The Future is Short

Have you struggled to find short plays that challenge actors and directors for class and production? Do you require plays that are 10 minutes in length for competitions or class work? Are you interested in reading plays from some of the most exciting contemporary American writers? This anthology solves the above problems for theatre teachers and their students, offering excellent, contemporary material written for high school and college age actors within the last ten years. Each play selected features a distinct and unique voice in this eclectic and diverse volume targeted toward college and high school age actors, directors, and audiences. In these pages, you'll find a delightful mix of plays - comedic, dramatic, thrilling, coming-of-age, political, silly, and just plain strange - created in the last few years. The 20 plays all feature no more than 5 characters, with a mix of gender roles for actors of different ages. Written by some of the most exciting contemporary voices in American theatre, they draw on themes that resonate with young people today and offer challenging roles that push and develop actors and directors. Each play is formally inventive and expands the boundaries of traditional drama to offer scope for different styles of performance, meaning there is a range of material to suit different student needs. Expertly crafted to run under 15 minutes, these plays offer concrete teaching tools that can be enjoyed by performers of different abilities as well as audiences. In addition, at the back of the anthology are materials that give readers insight into how the new work featured in the anthology was developed, and provides structures and ideas for developing your own original short plays.

Mitchell Thomas is an award-winning actor, director, and professor at Westmont College, specializing in devised theatre and new plays. Since 2005, he has created or commissioned over 120 original full-length and short works. Mitchell has performed, directed, and taught workshops in Poland, Macedonia, Armenia, Romania, Georgia, Italy, China, England and the United States.

Introduction Part One: The Plays 1. penny's, or whenever you need me, by Aniello Fontano 2. Creatures of the Earth, or Opposable Thumbs, by Emma Schillage 3. The Bechdel Tent, by Diana Small 4. Five Drives, by Beth Hyland 5. Cuzco, by Liliana Padilla 6. Wild Heaven, by Kristin Idaszak 7. Saturn Return, by Justin Aaron Halle 8. Yes Woman, by Emily Feldman 9. Spin Class, by Anna Moench 10. High Dive, by Will Snider 11. The Well Wishers, by Megan Tabaque 12. Seeds, by Cecelia Raker 13. Snail Mail, by Julia Izumi 14. Ends of the Earth, by Agyeiwaa Asante 15. Worm Play, by Catt Filippov 16. A Baptism at Second Reformed Church, by Alle Mims 17. Tot, by Eva Suter 18. Before I Landed On Your Tongue, by Daria Miyeko Marinelli 19. Forest Bride, by Dan Caffrey 20. Remembrance, by Luz Lorenzana Twigg Part Two: Supplementary Materials 1. Developing new short plays for performance: the HIVE 2. Director and Playwright Connections: Making the Hive buzz 3. A letter to potential Hive playwrights 4. Hive ingredients to playwrights example: 2024, The Earth in Motion Plays 5. Building your own Hive 6. Notes on writing short plays from a Hive playwright and Westmont alumna