Information on shows being presented at the 2018 PA STate Thespian conference
MAIN STAGE SHOWS
Neshaminy High School - Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach
“When James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree, he discovers a magic potion that results in a tremendous peach...and launches a journey of enormous proportions. Suddenly, James finds himself in the center of the gigantic peach, among human-sized insects with equally oversized personalities, but after it falls from the tree and rolls into the ocean, the group faces hunger, sharks and plenty of disagreements. Thanks to James’ quick wit and creative thinking, the residents learn to live and work together as a family. The dangerous voyage is a success, but the adventure takes a whole new twist once they land on the Empire State Building.”
No concerns
Montoursville Area High School - The Taffetas
a Musical Journey through the Fabulous FiftiesIt's 1950-something, and these four singing sisters from Muncie, Indiana are making their national television debut on the Dumont Television Network's Spotlight on Music! The Taffetas pays tribute to the sounds of The McGuire Sisters, The Fontane Sisters and The Chordettes. Spend an hour and a half with Kaye, Peggy, Cheryl and Donna and their 3-piece band, and remember (or learn!) what Sunday night television was like on your 12-inch black and white screen!
No concerns
Parkland High School - 26 Pebbles
What happened to the people of Newtown, Conn., after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy after the rest of the world kept spinning and moved on? Months after the attack, Eric Ulloa held intimate interviews with members of the Newtown community and created a play that nods to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. This docudrama is a weave of verbatim interview excerpts from many people of Newtown as they recount the ripples that were made in the aftermath of unthinkable tragedy and the resulting push forward towards healing in their community.
No concerns
Bellefonte Area High School - She Loves Me
Set in a 1930s Hungarian perfumery, we meet shop clerks Amalia and Georg, who, more often than not, don't see eye to eye. After both respond to a "Lonely Hearts advertisement" in the newspaper, they now live for the love letters that they exchange, but the identity of their admirers remains unknown. Based on the play "The Perfumery" (later transcribed as "The Shop Around the Corner"), this material also served as the inspiration for the 1990s movie "You've Got Mail".
Possible concerns - adult / mature themes - One character attempts suicide - not seen on stage, but offstage gunshot is heard.
North Penn High School - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of his most accessible, hilarious, and beloved plays. It examines love from many angles: new love, romantic love, self love, parental love, maturing love, and so forth. We love the play, but decided to give it a twist. Instead of being "set" in classical Athens, as Shakespeare suggests, or even Elizabethan England, as the spirit of the play more closely suggests, we did our dramaturgy and decided to move the setting to mid/late Victorian Steam Punk. Now, we know Steam Punk continues to be a popular style, with productions sometimes being crammed into a Steam Punk concept that really doesn't make much sense. We also know we're not the first to use it as the concept for Midsummer. However, we're excited about how we merged our dramaturgy of Shakespeare's pseudo Greek setting and actual time period, the given circumstances of the play and characters, and the spirit of Steam Punk as a futuristic vision of the Victorian area (with anachronisms) all fused into our realized production. The characters are all here: Theseus, Duke of Athens; his bride, Hippolyta (Queen of the Amazons); Egeus and his rebellious daughter, Hermia; with Lysander, the suitor she loves, and Demetrius, the suitor Egeus approves; Oberon and Titania (KIng and Queen of the Fairies); Puck the perennial trickster; and the beloved Mechanicals who teach us all how not to produce a play; blended with a plethora of court attendants and fairies into a grand dance in a magical forest. While preserving the original poetry of Shakespeare, we've stretched how that might be performed. There are some allusions to romantic dalliances, all tastefully revealed. And the lovers lose some of their layers of Victorian/Steam Punk costumes while being lost in the forest, all artistically appropriate. We're looking forward to sharing this joyous romp -- with a twist -- but then, Shakespeare was the master of "twists"!
No concerns
Springfield - 'Round the World and Back Again
This wacky children's show presents a brief and inaccurate history of everything.
No concerns
Kennard Dale - These Shining Lives
This play is based on the true story of four women who worked in a watch factory in Ottawa, IL. The play dramatizes the danger women faced in the workforce in the 1920s, and the lack of concern by companies for protecting the health of its employees.
Possible concerns - Adult language / profanity, adult / mature themes, The word bullshit is used. The women are dying of radium poisoning.
