One-Acts by Stephen Bittrich
(Short Plays, 10 Minute Plays and Longer One-Acts)
Quick List – Short Plays
On this page you will find great plays for high schools, colleges, and universities. If you are a student director, there are some fantastic comedies and dramas to choose from. Some plays may also have alternate versions that are edited from the original in order to be more appropriate for a high school audience. These 10-minute plays, short plays, skits, and one-acts have in most cases been produced in New York City and/or published or have been finalists in contests. Nontraditional casting is encouraged whenever you are feeling inspired to do so. There are plays for all sorts of casting combinations.
La Mouche, © 2002 by Stephen Bittrich
3 Men (Non-traditional Casting Encouraged! – 2 of the actors require an over the top French accent), 11 pages long, simple restaurant set--perhaps only a table and chair. Farce, Comedy.
La Mouche takes place in a French restaurant in New York. The jumping off point is the old cliché of a man finding a fly in his soup... with some new twists.
On a personal note, I think this may be my strongest short play.
La Mouche is appropriate for a high school audience.
Desert Island, © 2019 by Stephen Bittrich
2 Actors (Either or both can be male or female),
10 pages long, simple set. Comedy/Drama.Two strangers with opposing political/religious beliefs are stranded on an island. What happens to their differences when they need each other ... to survive?
This new play may not be for everybody. It does dance around political subject matter, but no specific names or specific parties are identified. It strives to be evenhanded and more human than partisan.
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Mime in a Box, © 2007 by Stephen Bittrich
3 Men, (Nontraditional casting encouraged. The Mime could easily be female.) 14 pages long, simple set. Comedy/Drama/Philosophical.
Mime in a Box takes place on the streets of the Village in New York City. Two friends vigorously test the bounds of what is real and what is imaginary with their friendly neighborhood street mime.
Mime in a Box was originally performed by Vital Theatre in New York City, April, 2001. The original Mime in a Box has a few curse word, but there is a version edited for a high school audience.
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The Queue, © 1995 by Stephen Bittrich. (Revised Draft: Oct 2000)
2 Men, 1 Woman (Nontraditional casting encouraged. The woman's part is only 2 lines at the end), 10 pages long, simple set. Comedy.
The Queue takes place in the waiting room of a New York City casting director. One obnoxious American actor does his best to ruffle his fellow British actor before the audition. The Queue was first presented by Vital Theatre Company in New York City, October, 2000.
Here is a version of The Queue edited for a high school audience.
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Jubilation, Mississippi, © 2011 by Stephen Bittrich4 Men, 1 Woman, (Nontraditional Casting Encouraged.) 15 pages, simple set. Sci-fi, Suspense.
Jubilation, Mississippi is an ode to the great TV series Twilight Zone by Rod Serling. A brusque and cynical traveler's car breaks down in a small town where the entire population is preternaturally happy.
There is a version of Jubilation, Mississippi which is edited for a high school audience.
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Brain Sucking,© 1992 by Stephen Bittrich
2 Men, 7 pages (plays close to 13-14 minutes), simple set. Southern comedy.
Brain Sucking takes place on a back porch in South Texas. Greeley recounts his tale of alien abduction to his best friend, Ed, while also revealing some rather questionable recent behavior toward his fiancée.
Brain Sucking is appropriate for a high school audience. (The production photo is by Lee Wexler.)
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Brain Sucking was a finalist in the Actor's Theatre of Louisville's "10 Minute Play Contest" in 1994. It was one of the few ten minute plays (out of about 1800 submissions) to be chosen that year to be produced at their Victor Jory Theatre, December, 1994. The short was directed by William McNulty with the following cast:Greeley........Dustin Longstreth
Ed.............Eric Shephard
Brain Sucking was published in the April, 1995 issue of Dramatics magazine, a magazine geared toward theatre educators. It was expanded into a full-length play, called Home of the Great Pecan which was subsequently published by Broadway Play Publishing.
Two Eggs, © 2000 by Stephen Bittrich
4 Men, 1 Woman, (Nontraditional Casting Encouraged.) 10 pages long, simple living room set. Comedy.
Two Eggs takes place in an apartment building in New York City. While getting ready for a date, a woman has to contend with a pesky neighbor with a major personality disorder. A lot of fun physical comedy and a raucous ending.
Two Eggs was a finalist in the Actor's Theatre of Louisville's 2002 Ten Minute Play Contest. It was first presented by The Drilling Company in New York City in April, 2000.
