Does anyone know where I can get find plays which can be performed by childrens theatre groups ??

Question

We need to find plays which can be performed without royalty payments or copyright infringements being an issue. I am starting a drama group at my children's school and we are writing some plays ourselves but would liketo have some others to perform as well.

Answer 1

If you are performing plays in class and not charging an audience almost any play will be okay to do for free. Once you start charging money for people to come see the performance (or advertising the play outside of the school) is where you'll get into hot water. If you are really worried about royalties and copyright- make sure you pay the fees (which are usually pretty cheap for kids theatre) and don't change anything in the script.

This site has some royalty free (or cheap) plays as long as you contact the playwright and give them credit: http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/theatersc...

These are offered royalty free for academic use: http://www.theaterwords.com/childrenspla...

Here are some reader's theatre scripts & plays that are free. They are aimed at grades K-3: http://www.teachingheart.net/readersthea...

You could also try and get the school to purchase a subscription to a drama magazine that has free scripts: http://www.playsmag.com/default.html

Answer 2

Many older, classic plays (Shakespeare, Chekov) are no longer under copyright.  You don't mention what age group your children are, but I've seen 4th & 5th graders introduced to Shakespeare (...with heavy adaptations, of course!).  Check out Project Gutenberg for more non-copyright literature:

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

If you do a search for 'royalty-free plays' (or even 'children royalty-free plays'), a number of sites come up:

Pioneer Drama Service - Royalty-free:

http://www.pioneerdrama.com/text-one-act...

Internet Theatre Bookshop:

http://www.stageplays.com/browse-no-fram...

Suggestions for free scripts and royalty-free properties (there are some great resources here!):

http://www.benteague.com/productions/scr...

Even Samuel French (one of the largest play publishers) has non-royalty options (generally one-acts):

http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/index....

http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/index....

Dramatists Play Service (another major theatre publisher) has the '52nd Street Project', for introducing young people to theatre.  Materials & plays are available here:

http://www.dramatists.com/text/52ndstree...

Break a leg!

Answer 3

try these sites.  They contain the same free scripts, but one has an example of a short play in youtube.  I think you will find something nice there for children.

www.dinastoryteller.blogspot.com

www.kidsinco.com

Answer 4

create your own. its very easy, or get one of the parents to.

Answer 5

if u look on the internet for childrens play or somthing like that u might find it...

good luck

Answer 6

http://www.mstyp.org.au

This place has been around for years (changed names in 2001), since I was a little kid.

Not sure if it helps although they may be worth contacting anyway.