Neshaminy High School - Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach
“When James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree, he discovers a magic potion that results in a tremendous peach...and launches a journey of enormous proportions. Suddenly, James finds himself in the center of the gigantic peach, among human-sized insects with equally oversized personalities, but after it falls from the tree and rolls into the ocean, the group faces hunger, sharks and plenty of disagreements. Thanks to James’ quick wit and creative thinking, the residents learn to live and work together as a family. The dangerous voyage is a success, but the adventure takes a whole new twist once they land on the Empire State Building.”
No concerns
Montoursville Area High School - The Taffetas
a Musical Journey through the Fabulous FiftiesIt's 1950-something, and these four singing sisters from Muncie, Indiana are making their national television debut on the Dumont Television Network's Spotlight on Music! The Taffetas pays tribute to the sounds of The McGuire Sisters, The Fontane Sisters and The Chordettes. Spend an hour and a half with Kaye, Peggy, Cheryl and Donna and their 3-piece band, and remember (or learn!) what Sunday night television was like on your 12-inch black and white screen!
No concerns
Parkland High School - 26 Pebbles
What happened to the people of Newtown, Conn., after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy after the rest of the world kept spinning and moved on? Months after the attack, Eric Ulloa held intimate interviews with members of the Newtown community and created a play that nods to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. This docudrama is a weave of verbatim interview excerpts from many people of Newtown as they recount the ripples that were made in the aftermath of unthinkable tragedy and the resulting push forward towards healing in their community.
No concerns
Bellefonte Area High School - She Loves Me
Set in a 1930s Hungarian perfumery, we meet shop clerks Amalia and Georg, who, more often than not, don't see eye to eye. After both respond to a "Lonely Hearts advertisement" in the newspaper, they now live for the love letters that they exchange, but the identity of their admirers remains unknown. Based on the play "The Perfumery" (later transcribed as "The Shop Around the Corner"), this material also served as the inspiration for the 1990s movie "You've Got Mail".
Possible concerns - adult / mature themes - One character attempts suicide - not seen on stage, but offstage gunshot is heard.
North Penn High School - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of his most accessible, hilarious, and beloved plays. It examines love from many angles: new love, romantic love, self love, parental love, maturing love, and so forth. We love the play, but decided to give it a twist. Instead of being "set" in classical Athens, as Shakespeare suggests, or even Elizabethan England, as the spirit of the play more closely suggests, we did our dramaturgy and decided to move the setting to mid/late Victorian Steam Punk. Now, we know Steam Punk continues to be a popular style, with productions sometimes being crammed into a Steam Punk concept that really doesn't make much sense. We also know we're not the first to use it as the concept for Midsummer. However, we're excited about how we merged our dramaturgy of Shakespeare's pseudo Greek setting and actual time period, the given circumstances of the play and characters, and the spirit of Steam Punk as a futuristic vision of the Victorian area (with anachronisms) all fused into our realized production. The characters are all here: Theseus, Duke of Athens; his bride, Hippolyta (Queen of the Amazons); Egeus and his rebellious daughter, Hermia; with Lysander, the suitor she loves, and Demetrius, the suitor Egeus approves; Oberon and Titania (KIng and Queen of the Fairies); Puck the perennial trickster; and the beloved Mechanicals who teach us all how not to produce a play; blended with a plethora of court attendants and fairies into a grand dance in a magical forest. While preserving the original poetry of Shakespeare, we've stretched how that might be performed. There are some allusions to romantic dalliances, all tastefully revealed. And the lovers lose some of their layers of Victorian/Steam Punk costumes while being lost in the forest, all artistically appropriate. We're looking forward to sharing this joyous romp -- with a twist -- but then, Shakespeare was the master of "twists"!
No concerns
Springfield - 'Round the World and Back Again
This wacky children's show presents a brief and inaccurate history of everything.
No concerns
Kennard Dale - These Shining Lives
This play is based on the true story of four women who worked in a watch factory in Ottawa, IL. The play dramatizes the danger women faced in the workforce in the 1920s, and the lack of concern by companies for protecting the health of its employees.
Possible concerns - Adult language / profanity, adult / mature themes, The word bullshit is used. The women are dying of radium poisoning.
ONE ACT SHOWS
Harry S Truman - Atlas Pit
A young man spirals after suffering a loss and the audiences watches as the story unfolds with the help of Greek Mythology.
