Suggestions for Plays

[lieperjp]

Well, it's pick the shows for next year's season time! The people who pick the shows are looking for suggestions, just wondering if there are any suggestions from you guys.

Looking for suggestions for two different types of shows:

A straight play, 90-120 minutes, medium to large size cast. No Shakespeare or "edgy" materials, please.
Previous plays we've done:
Dial "M" for Murder
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
The Crucible
Ten Little Indians

A play for children. Must be less than 50-55 minutes or have the ability to cut to that length. Large cast.
The Three Fairy Godmothers
The Trial of Goldilocks
Cinderella

 

[cprted]

I think the pairing of Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound and After Margritte would make for a delightful evening. They're both completely absurd and utterly hilarious. Hound has a cast of 9 and would run close to an hour. Margritte has a cast of 5 and likely runs about 35 mins.

Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour is another favourite of mine, though depending on your definition of "edgy" it could be a no-go (in spite of being written over 75 years ago).

 

[kiwitechgirl]

Arsenic and Old Lace could work for you - our production came in at just over two hours including interval, but we did play it at great speed (it's funnier that way anyway!). Terrific fun and some great parts. The Crucible is also a good one if you have an actor strong enough to play Proctor, but it might be a bit long for what you're after. I'd suggest a beautiful play called For the Love of the Nightingale but I'm not quite sure how you define "edgy" - it does contain an (offstage) rape scene and a character gets her tongue cut out, but it's a really good play.

 

[sk8rsdad]

How large is large? here's the old community theatre regulars...

Inherit the Wind
The Importance of Being Earnest
Our Town

Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii - Alan Stratton
The Black Bonspiel of Wullie Maccrimmon - W.O. Mitchell
The Cat's Cradle - Leslie Sands

For kid's plays of that running length, have a look at the Dramatic Publishing catalog or Pioneer Drama.

 

[icewolf08]

Not a large cast, but a fun show to do: "Is He Dead?" by Mark Twain.

 

[lieperjp]

Thanks for the suggestions so far...

Arsenic and Old Lace, Crucible, and Importance of Being Earnest have all been done within the last 10 years (our minimum for repeat shows). I would love to do IBE, because it is one of my favorite shows.

Aiming for a cast of about 8-15 in the play and at least 10 in the Children's show - the bigger the better. If it has a short musical interlude for dancing, that's even better.

Also, the average budget for the play would be about $3,000 and the Children's show would be about $1800.

 

[Teber]

Try Noises Off -- Very very funny show

 

[erosing]

Adult Shows:
The Tragedy of Richard the Second, by Robert Myers, is a good one, 15 cast members I think.
The Foreigner is always a good laugh too.

Those shouldn't be too edgy unless you play to a bunch of Nixon fans.