Category Archives: Biography

Strange Bedfellows – Script about the American War of Independence

script about the American war of independence

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS – SCRIPT ABOUT THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

In a war there are more than just the men in the firing line. There are the superiors who risk their lives, to some extent, as well. The women, who must continue on with the lives their men left behind, the frustrated people who support neither warring faction and prefer to remain neutral and the men who are influenced by all of the above, who make the vital decisions that could change the face of the war. Lawyers, polymaths, inventors and… revolutionaries. A word that goes beyond ‘politician’. A word fitting to the three men that would play a role in the American Revolution in this script about the American war of Independence.

In three acts, Strange Bedfellows, documents a moment in time of the lives of Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge and John Adams, who spent the night at a somewhat grotty tavern in New Jersey. Franklin brought with him his sense of humour, penchant for libations, ill-health in old age and a journal. Adams; his wife, Abigail’s, spirit, a staid disposition, passion and outrage at Franklin’s lack of etiquette. Rutledge; his cynicism, a suspicious and thought-provoking mind and a habit of falling asleep when inconvenient to do so. In this drama, the trio are on the cusp of realising what could very well be the first American Dream.

What say you to a night with Franklin, Adams and Rutledge?

Strange Bedfellows recently enjoyed a week long workshop at The Alabama Shakespeare Festival for their Southern Writers Project. It has been recognized by over a half dozen national writing competitions including The Stanley Drama Award and The Harriet Lake Festival of Plays. It was selected by Tony Award winning Broadway producer Ken Davenport for his Broadway Blacklist of the Top Ten Unproduced Plays of 2016.

Author: Jason Boies

Type: Three Act Play

Genre: Drama, Historical, Biography

Length: Ninety minutes excluding intervals

Cast: Cast of 7: 6M 1FMain Characters: 3 – M

Ages of the actors: From a teenage soldier up to a seventy year old Benjamin Franklin

Suitable for: All ages to watch, teens up to perform

Set: A tavern 

Level of difficulty: 7/10 – getting the characters right, their mannerisms and accent of the times correct

Read a Sample of the Script




Cost is $10 for this top ten listed play digital  script

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Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about Strange Bedfellows

Copyright © February 2019 Jason Boies and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other plays of war you may enjoy:

Dr Kritzinger’s Twelve O’Clock – play about the meeting that set the events of World War II in deadly motion
A Field of Glory – American Civil War Drama
Agatha the ugly – romantic drama set in World war 2

The Passion of Mary – American historical play about the Quakers

American historical play

THE PASSION OF MARY – AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAY WITH TOPICAL ISSUES

Forty years before the Salem witch trials, Massachusetts’ Puritans were hanging other Christians for slight differences of opinion. The play THE PASSION OF MARY details the importance of the Separation of Church and State in early America through the battles and life story of a young woman that builds self-awareness and confidence while keeping her sense of humor intact in this American historical play.

“It wasn’t just witches they were hanging, but their own.” This is the story of Quaker Mary Dyer, who was hanged by Puritans in the Boston Commonwealth in the 1600s.

Featuring a cast of historical characters including early leaders Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, plus England’s Lord Oliver Cromwell, the play starts as Mary buries her child that was stillborn and disfigured. Within weeks Mary’s world crumbles, first seeing her best friend kicked out of Boston where they had settled for over 16 years. Then the colony’s leaders discover the dead baby, and publicize to the entire community that Mary gave birth to a monster. She, too, is excommunicated, and scorned by her neighbors.

Mary ends up in Providence, Rhode Island, with others that were kicked out of Boston. The open-minded Roger Williams invites Mary to visit England with him. It is their hope to create a positive relationship with the Native Americans that live in the new colony.

In England, Mary becomes versed in the loving deeds of Quaker beliefs, and helps soothe the country’s leader Lord Oliver Cromwell through his many fears. Though respected in England, she wants to return home to the new world where her family lives.

Upon her return, Mary’s ship lands in Boston where the Puritans have declared the Quaker religion as illegal. She is arrested. Because her husband still has political ties with the Commonwealth, she is set free and ordered to never return. Mary returns, and is arrested yet again. One of her party is put to death. Mary’s husband, who has been fighting to keep his wife at home, realizes the Puritans’ cruelty, and finally offers his blessing for Mary to return again. His support allows her to sacrifice her life for religious freedom.

