G.L. Horton's One-Act Plays
All these plays are © copyrighted
by G.L. Horton. Please Contact the
author for permission to perform or to make any other use of any
of these plays. Be sure to mention the title of the play you
want!
 This
symbol in the text below means you can listen to this script. Click
on the headphones to return here. Then select the name
of the play from the list on the left. Move your mouse over the list to scroll up or down, then click to play the selection.
I am a student of Dobson High School, and I am
requesting to use your one-act play "Help Wanted" for
a project my Drama Teacher has assigned me. As you stated on the
website, I must have an okay from you to use your script. Allowing
me to use it will be a great help for me. --AY
GLH replies: Yes, you may. For an in-class
presentation, this is all the permission you need. If it's public
and tickets are sold there are formalities: simple, can be done
via email-- but another step.
  The
10:04 to London—In Love and
War
(2003) Worldly beauty "of a certain age" talks with
a screenwriter, hoping that a film of her life story would both
make her rich and free her from her dangerous past. Comedy/drama;
1 woman, 20 minutes.
The 11:08 Brighton from London/Victoria
(2003) The backstage boys from London invite an American theatre
fan to join the oldest established permanent rolling cast party.
Comedy/drama; 1 woman, 2 men, 30 minutes.
The
12:22 Brighton
(1999) Pamela, a divorced career girl from the suburbs, rides
the commuter train back and forth to her glamour job in London.
However, Pamela's latest romantic coupling threatens to veer off
the track. Comedy/drama; 1 woman, 20 minutes.
All For Love
(2001) As a practical romantic, Aunt Maxie knows just what her
old friend Bertha needs, so what can her niece Barb do but help?--
even if Maxie's scheme is so far on the shady side of legality
that it might be called "kidnapping". Comedy; 2 mature
women, 1 young woman, 1 old man, 10 minutes.
Autumn
Leaves
(1999) Neighborhoods, career paths, courtship customs-- Janet
has grown old enough to know that everything changes but the changing
seasons and her childlike heart. Comedy; 1 mature woman,
1 young woman, 1 young man, 10 minutes.
(Autumn Leaves II) One Fiery Leaf 
(2000) A stand-alone sequel to "Autumn Leaves". When Ann's marriage
has gone sour, she knows she can count on her mother, Janet, to
help her out. But Janet's advice takes an unexpected turn. Comedy;
1 mature woman, 1 young woman, 10 minutes.
Best Practice
(2008) When Mrs Cradditch is very sick but uncooperative, a social worker
intervenes. Drama;
two mature women, hospital bed.
10 minutes.
Beyond
Measure
(1998) Revenge is a dish best enjoyed cold, and Grace has been
cooking up hers ever since her husband dumped her for Paulette,
a younger lighter Second Mrs. MacPrick. 1 mature woman, and 1
woman between 10 and 20 years younger than the first. Drama;
10-15 minutes.
Cast
Spell
(1985) The closing night cast party of a failed musical turns
dangerous when the actors begin to dabble in the occult. Thriller;
2 men, 4 women, no set (i.e.backstage) 35 minutes.
Christmas
at Grandma's: What Big Teeth You Have!
(2005) A family squabble about whether to visit grandma for Christmas.
Drama; 1 man, 2 women, minimal set, 10 minutes.
Conventional
Behavior
(1984, 1996) In this romantic comedy set at a Boston Science Fiction
Convention, is love just a role playing game? Or is there real
magic in a virtual world? Weird Costumes. Science fiction comedy;
3 men, 3 women, 40 minutes.
Cyberscripture
Part I: Unplugged
(1998) Panacea, a messianic visionary, loses her cool when she
loses her access to the InterNet. Science fiction; 2 women,
1 (optional) security guard either male or female, office set,
15 minutes.
Cyberscripture
Part II: Revelation
(2000) Panacea consults her ancient mentor, Hypatia, and enlists
Captain Goober to bring down the towers of Mammon and establish
Pantopia. Science fiction; 2 women, 1 man.
The Dark Side
(2008) IT professional Joanne has just been laid off; two former colleagues cheer her up by predicting the end of civilization. Dystopian Drama; 2 men, 1 woman: ages and ethnicities may be decided by the director. 10 minutes.
Deus
Ex Machina
(1982) Aspiring Playwright calls on Dionysus and Euripides for
help in winning a drama contest. Comedy; 3 men, or 2 men
and 1 woman, no set, 15 minutes.
