Great Plays - Small Casts

[Broadwayluva]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 6:05pm

Hi everyone. I was hoping to get some ideas for great plays with small casts (say a max of about 5ish ppl). It's for a Senior Project I'm a part of - we have 1 guy and 2 women in it but we can always hold auditions for the remaining roles. Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you!

[egghumor]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 6:19pm

luva, do you mean "senior" as in senior citizen or as in high school? Providing a general age range of the actors will help posters make suggestions.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 8:27pm

Reasons to be Pretty, Neil Labute

The Substance of Fire, Jon Robit Baitz

God of Carnage, Yazmina Reza

Chapter Two, Neil Simon

Deathtrap, Ira Levin

Angel Street, Patrick Hamilton

[SNAFU]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 8:33pm

No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 8:34pm

Extremities (3 W & 1 M)

One Acts:
Actor's nightmare (3W & 2M)



And then....my mind went blank...when I clicked on reply, I had about six titles in my head. I'll come back and post more later.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 8:58pm

Deuce (in case you mean SENIOR CITIZEN)

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 9:10pm

Harvey

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/27/11 at 9:28pm

The Glass Menagerie (2m, 2w)

[Broadwayluva]

Posted: 6/28/11 at 10:52pm

"Senior" as in seniors in college.

[haddaddy3]

Posted: 6/28/11 at 11:35pm

Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

[hairspraydude1962]

Posted: 6/28/11 at 11:42pm

I second The Glass Menagerie.

I'd consider David Auburn's Proof.

[EvelynOakleigh]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 12:13am

God of Carnage is a great choice to consider...

[dented146]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 1:34am

The Miracle Worker

A Minority of One

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 1:40am

I'd suggest Waiting for Godot, but since you have two women and one man whom you'd like to cast, that might not be the best choice (although some of my suggestions below have only one woman, that was hard to avoid, and one has no men).

Some ideas:

The Last Yankee by Arthur Miller (3 women, 2 men)
Old Times by Harold Pinter (2 women, 1 man)
Bosoms and Neglect by John Guare (2 women, 1 man, but slightly complicated scenic demands so perhaps not the best choice.)
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur by Tennessee Williams (4 women)
Serenading Louie by Lanford Wilson (2 women, 2 men)
Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (3 women, 1 man)
Lovers by Brian Friel (3 women, 2 men. This consists of two one-acts, one of which has a very simple set.)
Fool for Love by Same Shepard (1 woman, 3 men)
The Faith Healer by Brian Friel (1 woman, 2 men)
Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel (1 woman, 2 men)
The Dying Gaul by Craig Lucas (1 woman, 2 men)
The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco (1 woman, 1 man)
Benefactors by Michael Frayn (2 women, 2 men)
Talley's Folly by Lanford Wilson (1 woman, 1 man)
The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh (2 women, 2 men)

Also, lots of playwrights have written one-acts with small casts that can be done with very simple sets. Two, three or even four of these (depending on the lengths of individual plays) could work. Chekhov, Guare, Harry Kondoleon, Durang, Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter, Lanford Wilson, and Williams are some playwrights whose one-acts I think might be especially worth looking at, but there are plenty of others. Doing several one-acts gives the actors opportunities to show versatility. It can be fun for actors to play two or more characters during the course of an evening (or afternoon).

A few of the earlier suggestions that were made are not examples of what you asked for. Harvey has 13 characters. Perhaps a couple could be doubled (though I'm not sure that would work too well), but it still would be over the max of five that you stated. The Miracle Worker requires a minimum of 10 or so. And I'm guessing (perhaps wrongly) that the person who suggested A Minority of One meant a A Majority of One, which has a dozen or so characters (of which several are Asian so you'd need a bunch of interested Asian actors) and several sets.

And while God of Carnage is a good show and has only four characters, it requires a projectile-vomiting effect for one of the characters, which is apparently not so easy to pull off. So if you're going to have a small tech budget (which sounds likely), it may not be a good choice.
Updated On: 6/29/11 at 01:40 AM

[Hugh Panaro<3]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 2:05am

Mr. Marmalade by Noah Haidle

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 8:47am

"Doubt"

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 11:23am

Miracle Worker has a cast of 14. Harvey has a cast of 12.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 1:26pm

I doubt God of Carnage is available for amateur production.


How about some Mamet?

Speed the Plow - 3
Sexual Perversity in Chicago - 4
Oleanna - 2
American Buffalo - 3
Updated On: 6/29/11 at 01:26 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 1:34pm

Barefoot in the Park - Neil Simon

[hhaarriissoonn]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 1:49pm

The Foreigner- Larry Shue its absolutely hilarious

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 2:07pm

Goth -- a GREAT suggestion!


another Neil Simon suggestion:
I Ought to Be in Pictures (1M, 2f)


to the OP...it would be helpful if you gave us more info: are you interested in full length or one act? comedy or drama? contemporary or classical?

These suggestions, while mostly great, are all over the place.

Updated On: 6/29/11 at 02:07 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 2:13pm

Deathtrap

[Wildcard]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 3:21pm

If you can transpose one of the male roles into a female (both of which would play multiple characters anyway):
The Woman in Black
The 39 Steps

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/29/11 at 4:17pm

Closer - Patrick Marber

[Sean2]

Posted: 7/1/11 at 9:34pm

Look at 'The Fox' by Alan Miller; 2 women, 1 man

Based on the D.H. Lawrence novel.