Tag Archives: three act plays

Crooked Hand – funny film noir whodunit script

film noir whodunit

CROOKED HAND – FILM NOIR WHODUNIT COMEDY SCRIPT

It’s 1938. Hot shot Detective John Samuels just wants a break after a busy week of catching criminals. When his down-on-his-luck friend Phil stops by to ask for a loan, John hatches a scheme to have Phil stand in for him at his next “easy” job. The so called job is as mediator for a merger between two feuding casino owners, but when one of the owners winds up “pushing up daisies” it is up to the absent minded Phil to crack the case in this funny film noir whodunit script.

This hilarious mystery-comedy is set at the Peppermint Pad Casino, in an unnamed city. “A Crooked Hand” was produced in October of 2009 by the Gaslight Theater Players in Georgetown, Ohio USA. It is a full length period comedy that pokes fun at Detective Stories.

Read other plays by Jeff Carlson and co write Zach Triplett – Explain the Handcuffs – a time travel adventure

Author: Jeff Carlson

Type: Three act play

Genre: Comedy, crime, film noir whodunit script

Cast: 7M, 3F

Ages of the actors: Adult characters

Suitable for: Teens up to play and watch

Length: 90 minutes

Set: The time is 1938. This hilarious mystery-comedy is set at the Peppermint Pad Casino, in an unnamed city, though the first section takes place around the office of a private detective in the same city.

Level of difficulty: 7/10 – incorporating comedy and a period feel in a full length play

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Cost is $6.50 for this previously produced digital play script

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Copyright © September 2018 Jeff Carlson and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other funny whodunits and film noir crime scripts:

He’s behind you! A comedy, whodunit and pantomime rolled into one
Murder and other fun things – comedy whodunit
The Duck of the Baskervilles – punful Sherlock Holmes spoof

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

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Cost is $5.50 for this digital biography

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Contact Off the Wall Plays with any queries about The Passion of Mary

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

The Dark Chronicles of the Golden Raven society – Horror play scripts

horror play scripts

THE DARK CHRONICLES OF THE GOLDEN RAVEN SOCIETY – HORROR PLAY SCRIPTS

Chronicles is a collection of one act plays based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. These works include “Ligiea'” “Morella,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Each is told through the eyes of a member of the Golden Raven Society. The Golden Raven Society is an organization established for persons with a fascination for the occult and the supernatural to come together and share in their passions on the subject . We are told, by the Baroness Ritzner Von Jung, Grand Master of the society, that it was Poe himself who created the Golden Raven Society.

“Chronicles” was performed by The Endless Mountains Theatre Company (EMTC) in October 2012  and it also  won two awards given out by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Theatre Alliance (NEPTA) at their Annual NEPTA Awards Banquet held every spring. The first award was for best original play and the second for best child actress under 12.

Further Production History

Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School, Florida, USA – 2016
Limelight Theatrics, Trim Co Meath, Republic of Ireland – 2017
Theatre Bacchus, Ontario, Canada – 2020

Chronicles is the second of the Tales of Dark Imagination plays, the first being Tales of Dark Imagination: Lost Souls.

Read David Schmidt’s Film Noir drama, Parlor City Noir. Read more about playwright David Schmidt.

Author: David Schmidt

Genre: Ghost, horror play scripts

Type: Three act plays

Cast: Cast of nine to thirteen actors. 8F parts and 5M parts. One older child part needed.

Ages of the actors: Cast One girl round twelve years old, rest adult actors

Suitable for: PG 10 – scary

Length: The play is a three act play comprised of three one act plays. In total the three plays run between 75 and 90 minutes.

Set: Sets can be simple to elabourate. A bedroom, and a church can be represented by simple props or furnishings.

Level of difficulty: 6/10 – easy memorable lines and an intriguing story line.

