Mini-Plays for Children
I started writing plays for kids a few years before I started writing books for kids. In high school and beyond, I'd spent many hours involved in many productions on the school and community stage. I especially loved musicals, with the songs and dance. So, years later, as co-director of 'Tavaci, School of Performing Arts' in Mendon, Utah, I decided to incorporate drama into our curriculum. But finding plays short enough for a relatively easy production, that were still entertaining and fun, was nearly impossible. So I started writing them.
Since that time, almost 15 years ago, I've written dozens of plays, and produced every one of them. Most of them I've also directed, although once the word got out, teachers started asking me to write plays for them too. I quickly realized that my Mini-Plays were perfect for the classroom. Each play has flexible casting, with lines for everyone, simple sets and costuming, and a 10-15 minute production time. Perfect!
In recent years, as I've found myself teaching again in the full time classroom, I've also created a writing curriculum for my students. Now they write their own classroom play each year, I get to direct, and the whole school gets to enjoy.
Recently, I decided to write a series of middle grade novels that incorporated drama and plays into the stories. "Whisper Creek Drama Club" is about a group of kids who create their own neighborhood drama club and put on these very plays. At the end of each novel is a full production, reproducible script of the play the characters produce throughout the story.
Here is a list of Mini-Plays for Children I've written and produced. I will be periodically making plays available for you to print and use! Check back to see what plays I'm offering.
Here's a play for you!
In honor of the back to school season, I'm offering a play for you to have! The Great Outlaw Heist is a fun wild west play for children in grades 2-4. Using the document frame above, you can read the play, and then print it to use any way you choose. These plays are created in such a way that you can be as flexible as needed with casting, and the sets and costumes can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose. Please contact me when you put on the play! I would love you hear about your productions!
Winter/Christmas Themed Plays:
Christmas Blizzard
Help Wanted
How the Reindeer Learned to Fly
Ornamental Christmas
The Magic Slippers
A Play Worth Watching
Plays for Young Children
Smarter Than the Little Red Hen (Christmas version, and Valentines Day version)
The Great Outlaw Heist
Plays for 3rd - 8th Grade:
How the West Was Really Won
Invasion of the Rubber Duckies
Lulu and the Knights of the Rectangle
Mystery of the Missing Ketchup
Patty Pan and Captain Shook
The Princess and the Rutabaga
The Haunted Hotel
The Great Outlaw Heist
Caveman Caper
Accusation Pie
Cranium Time
Frontier Wish
A Treasure For Pirates
Mini-Musicals!
An Historic Look at the Use of Vegetables (musical version of The Princess and the Rutabaga)
The Christmas Thief
Too Small for a Home
Since that time, almost 15 years ago, I've written dozens of plays, and produced every one of them. Most of them I've also directed, although once the word got out, teachers started asking me to write plays for them too. I quickly realized that my Mini-Plays were perfect for the classroom. Each play has flexible casting, with lines for everyone, simple sets and costuming, and a 10-15 minute production time. Perfect!
In recent years, as I've found myself teaching again in the full time classroom, I've also created a writing curriculum for my students. Now they write their own classroom play each year, I get to direct, and the whole school gets to enjoy.
Recently, I decided to write a series of middle grade novels that incorporated drama and plays into the stories. "Whisper Creek Drama Club" is about a group of kids who create their own neighborhood drama club and put on these very plays. At the end of each novel is a full production, reproducible script of the play the characters produce throughout the story.
Here is a list of Mini-Plays for Children I've written and produced. I will be periodically making plays available for you to print and use! Check back to see what plays I'm offering.
Here's a play for you!
In honor of the back to school season, I'm offering a play for you to have! The Great Outlaw Heist is a fun wild west play for children in grades 2-4. Using the document frame above, you can read the play, and then print it to use any way you choose. These plays are created in such a way that you can be as flexible as needed with casting, and the sets and costumes can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose. Please contact me when you put on the play! I would love you hear about your productions!
Winter/Christmas Themed Plays:
Christmas Blizzard
Help Wanted
How the Reindeer Learned to Fly
Ornamental Christmas
The Magic Slippers
A Play Worth Watching
Plays for Young Children
Smarter Than the Little Red Hen (Christmas version, and Valentines Day version)
The Great Outlaw Heist
Plays for 3rd - 8th Grade:
How the West Was Really Won
Invasion of the Rubber Duckies
Lulu and the Knights of the Rectangle
Mystery of the Missing Ketchup
Patty Pan and Captain Shook
The Princess and the Rutabaga
The Haunted Hotel
The Great Outlaw Heist
Caveman Caper
Accusation Pie
Cranium Time
Frontier Wish
A Treasure For Pirates
Mini-Musicals!
An Historic Look at the Use of Vegetables (musical version of The Princess and the Rutabaga)
The Christmas Thief
Too Small for a Home