Upon Mary’s death, she is welcomed to the afterlife by her child, the one that the leaders of Boston referred to as a “monster.”

Read about playwright Anne Leighton.

Author: Anne Leighton

Type: American historical play, topical

Genre: Three act drama

Cast: 8M, 8F

Ages of the actors: Adult, one child

Suitable for: Teens up to perform and to watch

Length: 1.5- 2 hours

Set: Various – sets should be simple and easy to change

Level of difficulty: 8/10 – portraying a real historical character with the correct body language, tone and costumes

Read a Sample of the Script




Cost is $5.50 for this digital biography

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Copyright © May 2018 Anne Leighton and Off the Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other biographical and religious dramas:

Deliverance – play about Joan of Arc
The Serpent Under It – play about a medium Helen Duncan tried as a witch in World War 2
John Paul Excluded from Paradise – drama about faith

On golden wings – play about Guiseppe Verdi

play about Guiseppe verdi

ON GOLDEN WINGS – PLAY ABOUT GIUSEPPE VERDI

The time – 1841. The place – Milano. Bartolomeo Merelli, Inspector General of the Royal and Imperial Austro-Hungarian Theatres makes his way to the poorer quarters in Milano intent on a special mission. The mission – to make composer Giuseppe Verdi compose once more. Verdi, once a talented opera composer has given it all up and means to teach following several tragedies in his life including the death of his beloved wife and their two children and the failure of his most recent comic opera. Merelli means to change all that by convincing him to write a masterpiece, namely, the opera ‘Nabucco,’ about the Hebrew slaves in Babylon. But will he convince him to do so in this play about Giuseppe Verdi?

‘On Golden Wings’ was a runner up at the Mark Twain Playwriting Competition in Harford, CT and was performed at Theatre Studio NYC in two productions and later at Yale University in New Haven, CT.

Author: A. Giovanni Affinito

Genre: Biography

Type: One act play

Cast: 2M

Ages of the actors: Adult

Suitable for: All ages

Length: Thirty minutes

Set: A drably furnished room, with a door, a coat stand, a wooden table and three chairs and a battered piano in it, with an oil lamp on the table.

Level of difficulty: 7/10 – authenticity

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Cost is $7 for this runner up digital play script

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about On Golden Wings

Copyright © July 2016 A. Giovanni Affinito and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other biographical plays for you to enjoy:

Deliverance – play about Joan of Arc
The Serpent Under it – play about Helen Duncan, Scottish medium tried as a witch
Frida and Diego – play about Frida Kahlo

Deliverance – play about Joan of Arc

play about Joan of Arc

DELIVERANCE – PLAY ABOUT JOAN OF ARC

This play is a costume drama based on part of the life of Joan of Arc exploring the conflict between religious faith, skepticism, and religious bureaucracy with a little politics thrown in. It presents quite nicely the stress-induced myopia or shortsightedness of the rulers of a country when fortunes have turned against them, in this case battles lost against the English invaders.

The biography of Joan of Arc is generally well known, but the details of her life and exploits differ from one historian and chronicler to another. What? When? How? and, at times, Who? are matters which the experts have argued about for years.

The author has employed poetic licence to depict and at times exaggerate some of the incidents in Joan’s life, for instance her encounters with Baudricourt who did not have a wife named Melisende or a daughter called Maree or indeed a servant, Isabelle.

The other characters existed, apart from Stephen, James and Martin who are a figment of the author’s imagination and in this respect the same could be said for most of the business at Chinon, Charles de Poitiers acting as the Dauphin, Joan’s identification of the Dauphin and the other incidents and references to Poitiers and Orleans. The interweaving facts are merely based on accounts left to us by witnesses, and contemporary and subsequent chroniclers.

More about playwright Keith Passmore. Other plays (Todd – play about Sweeney Todd) by Keith.

Author: Keith Passmore

Genre: Biography, historical drama

Type:Two-act play

Cast: 21M, 10F. Although there are 31 characters in this play an actual cast of 23 actors could be used by doubling

Ages of the actors: Various

Length: Two hours plus

Set:Various chambers in noble houses/castles

Level of difficulty: 7/10. The stage directions are very detailed so it is ideal for a less-experienced group to present. Some video and audio knowledge is required and the costumes may be expensive.