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Cost is $10 for this award winning digital horror script

Contact Off The Wall plays with any queries about Chronicles of the dark raven society

Copyright © October 2015 David Schmidt and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other thrilling and chilling plays for your senses to enjoy:

Carmilla – classic tale of vampires retold
The promise – drama thriller script
Victims of the forest – medieval scary plays

 

The Promise – three act drama scripts

three act drama scripts

THE PROMISE – THREE ACT DRAMA SCRIPTS

Ben doesn’t keep much company nowadays. When his neighbour, Phil comes over to play cards, Phil is concerned about the moans coming from the bedroom. Ben assures Phil that it’s only his wife, Doris. The only thing is that no one in the building has ever seen Doris. Does she even exist? And if she doesn’t, who is in the bedroom? When three burglars break into the apartment, they discover what really is in there in this drama thriller…

A harrowing tale of madness and delusion, or is it? What is real and what is a figment of imagination? A play for directors and actors to get their teeth into. If well directed it will create a lot of discussion in the audience.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

University of Malaya, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia – 2017

Author: E.M. Slocum

Genre: Three act Drama thriller scripts

Type: Three act plays

Length:Two hours, 2 hours

Cast: 3M, 2F(one is only seen once carried across the stage and moans offstage throughout the play), 2N

Ages of the actors: 3 middle aged to older, 4 young

Suitable for: PG 10

Set: An apartment flat, one dining/living room with a rectangular table, one chair on each side. An open kitchen in the background, separated from the dining/living room by a sideboard filled with cookbooks. The dishes are stashed in the sink, an open milk carton and a microwave meal lay on the counter. Next to the entrance door are two large garbage bags which are tied up, plus a third one next to these which is untied and filled to the top with litter. Next to the dining/living room is the small bathroom; a toilet, sink, cabinet, mirror. The kitchen and the bedroom are connected to the bathroom. The bedroom isn’t visible, it goes off the left, offstage.

Level of difficulty: 8/10 – there is a build up of tension in this drama thriller to a climax at the end of the play. Challenge – taking the audience on that journey

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Cost is $7 for this editor’s choice digital script

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Copyright © August 2015 E.M.Slocum and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other thrillers and tense dramas that we stock:

You do love me, don’t you – funny yet scary psycho thriller in one act
The Box – one act tense drama script

Royal Blood Cannot Be Mixed – Traditional African Plays

traditional African plays

ROYAL BLOOD CANNOT BE MIXED – TRADITIONAL AFRICAN PLAYS

During the mid-sixteenth century, the king, his daughter, his brother and some civil servants admire the work of a young artist in the kingdom of Kongo. The artist has sculpted a stunning likeness of the princess’s face. The king is so pleased with the artist’s work that he promises to give him anything he would like in return. The artist, in love with the king’s daughter, asks to marry the princess. Will the king honour the artist’s request?

Read about playwright John Tshiama Nambombe.

Author: John Tshiama Nambombe

Genre: Traditional African Plays

Type: Three act plays

Cast: Minimum of ten 8M 2F with at least ten smaller parts.

Ages of the actors: Young adult to old age. 2 teen small parts.

Suitable for: All ages

Length: Two hours

Set: The palace, the artist’s studio, the forest

Level of difficulty: 8/10 full scale production with traditional dancing.

Read a Sample of the Script

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Cost is $6.50 for this new digital play script. Just click Shakespeare!

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about Royal Blood Cannot be Mixed

©August 2014 John Tshiama Nambombe and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other Traditional Epic plays

A House Divided – civil war play in four acts
Return to Vardia – three act adventure play for a large cast
The Faun – fictional play about Michelangelo as a boy

 

Victims of the Forest – Scary Medieval Plays

medieval plays

VICTIMS OF THE FOREST – MEDIEVAL PLAYS

This Medieval tragedy is based partly on and inspired by ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ from ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Set in the 14th Century in the south west of England, the action is sparked by the burning of an alleged witch in the fictitious village of Breenham, Joe’s bid to avenge the killing of his best friend and the deception and greed of the killers, who flee to the forest. The play also revolves round the poaching of deer by a banished monk, the formidable Gert and her sons, the eventual demise of Joe and some of his companions and the ultimate dramatic event in the forest.

Read about playwright Keith Passmore. Other plays by Keith Passmore.

Author:  Keith Passmore

Genre: Tragedy

Type: Three act drama play, medieval plays

Length: Two to two and a half hours.  2-2.5 hours

Number of actors: 24-33 – some can double up

Ages of the actors: Young teens to old

Suitable for:  PG 10 (violence)

Level of Difficulty:  8/10 – a longish script that needs to hold the audience’s attention.

Sets:  The forest, a cottage, an ale yard

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Cost is $5.50 for the digital play script

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Copyright  2012 Keith Passmore and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play?  Read more like it

Wandering Bard’s Tale – a fairytale in one act

Peter’s Dream – a three act play for high school

After ever after – musical fairytale for schools and amdram