Playscripts Makes Competition Licensing Easy!



If you are looking for new, challenging plays for your next one-act competition, Playscripts is here to help:

  • Step 1: Choose your title from this link.
  • Step 2: Double check that the title is on the approved list of works of your one-act competition.
    • • If you're in Texas, check the UIL-approved plays list or submit your play for approval on the UIL site by the submission deadline. For UIL-approved plays, CHECK HERE.

  • Step 3: Submit a performance rights application.
  • • We advise you not to hold auditions, begin rehearsals, or make any major production plans before you have obtained written permission from Playscripts to proceed.

  • • Only apply for the number of performances that you are sure will take place at the competition or at your school.

  • Step 4: Rehearse and perform!
  • • In accordance with UIL rules, you can soften “adult” language and cut or replace references to the Judeo-Christian deity.

  • Step 5: Apply for additional performance rights as you advance.


  • For more information regarding the Texas UIL competition, visit www.UILTEXAS.org/theatre.

    See all the shows that are pre-approved for competition HERE.

    Below is a selection of recently popular competition titles to get you started or continue your search using FIND-A-PLAY. If at any point you need assistance in finding a play, our team is here to help.


    Trap
    Stephen Gregg
    MENACHAP, CALIFORNIA. An incomprehensible event: every person in the audience of a high school play falls unconscious—every person but one. Using interviews with witnesses, loved ones, first responders, and the investigators pursuing the case, a theatre ensemble brings the story of the strange event to life, documentary-style. But as the strands weave together into an increasingly dangerous web, it becomes clear that this phenomenon might not be entirely in the past. Unnerving, exhilarating, and wildly inventive, you've never walked into anything quite like Trap.
    Learn More
    Documentary Theatre/Horror
    75 - 85 minutes
    12 W, 10 M, 5 Any (10-46 actors possible: 5-46 W, 2-46 M)
    Lafayette No. 1
    Mandy Conner
    As the yellow fever epidemic ravages the streets of 1816 New Orleans, no one thinks of the orphans known as the Forgotten--except for Lizzie Landry.
    Learn More
    Drama
    35 - 45 minutes
    8 W, 7 M,  (15-25 actors possible: 8-13 W, 7-12 M)
    Badger (one-act)
    Don Zolidis
    Facing dangerous work with highly flammable powder as well as insidious sexism, the women form an unlikely friendship through joy and heartbreak. A vibrant ensemble brings the factory to life as each of the women confronts not only the challenges of entering the workforce in the darkest days of World War II, but also who she is and what she truly values.
    Learn More
    Drama
    35 - 45 minutes
    8 W, 5 M, 1 Any (14-45 actors possible: 8-40 W, 5-37 M)
    Peter/Wendy
    Jeremy Bloom
    Peter lures Wendy away from her nursery to the magical world of Neverland, where she joins his adventures with Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, and the menacing Captain Hook. A low-tech, inventive adaptation that pays homage to the darker themes of J. M. Barrie's original.
    Learn More
    Comedy/Drama
    65 - 75 minutes
    3 W, 2 M, 2 Any (7-30 actors possible: 3-30 W, 2-30 M)
    The Wild Bunch Women: A Memory Play
    Nelly E. Cuellar-Garcia
    The Wild Bunch Women were known throughout the Old West as cattle rustlers, stagecoach bandits, and bank robbers... but to Pearl Hart, they were family. Years later, Pearl revisits her time leading the fiery band of female outlaws, and the fateful day they travel to a small Texas town to cross the border and start fresh. But the past is not so easily outrun…
    Learn More
    Drama
    25 - 35 minutes
    15 W, 2 M,  (13-25 actors possible: 11-15 W, 2-10 M)
    Dark Road
    Laura Lundgren Smith
    Kind-hearted Lise is shocked at what her sister becomes, and though the two drift apart, their fates remain inextricably and dangerously linked. A powerful drama about the choices that allow evil to become ordinary.
    Learn More
    Drama
    40 - 45 minutes
    8 W, 3 M, 1 Any (9-26 actors possible: 9-20 W, 0-6 M)
    Anon(ymous)
    Naomi Iizuka
    Separated from his mother, a young refugee called Anon journeys through the United States, encountering a wide variety of people -- some kind, some dangerous and cruel -- as he searches for his family.
    Learn More
    Drama
    90 minutes
    6 W, 5 M,  (11-35 actors possible: 6-20 W, 5-15 M)
    Antigone Now
    Melissa Cooper
    In the midst of a bombed-out city still feeling the aftershocks of war, the rebellious and intense Antigone defies her uncle to bury her disgraced brother. This contemporary response to the myth of Antigone brings powerful, modern prose to an ancient and universal story.
    Learn More
    Drama
    50 - 60 minutes
    3 W, 1 M,  (4-11 actors possible: 2-10 W, 1-9 M)
    Oz
    Don Zolidis
    Reeling from her sister's death, Beth suddenly finds herself journeying through a world suspiciously resembling the film The Wizard of Oz. A hilarious and heart-wrenching exploration of grief and perseverance.
    Learn More
    Comedy/Drama
    40 - 50 minutes
    4 W, 4 M, 4 Any (8-16 actors possible: 4-8 W, 4-8 M)
    The Lost Boy
    Ronald Gabriel Paolillo
    Haunted by the tragic accident and his mother's harsh words, James M. Barrie slowly begins to confront his family's tragic past with the help of an unexpected friendship and his own gift for storytelling
    Learn More
    Drama
    110 - 120 minutes
    3 W, 4 M,  (7-18 actors possible: 3-10 W, 4-8 M)
    dirt
    Mandy Conner
    A moment in American history sets the stage for this personal, immediate drama about finding purpose amid overwhelming disaster.
    Learn More
    Drama
    25 - 35 minutes
    5 W, 8 M, 5 Any (13-20 actors possible: 4-13 W, 7-16 M)
    A Voice in the Dark: A Salem Story
    Elizabeth Downing
    Told through the eyes of a teenager, A Voice in the Dark: A Salem Story is a thrilling and poignant tale from one of the darkest eras in American history.
    Learn More
    Historical Drama
    70 - 85 minutes
    7 W, 3 M, 5 Any (13-18 actors possible: 7-15 W, 3-8 M)
    I Hate Shakespeare!
    Steph DeFerie
    We hate Shakespeare! At least that's what the audience thinks until they get a rip-roaring rundown of Shakespeare's classics. With zombies, talking cows, and an appearance by Jerry Springer, I Hate Shakespeare! is a hilarious and fast-paced introduction to Shakespeare -- with a modern twist. Plus, someone gets a pie in the face.
    Learn More
    Comedy
    60 - 70 minutes
    3 W, 2 M,  (5-43 actors possible: 0-43 W, 0-43 M)
    13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview
    Ian McWethy
    When two college recruiters at a prestigious university need to fill one last spot to keep their jobs, thirteen eccentric, dimwitted and slightly-insane high school seniors are eager to come in for an interview. What seems like a simple task turns into a nightmare when the applicants turn out to be a reality TV star, a practicing vampire, an amateur magician, and others that are much, much worse.
    Learn More
    Comedy
    25 - 35 minutes
    7 W, 6 M, 3 Any (4-16 actors possible: 0-16 W, 0-16 M)
    Rue
    Mandy Conner
    Deep in a Louisiana swamp, sixteen-year-old Josephine struggles with intense anxiety following the mysterious disappearance of her parents. She refuses to leave the safety of her home and face the outside world, even as it becomes increasingly dangerous for her to stay in the marshland. Against the wishes of her brother and best friend, Jo turns to the dark inhabitants of the swamp for answers. But is she brave enough to face the truth about her family—and herself?
    Learn More