Dream
Music
(2004) A colorfully dressed pair of musicians from opposite ends
of the world describe for a New Age gathering how they found each
other through their dreams. Drama; 1 man, 1 woman, no set,
10minutes.
Elegy
(1992) Is talent all that counts? The pressure is on, in spite
of the idyllic setting of a summer music festival. Drama;
2 women, 1 man, no set, 15 minutes.
Fantasia
for String Trio
(1999) Harassed Harry drives his kids to camp while fantasizing
improved models of wives #1 and #2. Comedy; 2 women, 1
man, 45 minutes.
The
Gender Agenda
(1983) Members of a liberal church's Women's Committee plot a
protest for equality at the upcoming denominational convention.
One of them is a transexual. Comedy/drama; 1 man, 3 women,
50 minutes.
Happy
Hour
(2003) When addiction meets malice: Members of a perfect marriage,
who share the same evil obsession, advise a quarreling couple
to learn from their example. Comedy/drama; 2 man, 2 women,
40 minutes.
Heaven
and Hades
(2000) The Creative Team brainstorms a killer TV commercial. Comedy;
4 actors in the cast: their ages, genders and ethnicities may
be decided by the director. 20 minutes.
Help
Wanted
(2003) Group of unemployed people in support group try to keep
their spirits up while their desperation level rises. Drama;
2 men, 3 women: ages and ethnicities may be decided by the director.
10 minutes.
In
the Dark
(1997) Two people who have been very close go on retreat at a
New Age summer camp and come to a crossroads in their relationship.
Comedy/drama; 2 women and 1 man, or 2 men and 1 woman (the
pair's genders are optional), a tent, 10 minutes.
In
the Livery of the Immortals
(2004) INGRID, a large handsome woman who wears a Tee shirt that
sets her apart from the the Mortal and Mundane, reveals the inner
workings of another, brighter World-- of Swords and Sorcery, of
Stars and Warriors. Comedy/drama; 1 woman, 10-12 minutes.
Jenny
Does Shakespeare
(2003) Technical difficulties and stage fright overwhelm a high
school student when she stands before the ASS (American Shakespeare
Society) trying to read her honors paper titled "Shakespeare
and the youth of today." Comedy; 1 young women, offstage
voice, no set, 25 minutes.
Kintry
Matters
(2003) A randy student c. 1700 wagers that he can smuggle a barmaid
into his college rooms. This prank is made more complicated because
he must hide the doxy not only from his tutor and the University's
authorities, but from his vatlet Kintry, who is not an ordinary
manservant but an actor pretending. Comedy; 2 young women,
2 men, one young, college room, 30 minutes.
Kiss The Twins For Me
(2011) Their loving mother has disappeared, revealing that she
has a secret -- or perhaps a whole secret life? Can even a close
family ever really know each other? Drama; 1 mid- 30s
woman, 2 30s men, her older and younger brothers; an empty room,
10 minutes.
A
Late Lunch
(1998) Two old friends try to find common ground in spite of the
different directions their lives have taken since one of them
became a mother. Comedy/drama; 2 women, 10-15 minutes,
one table in a restaurant.
And
the Lion Shall Lie Down With....
(1997) On spiritual retreat at a New Age summer camp, a love-making
couple is interrupted by an other worldly cry. Comedy;
1 man, 1 woman, 10 minutes.
The
Lost Prince of Paradise
(2004) Does Fuzzy have a sex problem? Or is it just that after
Paradise, it's downhill all the way? Drama; 1 man, 1 woman,
10 minutes.
Oh,
Baby, Baby!
(2002) A belly dance instructor shows her class secrets of the
traditional moves, revealing what it is like to dance on the knife's
edge in the Middle East. Comedy/drama monologue for 1 woman
dancer. No set-- Bare stage. 10 minutes.
On Speaking Terms
(2010) Sparks fly when a divorced couple come face to face at a family party. Comedy; 1 man, 1 woman, 1 chair. Suggested ages 30s to 50s. No set-- Bare stage. 10 minutes.
One
More Time
(2003) Sharon can't seem to free herself from her obsession with
a notorious heartbreaker. That's what friends like Marva are for--
or isn't it? Drama; 2 women, no set (Bare stage with bench)
10 minutes.
One
Song
(2010) Libretto for a mini-opera. A mother's ghost reaches out to her unhappy daughter. Musical Drama; 2 women, no set,
10 minutes.