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Corybungus, © 1991 by Stephen Bittrich (Revised: February, 1994)
2 Men (Nontraditional casting encouraged.)
7 pages, simple set. Comedy.Corybungus is, according to a loony bookstore customer, a word mistakenly excluded from the voluminous Oxford English Dictionary. Chaos ensues when the slightly unhinged customer attempts to return his "OED," (sans receipt, no less) which he insists is defective and "missing words." This fast moving skit is a nod to the Bookshop sketch created by Monty Python.
There is another version of Corybungus edited for a high school audience.
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All About Biffo, © 2013 by Stephen Bittrich
2 Men (Nontraditional casting encouraged.) There is also a brief off-stage voice), 10 pages long, simple set. Comedy.
All About Biffo is a nod to the classic movie All About Eve with Bette Davis and Anne Baxter. A young radical and reckless clown challenges the spotlight of a veteran play-by-the-rules clown-colleague. An excting and challenging element of this play is the theatricality of putting on clown make-up during the performance.
All About Biffo is appropriate for a high school audience.
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Duty Honor Country, © 2004 by Stephen Bittrich
3 Men (1 African American, 1 Middle Eastern, 1 White), 10 pages long (though it plays close to 15 minutes), simple set. Drama.
Here's what Mark Denton from NYTheatre.com said about Duty Honor Country:
"Duty Honor Country...examines men in combat in general and American soldiers in Iraq in particular. Bobeck is a good ole boy from the American South who joined the army, he says, to avoid jail; he has no illusions about the war's meaning or value and cares little how he treats his newly acquired Iraqi 'prisoner' so long as he keeps himself alive. His comrade LaBonne is an African American who says he believes what this war is supposed to be about and holds firm to obeying orders and honoring his Commander-in-Chief. Who's right?-or perhaps the question is: Is anybody right? Their prisoner longs only for peace. This is a stirring and obviously very timely drama that helps focus some of our thinking about the current Iraqi conflict."
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Duty Honor Country was published by The New York Theatre Experience in the anthology Plays and Playwrights 2005, edited by Martin Denton. A monologue from the play was published by Smith & Kraus in The Best Men's Stage Monologues 2005, edited by D. L. Lepidus.
Hole, © 2010 by Stephen Bittrich1 Woman, 2 Men, (Nontraditional casting encouraged.) 10 pages long, simple set. Special lighting. Drama.
Hole is set in a mine cave-in in West Virginia. This piece was originally presented in an evening of one-acts on the theme of faith. The three characters have different types of faith. The young Millsap has faith that God will protect them, Brody has faith in herself to find a way out, and Murphy, the old timer, is devoid of faith. A fun thing about this piece is that it starts in the dark, and is lit only with the light that they find. There is music to the song. Contact me for an mp3 of the tune.
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Hole was originally performed by The Drilling Company Theatre in New York City, May, 2010. The short play was later published by Smith & Kraus in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2011 (Contemporary Playwrights Series), edited by Larry Harbison. There is a draft of a full-length version that exists, but has not been fully developed.
The Proposal, © 2006 by Stephen Bittrich (Revised: Sept 2007)
1 Woman, 1 Man, 7 pages long (runs longer), period costumes, representative set. Period drama.
The Proposal takes place in Regency Era England (the time of Jane Austen). Julia Hightower, a progressive, headstrong young woman is cornered in the garden by a rich, rakish suitor who has a secret about her. The Proposal was originally presented by The Drilling Company in New York City in June, 2006. It is published in 2006: The Best Ten-Minute Plays for 2 Actors.
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Some Words of Advice, © 1993 by Stephen Bittrich. (Revised: Feb 1994)
2 Men, 1 Woman (the woman's part is silent), 10 pages long (plays really fast), simple set. Comedy.
Some Words of Advice takes place on a subway platform in New York City. Joey tries to give some advice to his friend, Freddy, about a fellow female co-worker who he sees as manipulative.
Some Words of Advice is the hardest thing you'll ever have to memorize as an actor. I did a workshop of it a few years back. It's very funny if you get the lines down absolutely cold and find the rhythm and music of the scene. Some Words of Advice was presented by Drilling Company in New York City, November 2000.
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The Sign, © 2004 by Stephen Bittrich
2 Men, 8 pages long, simple set. Drama.
Two old friends meet up in an old tree they climbed as children on the day of the funeral of the beloved sister of one of them. The Sign was first produced by Access Theater Access Theater in New York City in June, 2004.
There is a version of The Sign edited for a high school audience.
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Cowboy South of Houston © 1995 by Stephen Bittrich. (Revised Draft/January 2003)
1 Man, 1 Woman, 9 pages long, simple set. Comedy, Rom-Com.
In Cowboy South of Houston a cowboy tourist wonders into a Soho, New York art gallery in full of avant-garde art he can't understand and gets more than he bargained for when he encounters an aggressive artsy Soho native.