Read a Sample of the Script




Cost is $6 for this digital full length script

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about Deliverance

Copyright © January 2016 Keith Passmore and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other biographies we stock:

Play about Frida Kahlo
Lies you can’t make up – JFK conspiracy theory play
The Serpent under it – play about Helen Duncan, WWII medium, tried as a witch

The Serpent under it – play about Helen Duncan – WWII medium

play about Helen Duncan

THE SERPENT UNDER IT – DRAMA PLAY ABOUT HELEN DUNCAN – WWII MEDIUM

This play is based on the true story of Helen Duncan, the spiritualist medium imprisoned towards the end of the Second World War under the 1734 Witchcraft Act. It is a story of Government hypocrisy, personal tragedy and wartime dilemmas and it had and retains a mystery at its heart.

A multi-faceted, complex play which invokes either sympathy or dislike for the characters and the situations in which they find themselves yet encourages the viewer to question their own feelings. Given the circumstances, would the viewer react as did the characters in the play or would they react differently? The play encourages a deeper understanding of the world and our part we play in it.

From a production viewpoint, this play about Helen Duncan has some challenging roles for actors to get their teeth into and also some smaller parts for new actors to gain experience.

Author: Richard Moore

Genre: Biography, drama

Type: Two-act play

Cast: 23F, 26M – many smaller parts can be doubled

Ages of the actors: Cast all adult except for young Nell.

Suitable for: All ages

Length: 3 hours – author will allow workshopping

Set: Various

Level of Difficulty: 8/10 – length of play

Read a Sample of the Script




Cost is $5 for this new digital script

Contact Off The Wall plays with any queries about The serpent under it

Copyright © October 2015 Richard Moore and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other biographies we stock:

Disney in Deutschland – play about the relationship between Disney and Hitler
And all his songs were sad – biography of the life and works of Sean McCarthy
Lies you can’t make up – drama about JFK conspiracy

Frida and Diego – Play about Frida Kahlo

play about Frida Kahlo

 

FRIDA AND DIEGO – PLAY ABOUT FRIDA KAHLO

A good portion of the art world is getting ready to mark the 60th anniversary of Frida Kahlo. Frida and Diego is a biographical play about Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera. The tempestuous artist was not always easy to love, but her husband, Diego, loved her dearly throughout their two marriages. This story is about their love.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Abilene Community Theatre, TX, USA – 2019
Franklin G Burroughs – Simeon B Chapin Art Museum, SC, USA – 2022

Author: Tony Broadwick

Genre: Biography of Frida Kahlo

Type: One act play

Length: 40 – 50 minutes

Cast: Requires two females and one male.

Ages of the actors: Adult

Suitable for: PG 12 – language

Set: a 1940’s apartment bedroom. There is a bed with a vase and some flowers in it on a bedside table.

Level of difficulty: 7/10 – portraying a character that actually existed.

Read a Sample of the Script

pay now shakespeare

Cost is $9.00 for this digital script. Just click Shakespeare!

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about Frida and Diego

© November 2014 Tony Broadwick and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other biographies that we carry

Lies you can’t make up – drama script about JFK
Disney in Deutschland – biography about Walt Disney and his relationship with Hitler
And all his songs were sad – play about life and works of Sean McCarthy

 

A Beatle’s Story – play about the Beatles

A BEATLE’S STORY – PLAY ABOUT THE BEATLES AND HOW THEY FORMED

 

play about the beatles

This play about the Beatles is basically a conversation between John Lennon and Paul McCartney about replacing their Bass player, Stu, and who on earth they are going to get to replace him. Stu has decided to stay behind in Hamburg after their tour in Germany and get married….and he didn’t like Paul taking the piss out of him all the time. A fast paced funny play by best selling playwright Morley Shulman, with snappy lines in the style of the classic Beatles films such as ‘ A Hard Day’s Night.’

Production History:

Shelby County Players, Evansville, USA – 2016
Griffith Public Schools, IN, USA – 2023

More about author Morley Shulman.  Other plays by Morley.

Author: Morley Shulman

Genre: Comedy, biography

Type: One act play

Length: Twenty to Twenty five minutes 20-25 min

Number of actors: Three M, three men – all are in their late teens to early twenties and should resemble the Beatles

Ages of the actors: All in their late teens to early twenties and should resemble the Beatles.

Suitable for: All ages

Set: They are sitting round a table drinking tea

Level of difficulty: 6/10 – a simple funny conversation.

Read a  Sample of the script

pay now shakespeare

Cost is $8.00 for this digital script. Just click Shakespeare!