Possible concerns - alcohol / drug use or references but no use
Pennsbury - Magic Theatre
Magic Theatre is a children"s ensemble piece which highlights various life-lessons through imagination, mime, music and comedy.
No concerns
Spring Grove High School - A Company of Players
A struggling theatre company catches a big break when they're invited to perform at the royal court. The bad news is, it's Prince Hamlet's castle, and he wants them to perform a weird new play he wrote himself. The company bickers about everything from who gets what part to the correct way to pour prop poison in somebody's ear. At the end of the day, the show must go on ... but what goes on might be a total mess. A fun and fast-paced comedy with a Shakespearean twist.
No concerns
DuBois High School - Every Novel You Read in High School (in 25 Minutes or Less)
The one where a theater group attempts ATTEMPTS to present all those novels you read in high school before school lets out for the summer. Pray for them. They're gonna need it and so are you.
No concerns
Peters Township High School - Tracks
A group of strangers meet in a subway station. They have arrived with limited personal belongings, their watches have stopped and they all claim to be in different cities. Soon they learn there is no way out of the station, and the unfortunate truth is told to them: they are all dead. Since subway stations have two sides, they reason the train leaving from one platform must be bound for heaven, while the train leaving from the other platform must be bound for hell. But which platform are they on? They reflect upon their lives, recalling and confessing past deeds of which they are not proud, hoping to figure out which platform is which. The arrival of someone from the other platform only complicates matters, and the answer remains unclear. As the subway train finally approaches, they must decide whether to stay and ponder their actions further, or to have faith and climb aboard to their final destination.
No concerns
Chartiers Valley High School - Appropriate Audience Behavior
The characters are expecting a tale of woe as they take their seats to watch Hamlet, but the real tragedy is that they're sitting amongst the world's noisiest and weirdest audience members. The audience takes the spotlight as everyone from a cough-drop obsessive to a guy watching the play like a football game steals the show from the unseen Shakespearean masterpiece. An outrageously meta comedy that reminds us where the drama belongs--onstage.
No concerns
Ridley High School - No Control
No Control is a student written one-act play where a family deals with the loss of their daughter and must cope with other life issues concerning family relationships and the changes that happen after crisis occurs. The play includes mature themes of loss and depression, with a cast of 5 actors (2 men, and 3 women). The One-Act is directed by author Ethan McKellar, and ITS member, Joey Kovach, and was originally produced and staged at Barnstormer's Theatre in Folsom, PA for the 2018 One Act Festival, winning first place. This play is copyrighted by Emandesigns and will be available to license January, 2019 at www.nocontrolplay.weebly.com.
Possible concerns - Adult language / profanity, adult / mature themes
This play details the death of a child, and the subsequent psychological fallout of this event. It shares mature themes with shows like Next to Normal, and Rabbit Hole. There is only one curse word (Bit--) in the show, and the rest is PG-13 merely for emotional content.
Upper Dublin - The Actor's Nightmare
Durang's dark comedy that explores every actor's worst fear - being on stage and not knowing the show or lines.
Having casually wandered onstage, George is informed that one of the actors, Eddie, has been in an auto accident and he must replace him immediately. Apparently no one is sure of what play is being performed but George (costumed as Hamlet) seems to find himself in the middle of a scene from Private Lives, surrounded by such luminaries as Sarah Siddons, Dame Ellen Terry and Henry Irving.
As he fumbles through one missed cue after another the other actors shift to Hamlet, then a play by Samuel Beckett, and then a climactic scene from what might well be A Man for All Seasons—by which time the disconcerted George has lost all sense of contact with his fellow performers. Yet, in the closing moments of the play, he rises to the occasion and finally says the right lines, whereupon make-believe suddenly gives way to reality as the executioner's axe (meant for Sir Thomas Moore) instead sends poor George to oblivion—denying him a well-earned curtain call (Dramatists summary).
No concerns
Pennridge High School - "As You Like It" Abridged
No concerns
Wilson High School - Little Shop of Horrors
This 30 minute cutting is based on the full musical stage production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. The show focuses on a mild-mannered florist worker named Seymour Krelborn who crosses paths with a strange and exotic man eating plant. There is some mild profanity and stylized violence. The movie rating would be PG 13.
Possible concerns - Adult language / profanity, violence, minor profanity and stylized violence that isn't offensive
Harry S Truman - Atlas Pit
A young man spirals after suffering a loss and the audiences watches as the story unfolds with the help of Greek Mythology.