    30 - 45 minutes
    8 W, 4 M,  (12-20 actors possible)
    Goldilocks on Trial
    Ed Monk
    Goldilocks is on trial for breaking and entering. Will she be found guilty and sent to prison, or will the truth come out? It's up to Judge Wallabee and some very silly jurors to decide, after hearing testimony from Goldee, the bickering Three Bears, and surprise witness Merwin the Big Bad Wolf, among others...
    Learn More
    Comedy
    45 - 55 minutes
    3 W, 4 M, 17 Any (12-24 actors possible: 3-22 W, 2-21 M)
    Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 plays in 60 minutes)
    Greg Allen
    Having opened in 1988 and still playing today as the longest-running show in Chicago history, Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind is an ensemble experiment in presenting "30 Plays in 60 Minutes." Each two-minute play is performed in random order with an interactive audience. An onstage 60-minute timer keeps everyone honest. This collection of 90 comic, tragic, political, personal, and abstract plays gives you the chance to program your own evening of 30 Neo-Futurist plays to reflect the lives and experiences of your own ensemble. Go!
    Learn More
    Comedy/Drama
    2 - 65 minutes
    5 W, 5 M,  (5-20 actors possible: 2-10 W, 2-10 M)
    Bedtime Stories (As Told by Our Dad) (Who Messed Them Up)
    Ed Monk
    It's Dad's turn to tell his three rambunctious kids their bedtime stories, but when he gets fuzzy on the details, the classics get creative: a prince with a snoring problem spices up The Princess and The Pea, The Boy Who Cried Wolf cries dinosaur instead, and Rumpelstiltskin helps turn all that pesky gold into straw. You may think you know your fairy tales, but not the way Dad tells them.
    Learn More
    Comedy
    45 - 65 minutes
    6 W, 4 M, 16 Any (12-31 actors possible: 6-27 W, 4-25 M)
    The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon (one-act)
    Don Zolidis
    Two narrators attempt to recreate all 209 of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm in a wild, fast-paced extravaganza. To make it more difficult, they attempt to combine them into one gigantic fable using Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and other more obscure stories like Lean Lisa and The Devil's Grandmother.
    Learn More
    Comedy
    35 - 50 minutes
    1 W, 1 M, 3 Any (5-20 actors possible: 1-19 W, 1-19 M)
    Bad Auditions by Bad Actors
    Ian McWethy
    A casting director has one day to find the leads for a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet. But what seems like a simple task proves impossible when the pool of actors includes extreme method actors, performers who just don't know what to do with their hands, and one particular woman who may or may not think she's a cat. This hilarious comedy will bring you to the last place you'd ever want to be...behind the doors of a casting session.
    Learn More
    Comedy
    25 - 30 minutes
    7 W, 4 M, 3 Any (4-14 actors possible: 0-14 W, 0-14 M)