Contact Off The Wall Plays for any information on A Beatle’s Story

License A Beatle’s Story for production

Copyright May 2014 Morley Shulman and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play ? Read some of our other biographical plays and Beatles based scripts:

And All his songs were sad – play about Sean McCarthy
Lies you can’t make up – drama script about JFK

 

Disney in Deutschland – drama play about Hitler + Walt Disney

play about hitler
play about hitler

DISNEY IN DEUTSCHLAND – DRAMA PLAY ABOUT HITLER + WALT DISNEY

In August, 1935, Walt Disney and his wife Lillian were invited by the League of Nations (in Paris) to receive a prize for the international popularity of Mickey Mouse.  As this was Walt’s first holiday in years, he suggested they make it a tour of Europe.  The well-known animator was invited by dignitaries of all sorts, including Mussolini.  The Volkische Beobachter, the official newspaper in the new Nazi Germany, welcomed Disney as ‘a hero against the Jews of Hollywood,’ and it is recorded that he met with Hitler in Munich.  What they said at their meeting, and precisely where it happened, is still unclear, but Disney was known to have admired Hitler back in the US, even attending bund rallies in support of the Nazis.  (See DISNEY’S WORLD by Leonard Mosley, and other sources).  Disney also expressed antipathy toward the growing union movements in the Hollywood studios, calling them a Jewish conspiracy.  And indeed, in 1938, Disney invited Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl to Hollywood, where her visit was roundly boycotted by other studio heads.

The Neutschwanstein Castle (referred to in the play) was designed by Ludwig of Bavaria in the 1860s, to celebrate the music dramas of Richard Wagner.  This castle’s design is remarkably similar to the Sleeping Beauty castle used in most Disney theme parks to this day; and it was one of the Fuhrer’s favourite places. ‘Disney in Deutschland’ is a full length one act biography based on these very events. Warning: Because of  the nature of the play about Hitler and Walt Disney, the characters it contains do make some anti Semitic remarks and references, which may offend sensitive readers.

Author: John Powers

Genre: Biography, Drama play about Hitler

Type: Full Length One Act Play

Length: 1.5 -2 hours

Suitable for: All ages

Ages of actors:  30’s to late 40’s, thirty to late forties

Number of actors: Six, 6  4M, 2F

Set: Simple – long elegant table upstage centre, projection of the Alps upstage through the windows and a model of  ‘The New Germania’ – the new capital of the Third Reich they were designing in the foreground.

Read more about playwright John Powers

Level of Difficulty:  7/10 making the characters believable.

Read a Sample of the Script




Cost is $5

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries regarding Disney in Deutschland

Copyright May 2013 John Powers Off The Wall Play Publishers

 

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And All His Songs Were Sad – play about Sean McCarthy

AND ALL HIS SONGS WERE SAD – PLAY ABOUT SEAN MCCARTHY

buy a musical onlineplay about sean mccarthy

AND ALL HIS SONGS WERE SAD” follows the life and works of Irish songwriter Sean McCarthy. It is a drama following the life of this talented musician, who was inspired by the everyday people and events around him, and from these everyday people, created songs of beauty that will be sung for many years to come in this play about Sean McCarthy.

This play was staged by the Pantagleize Theatre Group in Fort Worth, Texas in October 2010  and by the Superior Theatre Company, Douglas, Wisconsin in June 2011.

Author: Mattie Lennon

Characters:  4M, 2F (same characters, different ages)

Genre: Drama, Musical, play about  Sean McCarthy

Type: Full length Musical Stage Play

Length: 1-1.5 hours

Suitable for: All Ages

Ages of Actors: 1F young adolescent, 2M mid adolescent, rest adult

View a Sample of the Play




Price is $6 for this previously staged play from a well known Irish playwright.

Contact Off the Wall Plays with any queries about And all his songs were sad

Copyright September 2011 Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other biographies you may enjoy:

The Serpent Under it – a play about a medium in world war two who was tried as a witch
Lies you can’t make up – play about JFK, his life, loves and death
Frida and Diego – play about the life of tempestuous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo

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Once you have submitted your script, we will check it over and let you know the cost of editing it. We don’t charge for header and footer pages, only the body of the script. We don’t alter the original meaning of the script, only the English is corrected. This online play script editing service is run by Off The Wall Plays but is open to anyone who needs to use it.

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