schools! Work with dedicated teachers! Have a good influence on children! Get paid for your work! check this poem out.
Playboy of the Western World, by John Millington Synge, 2014
most of the original, with parts & vocabulary slightly changed for youth theatre, including additions for physical comedy.
This 1907 Irish play of HUGE world renown is here reconfigured by Peter Gould for a fall 2014 production at New Engand Youth Theatre. This play is an excellent choice for seasoned young actors; we did it first in Brattleboro in 2004. Some of the versions seen on YouTube are--in our opinion--much too serious, too full of slow-moving large adults, too dark, too actorly and unconvincing. The language is superb and unique, at once folky and also elevated, but some directors miss the awesome potential for physical comedy to go along with the linguistic acrobatics. We recommend "Playboy" for youth theatres wanting to mentor and develop young set designers and builders: it's an opportunity to construct an atmospheric west-of-Ireland country pub and dwelling, complete with peat fire, antique tools, and running hand-pumped water at the bar.
Have a few live musicians on hand, let one of your actors whittle and make a pile of shavings to stay on the floor, and you're all set.
check this script out.
this is the poetic acceptance speech that Peter Gould wrote as he received the 2016 Vermont Arts Council Award:
It is meant to be read outloud, declaimed, with appropriate slam-poetry gestures. Spread it around and have fun. Artists: Take over the schools! Work with dedicated teachers! Have a good influence on children! Get paid for your work! check this poem out.
Playboy of the Western World, by John Millington Synge, 2014
most of the original, with parts & vocabulary slightly changed for youth theatre, including additions for physical comedy.
This 1907 Irish play of HUGE world renown is here reconfigured by Peter Gould for a fall 2014 production at New Engand Youth Theatre. This play is an excellent choice for seasoned young actors; we did it first in Brattleboro in 2004. Some of the versions seen on YouTube are--in our opinion--much too serious, too full of slow-moving large adults, too dark, too actorly and unconvincing. The language is superb and unique, at once folky and also elevated, but some directors miss the awesome potential for physical comedy to go along with the linguistic acrobatics. We recommend "Playboy" for youth theatres wanting to mentor and develop young set designers and builders: it's an opportunity to construct an atmospheric west-of-Ireland country pub and dwelling, complete with peat fire, antique tools, and running hand-pumped water at the bar.
Have a few live musicians on hand, let one of your actors whittle and make a pile of shavings to stay on the floor, and you're all set.
check this script out.
A solid, skilled cast of young actors brings new life to "Playboy of the Western World" in Brattleboro, Vermont
HERE'S ANOTHER SCRIPT: A new reworking of Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book!"
We call it "Jungly Book," and, because our theatre is in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling WROTE THIS BOOK, we've contextualized the tale a bit to teach our actors, and our audiences, how the story came to be. We did this in February, 2016 We added several songs, and a few show-stopping Bollywood style dances. Mowgli is SO LUCKY! Facing certain death-by-Tiger, who wouldn't love to be rescued by a sympathetic Jackal, nursed by a caring She-Wolf, and trained in the ways of the Jungle by a Panther and a Bear? Our plot focusses on Mowgli's mother, too: how she keeps the flame (the red flower) of her love for him alive, even while her fellow-villagers taunt her for her obsession! Read the script here, and if you missed our performances in Vermont, plan to mount a production yourself. Check this script out!
HERE IS ANOTHER NEW ONE: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table Retold: about to be performed at the New England Youth Theatre in February, 2017. This is the finished rehearsal script for a production we call "Camp Camp-A-Lot." It takes place in a theme-based summer camp, with a rec hall, a big front porch, a campfire and lots of Arthurian ritual. Suddenly it's all turned around by a rebellious girl, who calls out the patriarchy and male violence too long taken for granted in the tales of Camelot! You've seen it all before, in Sword in the Stone, and the Lady of the Lake, and in dreamy fantasy paintings on the Internet. Looking through a feminist lens, we put this new youth-theatre version together from lots of old Round Table stories. Check this script out.
HERE IS THE SCRIPT FOR OUR 2018 New England Youth Theatre young production of Robin Hood. Another Peter Gould original filled with physical comedy, Abbot & Costello style word play, English ballad form, puppetry, running gags, historical satire, and pathos. This script provides an opportunity for you to retell Robin Hood in a way that's fun (and instructive) for your cast & your audience. Check this script out.