plays about the human condition Archives

collection of one act plays

SNOW IN JULY – COLLECTION OF ONE ACT PLAYS

A collection of one act plays by American playwright James Campbell. From the comedic absurd to the dark and sinister, these plays are both thought provoking and enjoyable to stage.

Hossback: This satirical off the wall comedy rips off typical cowboys from the old west, or at least modern society’s idea of what cowboys actually were like by taking an over the top view of them. From the way they loved their hosses like real women, to their predilection for hanging ‘criminals’ of an description to their manner of speaking – all those cowboy traits we are so fond of are chewed up and spat out again.

Murder in the asylum: The patients and the staff in the local lunatic asylum are getting murdered one by one until there’s only two men standing. One of them’s the murderer…. But, since they’re mad as hatters, they both think it isn’t them.

Sunset on the Potomac: Under absurdia, but poignant comedy about a music teacher and her family, her loves, life and children at the end of which a dark twist is finally revealed.

Baboons: It’s the time of the Romans and those annoying Christians (sorry Baboons) keep getting in the way! Should they kill them like wild boars and baboons? Or do they put on a play?

First to see the lights go on: A drama about post natal depression and its consequences. When Frank meets Arlene at the bus stop and they strike up a conversation, Arlene seems both child like and innocent. But her innocence hides a deathly secret.

Jumping the league: A comedy for a small cast. A priest (who has a foul mouth) and his best friend in 1960’s Pre Vietnam have both decided, and chosen this day to tell each other that they are literally both ‘jumping the league’ and leaving their old lives behind forever.

The Restaurants are Screaming: In this period drama set at the end of the second world war, Ludwig has been living with his daughter, Marcia and his son in law, Joe for the past three months. The play focuses on an abusive father, who now he is old, struggles to understand the consequences of his actions as well as the effect he has on other people. The play draws parallels between his two adult children freeing themselves from their abusive father, the death of the old way of life and the rebirth of the new way of life as the allies win the war in 1945.

Style: A drama about a rough group of factory workers on the line and the day they get the news their factory is closing and their work is gone. It’s all they’ve ever known.

The Watch Below: A group of sailors on a boat in the war are isolated due to an outbreak of deadly meningitis. It’s a tension filled situation as the sick man is at first missing then aggressive and no one can get away.

Read other plays by American playwright James Campbell – The Ragged Trousered Philanthropsists – the musical.

Author: James Campbell

Type: Collection of one act plays

Genre: Comedy, theatre of the absurd, drama

Cast: Various from cast of 2 (First to see the lights go on) to 10 for Style.

Ages of the actors: All adult

Suitable for: Some of the plays are for adults only due to suggestions of sex and the occasional bad language.

Length: From ten minutes to forty minutes

Set: As per play

Level of difficulty: 7/10 – play dependent – plays tend to be character driven, and explore the human condition

Many of these plays are also available to purchase singly.

Read a Sample of the Script for Hossback

Read a Sample of the script for Murder in the Asylum

Read a sample of the script for Sunset on the Potomac

Read a Sample of the script for Baboons

Read a Sample of the Script for First to see the lights go on

Read a Sample of the script for Jumping the League

Read a sample of the script for The Restaurants are Screaming

Read a Sample of the script for Style

Read a Sample of the script for The Watch Below

Cost is $12 for the digital compilation.

Contact Off the Wall Plays with any queries about Snow in July, the play compilation

Copyright © 2015 James Campbell and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Others like it:

Mirror – a collection of ten minute plays all revolving around a mirror
The Dark Chronicles of the Golden Raven society – horror anthology
Holiday shorts – collection of plays for the holiday

DR REASON – SCI-FI PLAY SCRIPT ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH AND MIND CONTROL

Dr. Rachel Junger, a psychologist is trying to find out why her former patients have devoted their lives to a revolutionary movement called ‘The Analog Underground’ when she’s called on to counsel a man with no past who believes he comes from a future where all of humanity shares a single consciousness. Is his vision a heaven or a hell? After the strange man makes an impossible escape, Dr. Junger has to find him to find out what happened that time long ago in the near future.

The man, simply known as Simon, reveals to her that he tried to break into the Cybernetics Lab of the medical facility she works for. Little does Dr. Junger know that her interview with Simon (who thinks he is from the future) would be the catalyst to events that would change her life and the world, forever in this sci-fi play script about mental health and mind control.

Simon, a guinea pig, for some sinister testing within the Cybernetics Department, reveals his true nature as Dr Junger encourages him to do so. His current psyche is a result of a growth that’s being used to control his mind and rationale by an organisation known only as the Singularity. But then Simon disappears as it’s revealed that other very specific patients whom Dr Junger has encountered, have also been experimented on by the Singularity. Dr Junger gets closer to understanding why she must escape the Singularity’s clutches but initially, no less closer to understanding why the Analog Underground resistance movement has chosen her to be at the helm of a budding revolution. It’s a fight against time, for the future and for the people.

The heroes of the revolution never really know they are.

Author: David Philippe