Rabbit Hole (1 female, 1 male)
After the death of their son, Becca and Howie Corbett's world is upside down and leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. The play charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back into the light of day.
Night Mother (2 females)
The scene of the play is a small house on an isolated country road, which is shared by Jessie and her mother. Jessie’s father is dead; her loveless marriage ended in divorce; her absent son is a petty thief; her last job didn’t work out and, in general, her life is stale and unprofitable. As the play begins, Jessie asks for her father’s service revolver and calmly announces that she intends to kill herself. At first her mother refuses to take her seriously, but as Jessie sets about tidying the house and making lists of things to be looked after, her sense of desperate helplessness begins to build and ultimately leads to one fatal, stunning, and deeply disturbing moment – a moment never to be forgotten by those who have witnessed, and come to understand her plight.
Of Mice & Men (2 males)
Of Mice and Men (1 male, 1 female - challenging scene)
Of Mice & Men tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California. George, an intelligent and cynical man, and Lennie Small, an ironically-named man of extremely large stature and immense strength but limited mental abilities—come to a ranch to "work up a stake." They hope to one day attain their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie's part of the dream, which he never tires of hearing George describe, is merely to tend to (and touch) soft rabbits on the farm. George protects Lennie at the beginning by telling him that if Lennie gets into trouble George won't let him "tend them rabbits." They are fleeing from their previous employment where they were run out of town after Lennie's love of stroking soft things resulted in an accusation of attempted rape when he touched a young woman's dress.
Duck Hunter Shoots Angel (2 males)
Duck Hunter Shoots Angel is the uproarious story of two bumbling Alabama brothers who have never shot a duck but think they shot an angel. As they lament their fates in a murky swamp, they are chased by a cynical tabloid journalist and his reluctant photographer, who don't believe any of it—until feathers, wings and a tiara are discovered along the way. The play hysterically interweaves a love story, sibling rivalry, tawdry media, race relations and cultural stereotypes as the chase to find the angel builds to a crescendo in the swamp. Ultimately a sweet allegory about redemption, Duck Hunter Shoots Angel has been hailed by audiences as a rare comedy with a surprisingly heartfelt lesson.
The Odd Couple (2 males - Note: Only 2 groups per class can sign up for a scene from this play because they are all very similar)
Felix Ungar, a neurotic, neat-freak newswriter is thrown out by his wife, and moves in with his friend Oscar Madison, a messy sportswriter. The plot concerns the comedy that arises when these mismatched roommates seek to live together.
The Crucible (1 female, 1 male)
Setting: Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Perched on the edge of a continent is a community dedicated to the service of God where gang of teenage girls, stifled by the crushing piety of their elders, choose one night to dance naked in the woods. One girl, Abigail Williams -- her innocence lost in the bed of John Proctor, a married farmer -- drinks a charm to kill his wife. And suddenly, the “Devil is loose” in Salem. The girls are discovered and, spurred on by their terrified accusations, the entire village is consumed by cries of witchcraft. One by one, the blameless victims of mass hysteria are torn from their homes until, inexorably, Abigail's vengeance is turned on Proctor's wife.
Proof (1 female, 1 male)
On the eve of her 25th birthday, Catherine, a young woman who has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, Robert, must deal not only with his death but with the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire, and with the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in the notebooks that Robert left behind. As Catherine confronts Hal’s affections and Claire’s plans for her life, however, she struggles to solve the most perplexing problem of all: How much of her father’s madness – or genius—will she inherit? (Proof won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, as well as several other major awards for drama.)
Whose Life is it Anyway (1 female, 1 male)
Set in a hospital room, the action revolves around Ken Harrison, a sculptor by profession, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident and is determined to be allowed to die. Clark presented arguments both in favor of and opposing euthanasia and to what extent government should be allowed to interfere in the life of a private citizen. In portraying Ken as a bright, witty, vibrant mind trapped in a useless body, he left the audience with conflicting feelings about his desire to end his life.
Wit (1 female, 1 male)
The play is structured as the last hours of Dr Vivian Bearing, a university professor of English, who is dying of cancer. She recalls the initial diagnosis of Stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer from her oncologist, Dr Harvey Kelekian. Dr Kelekian then proposes an experimental chemotherapy regimen consisting of eight rounds at full dosage. Vivian agrees to the treatment. Over the course of the play, Bearing assesses her own life through the intricacies of the English language, especially the use of wit and the metaphysical poetry of John Donne. Throughout the play, Vivian recites John Donne's Holy Sonnet X whilst reflecting upon her condition.
Ascension Day (2 females)
(click for play/scene description)
The Diary of Anne Frank (1 female, 1 male)
The Diary of Anne Frank (1 female, 1 male)
From 1942 to 1944, in a Nazi occupied Amsterdam, the thirteen years old German Jewish girl, Anne Frank, lives hiding in an attic of a condiment factory with her sister, her parents, three members of another family and a dentist. Over more than two years, she wrote in her diary her feelings, her fears, and her relationships with the other dwellers.