Party, Party: Tea and Antipathy
(2011) Civil War breaks out in a suburban household when a family of liberal Democrats discovers that Grandma is a disciple of Glen Beck and wants to recruit the grand kids. Comedy; 2 women, 60-80 and 30-40, 1 man, 30-45 , 2 children, boy 9 and girl 12, 10 minutes.
Playing
In the Bush League
(1992) Three Cambridge matrons try to use the theatre to turn
political chitchat into participatory democracy. Interactive
political; 3 women, 1 man, presentational, with doubling and
improvs. 55 minutes.
Pregnant
Pause
(2004) When a maternity shop is "upscaled" with thongs
and silk exercise outfits from new management, will its pregnant
manager and sales clerk get screwed? Political satire;
3 young women, 1 man, 10 minutes.
Regency
Romance
(1981-1999) Two working-class young women, frustrated by the prosaic
men in their lives, escape into Romantic Fiction. Romantic
comedy; 1 man, 2 women, 35 minutes.
Rehabilitation
(2006, 2008) A recovering, wounded female soldier in a wheelchair
and two of her civilian high school friends cope with the war in
Iraq. Political
drama ; 1 man, 2 women, 25 minutes.
Ruling
Passion
(1982) The Duxbury Ladies Literary Society holds a costume contest
to select the Outstanding Woman of History. Finalists: Cleopatra,
Joan of Arc, Mary Queen of Scots. Satiric comedy; 4 women,
1 man, no set, 50 minutes.
Sacred
Space
(1985) Members of a church's social action committee risk all
to test the ancient religious ideal of Sanctuary-- for Central
Americans fleeing the CIA-supported Contras. Political drama;
3 women, 3 men, no set, 55 minutes.
Sarah of Wasilla
(2008) Gorgeous Sarah of Wasilla is inspired by the biblical story of Esther, and grows up to be the annointed savior of her people. Political satire; 1 woman, 1 man preacher, chorus as available, no set, 10 minutes.
Showtime
(2005) While waiting to enter a theater for the next production,
two previously unacquainted women gossip about their opinions
and lives while others eavesdrop and take notes. Comedy;
3 women, 2 men, no set, 20 minutes.
Skinny
Teeth
(2004) Two young teen girls wait in line to use the ladies' room
after a junior high school trip to see the Wilder play, "The Skin
Of Our Teeth". Comedy; 2 teen women, no set, 7 minutes.
Snakes
and Ladders
(2003) A New Age priestess of the Goddess imparts the wisdom of
the serpent in an introductory belly dance class with a reluctant
recruit. Comedy monologue for 1 woman dancer, 1 woman disembodied
voice. Student "extras" may be used if desired. Bare
stage, 10 minutes.
The
Sorcerer's Apprentice
(2008) Inspired by the death of their own dreams, a couple creates
a diabolical payback game and sets out to recruit another player.
Comedy; 1 man, 2 women, 10 minutes.
Speed
Dating with the Divorce Lawyer
(2004) A lawyer tells a prospective date why he quit his devilish
job and how marriage is the primrose path to Divorce Hell.
Comedy; 1 man, a table and 2 chairs, under 10 minutes.
Square
Pegs
(1993) The downsized meet the down and out in a motivational workshop
for the unemployed. Political drama; 3 men, 3 women, minimal
set, 60 minutes.
The
Thingjimmy
(1999) When a nameless and unexpected thing is discovered in amongst
their underwear, college room mates gird for a culture clash.
Comedy; 2 young women, 10 minutes.
Unbinding
Our Lives
(1992) Monologues based on documentary material about 3 Chinese-American
immigrant women 1849-1940, developed with Tina Chan, with research
by Judy Yung. Historical drama; 1 or 3 women, no set, 15,
20, and 25 minutes.
Under
Cover
(2002) A well intentioned woman responds to the liberal call to
wear the veil in solidarity with innocent Islamic women who may
be treated as enemies in post Sept 11 America. Surreal;
2 or 3 women, puppets and voices. 10 minutes.
What
Kind of a Life is That?
(1976) Dottie, 70, convalescing after a stroke at her daughter
Marie's suburban home, hopes to establish a relationship with
her granddaughter before the stressed out family shunts her off
to Dustbin Acres. Comedy/drama; 4 women, one set, 50 minutes.
All these plays are © copyrighted
by G.L. Horton. Please Contact the
author for permission to perform or to make any other use of any
of these plays. Be sure to mention the title of the play you
want!
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