There is a version of Cowboy South of Houston edited for a high school audience.
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Date Patrol, ©1989 by Stephen Bittrich
1 man, 3 women, 18 pages long, simple apartment set. Comedy.
Poor clueless Bob shows up to pick up his date and ends up facing an interrogation to rival The Spanish Inquisition.
This version linked of Date Patrol is appropriate for a high school audience. There is an uncut version which is not online. The first incarnation of Date Patrol was called Inquisition and was produced by the company Second Generation at the Producer's Club Theatre in New York City in September, 1989.
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On the Shelf for the Holidays, © 2000 by Stephen Bittrich (Revised: February, 2004)
1 Man, 1 Woman (Nontraditional casting encouraged.) 8 pages long, set is two life-sized doll boxes. Comedy.
Activist Bambi and Cabbie Bob are two dolls who have been passed over for Christmas and remain on the shelf. Bambi is apparently perfect in every way (and will let you know it), and can't understand her predicament, and to make matters worse, she's stuck with a crude, rude cretin name Cabbie Bob.
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Tofu © 1992 by Stephen Bittrich and Jeff P. Weiss
2 Men, 14 pages long, simple set--need a raised girder or platform. Comedy.
Tofu takes place on the fiftieth story of a building under construction. The archetypical boisterous "construction guy," Charlie, befriends a mild mannered worker because of a debt of honor. Side note: I'm sure there are many, many construction workers working in New York City who don't make catcalls, but my ex-wife on many occasions had to put up with the crude outbursts from construction workers, and it just seemed like the perfect starting off point to poke a little fun at those guys.
Tofu was a departure from my regular method of writing plays because it came from a series of improvs I did with my actor friend, Jeff P. Weiss. We kind of decided on a couple of "what ifs" about the characters and the story beforehand, and then we rolled the video tape while we improvised a "play." Some really great stuff came out of that spontaneous work. We wrote it all down and began rehearsing the piece, cutting, adding, and rearranging as we worked.
This play has some adult language.
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Bee, © 2005 by Stephen Bittrich (Revised: June, 2006)
1 Man, 2 Women, 11 pages long, simple set--a chair and special lighting. Dystopian Drama, Suspense.
In an unsettling, Kafkaesque future, when people have numbers for names, a man named LEE72 is summoned for an interview when his companion disapears.
Bee was written especially for an Off Broadway production (in NYC) at The Drilling Company in December, 2005. Here is a version of Bee edited for a high school audience.
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Bringing Up Lester, © 2001 by Stephen Bittrich (Revised Draft/May 2001)2 Men, 1 Woman, 11 pages long, simple living room set. Avant-garde Comedy.
A woman returns to her husband after three months abroad with her lover and discovers that miraculously her husband has raised a grown son she never knew she birthed!
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The Audit © 2003 by Stephen Bittrich. (Revised Draft/April 2003)
3 Men, 1 Woman, 13 pages long, simple office set.
A married couple with a wild streak decide to turn the tables on their hapless tax auditor.
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Baby Factory © 1999 by Stephen Bittrich (Revised Draft/Oct 2000)
3 Men, 2 Women, 11 pages, simple set. Avante-garde , Raucous Comedy.
Welcome to DNA ALCHEMY, in the not so distant future where your little bundle of joy can be scientifically engineered to exact specifications. Just working out a few kinks!
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The Way, The Truth, The Life © 2003 by Stephen Bittrich. (Revised Draft/January, 2003)
Contact me for a copy. This is not for high school. Must be a college age performer or director.
2 Men, 2 Women, 9 pages long (plays quite fast), simple set. Dark Comedy.
Welcome to the acting class from hell. If you cross teacher, the obscene misogynist sock puppet takes over the class.
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, © 2002 by Stephen Bittrich
Contact me for a copy. This is not for high school. Must be a college age performer or director.
4 Men, 1 Woman, 10 pages long, simple Roman set. Raucous Comedy.
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire takes place on a movie set in New York in the 1980s. When this was being written, the "prompt" proposed for the themed evening by the Artistic Director of the theater company, The Drilling Compay was "theft." So I thought, "Who is more of a thief than a scene stealing actor?" When a small film crew attempts to make an adult version of the classic Roman gladiator flick, Spartacus, a background actor can't help but pull focus and ask too many questions about his "motivation."
When we performed this at The Drilling Company Theatre, I'd never had an audience laugh so hard. We may have shocked a few people too. It's very bawdy.
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If you have any questions about the short plays, one-acts, or ten minute plays on this page, please contact me here.