Possible concerns - alcohol / drug use or references but no use
Pennsbury - Magic Theatre
Magic Theatre is a children"s ensemble piece which highlights various life-lessons through imagination, mime, music and comedy.
No concerns
Spring Grove High School - A Company of Players
A struggling theatre company catches a big break when they're invited to perform at the royal court. The bad news is, it's Prince Hamlet's castle, and he wants them to perform a weird new play he wrote himself. The company bickers about everything from who gets what part to the correct way to pour prop poison in somebody's ear. At the end of the day, the show must go on ... but what goes on might be a total mess. A fun and fast-paced comedy with a Shakespearean twist.
No concerns
DuBois High School - Every Novel You Read in High School (in 25 Minutes or Less)
The one where a theater group attempts ATTEMPTS to present all those novels you read in high school before school lets out for the summer. Pray for them. They're gonna need it and so are you.
No concerns
Peters Township High School - Tracks
A group of strangers meet in a subway station. They have arrived with limited personal belongings, their watches have stopped and they all claim to be in different cities. Soon they learn there is no way out of the station, and the unfortunate truth is told to them: they are all dead. Since subway stations have two sides, they reason the train leaving from one platform must be bound for heaven, while the train leaving from the other platform must be bound for hell. But which platform are they on? They reflect upon their lives, recalling and confessing past deeds of which they are not proud, hoping to figure out which platform is which. The arrival of someone from the other platform only complicates matters, and the answer remains unclear. As the subway train finally approaches, they must decide whether to stay and ponder their actions further, or to have faith and climb aboard to their final destination.
No concerns
Chartiers Valley High School - Appropriate Audience Behavior
The characters are expecting a tale of woe as they take their seats to watch Hamlet, but the real tragedy is that they're sitting amongst the world's noisiest and weirdest audience members. The audience takes the spotlight as everyone from a cough-drop obsessive to a guy watching the play like a football game steals the show from the unseen Shakespearean masterpiece. An outrageously meta comedy that reminds us where the drama belongs--onstage.
No concerns
Ridley High School - No Control
No Control is a student written one-act play where a family deals with the loss of their daughter and must cope with other life issues concerning family relationships and the changes that happen after crisis occurs. The play includes mature themes of loss and depression, with a cast of 5 actors (2 men, and 3 women). The One-Act is directed by author Ethan McKellar, and ITS member, Joey Kovach, and was originally produced and staged at Barnstormer's Theatre in Folsom, PA for the 2018 One Act Festival, winning first place. This play is copyrighted by Emandesigns and will be available to license January, 2019 at www.nocontrolplay.weebly.com.
Possible concerns - Adult language / profanity, adult / mature themes
This play details the death of a child, and the subsequent psychological fallout of this event. It shares mature themes with shows like Next to Normal, and Rabbit Hole. There is only one curse word (Bit--) in the show, and the rest is PG-13 merely for emotional content.
Upper Dublin - The Actor's Nightmare
Durang's dark comedy that explores every actor's worst fear - being on stage and not knowing the show or lines.
Having casually wandered onstage, George is informed that one of the actors, Eddie, has been in an auto accident and he must replace him immediately. Apparently no one is sure of what play is being performed but George (costumed as Hamlet) seems to find himself in the middle of a scene from Private Lives, surrounded by such luminaries as Sarah Siddons, Dame Ellen Terry and Henry Irving.
As he fumbles through one missed cue after another the other actors shift to Hamlet, then a play by Samuel Beckett, and then a climactic scene from what might well be A Man for All Seasons—by which time the disconcerted George has lost all sense of contact with his fellow performers. Yet, in the closing moments of the play, he rises to the occasion and finally says the right lines, whereupon make-believe suddenly gives way to reality as the executioner's axe (meant for Sir Thomas Moore) instead sends poor George to oblivion—denying him a well-earned curtain call (Dramatists summary).
No concerns
Pennridge High School - "As You Like It" Abridged
No concerns
Wilson High School - Little Shop of Horrors
This 30 minute cutting is based on the full musical stage production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. The show focuses on a mild-mannered florist worker named Seymour Krelborn who crosses paths with a strange and exotic man eating plant. There is some mild profanity and stylized violence. The movie rating would be PG 13.
Possible concerns - Adult language / profanity, violence, minor profanity and stylized violence that isn't offensive