College Theatre: Picks for Your 2024/25 Season

Whether it’s an elaborately produced event on your mainstage or a seat-of-your-pants experiment in a black box, college theatre is always dynamic and rewarding. Here’s a list of great plays and musicals for your college or university’s 2024/25 season, with titles ranging from classic mysteries and romances to contemporary dramas and comedies, and cast sizes ranging from 2 to 52.

PLAYS

2018 Playwrights Horizons production of The Thanksgiving Play (Joan Marcus)

Contemporary Plays

365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks (US/UK)
(Collection, Comedy and Drama / Flexible Cast Size)
In 2002, the incomparable Suzan-Lori Parks wrote a play every day for a year. Theatre makers may present an assortment of selected plays from the collection.

53% Of by Steph Del Rosso (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 6w)
This biting satire explores the beliefs of white women on each side of the American political spectrum.

Athena by Gracie Gardner (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w)
Two 17-year old fencers train for the Junior Olympics by practing, competing and spending their lives together. They wish they were friends.

Blood at the Root by Dominique Morisseau (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 3m)
This striking ensemble drama is based on the Jena Six, six Black students who were charged with attempted murder for a school fight after being provoked with nooses hanging from a tree.

Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties by Jen Silverman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5w)
Jen Silverman’s hilarious play explores anger, sex, love and the “thea-tah” through the experiences of five women named Betty.

Dance Nation by Clare Barron (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 9w, 2m)
Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. A play about ambition, growing up and how to find our souls in the heat of it all.

Detroit ’67 by Dominique Morisseau (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 2m)
Morisseau’s powerful play unfolds an explosive moment in our history – the race riots that ravaged the city of Detroit in 1967 – set to a vibrant soundtrack of the day’s music.

Discus by Becca Schlossberg (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m, 3 any gender)
Boldly reimagining the queer love story of Apollo and Hyacinth, this heartbreaking and candid play explores powerfully relevant themes of class, power, justice and – above all – change.

Enfrascada by Tanya Saracho (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5w)
This comedy explores the magic side of love, as lovelorn Alicia’s friends urge her to experiment with brujería, hoodoo and santería to heal her broken heart and get her man back.

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 5m)
Ruhl reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. With contemporary characters and ingenious plot twists, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.

Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 by Suzan-Lori Parks (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 8m)
This explosively powerful drama concerns the mess of war, the cost of freedom and the heartbreak of love, with all three parts presented in one night.

I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo and Juliet by Andrew Rincón (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 3m)
Moving from the heavens to Hackensack, this comedy about Cupid (a Latiné god) and her old flame Saint Valentine is an epic love story capturing the many flavors of queer love.

I’m Revolting by Gracie Gardner (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 4m)
At a skin cancer clinic in NYC, four patients wait to find out how much of themselves they’re about to lose. A play about doctors, medicine and the space between them.

Kill Local by Mat Smart (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 4w, 1m)
Two sisters are at the center of this pitch-black comedy about blood ties, revenge and trying to get unstuck – especially when your life is dedicated to ending others’.

Kodachrome by Adam Szymkowicz (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 2m)
Suzanne, a photographer in  the small town of Colchester, offers us glimpses of romance in all its stages. A play about love, nostalgia, the seasons and how we learn to say goodbye.

Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn and Michael Friedman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5w, 3m)
With The Simpsons as its inspiration, this imaginative dark comedy is an animated exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another.

Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 2m)
Gardens and cultures clash, turning friendly neighbors into feuding enemies in this hilarious comedy of good intentions and bad manners.

Plot Points In Our Sexual Development by Miranda Rose Hall (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 1 trans man)
In this contemporary queer love story, Theo and Cecily want to be honest about their sexual histories, but what happens when telling the truth jeopardizes everything?

POTUS by Selina Fillinger (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 7w)
A riotous comedy about the seven brilliant and beleaguered women in charge of the man in charge of the free world.

Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch (US)
(Full-Length Play, Satire / 1w, 5 any gender)
A wildly experimental and inventive new play that does not behave, this grouping of vignettes asks how to revolutionize language, relationships, work and life in general.

She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 3m)
This high-octane dramatic comedy – laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres and 90s pop culture – is a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.

Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea by Julia Izumi (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 2m, 2 any gender)
This playful, quirky, loose adaptation of The Little Mermaid, about a Little Rain Cloud who falls in love with a human, unpacks some personal history about Hans Christian Andersen.

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs by Tom Baker, Clem Garritty, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts, Oliver Jones and David Cumming (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 2w, 2m, Expandable Cast)
Based on the book by Doctor Who’s Tom Baker, this madly hilarious, frenetic scream of a show, which includes shark-mauling beachgoers, burning vicars, and even waltzing rats, is a multi-roling masterpiece that tells the gloriously grisly tale of one scoundrel’s attempt at infamy. The play’s 100+ roles can be played by a cast of four or a larger ensemble.  

The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence by Madeleine George (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 2m)
Four versions of “Watson” become one in this brilliantly witty, time-jumping tribute (and cautionary tale) dedicated to the people – and machines – upon which we all depend.

The Gradient by Steph Del Rosso (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 3m)
In this sharp satire set in the not-so-distant future, a new facility promises to take men accused of sexual misconduct and rehabilitate them into responsible citizens.

The Moors by Jen Silverman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5w, 1m)
In this dark comedy about love, desperation and visibility, two sisters living on the bleak English moors are set on a strange and dangerous path when a stranger and her moor-hen arrive.

The Oregon Trail by Bekah Brunstetter (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 2m)
Middle-school gamer Jane is ripped back to the 1848 Oregon Trail, where she meets her great-great-grandmother in this play-meets-video game about depression, Then and Now.

The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 2m)
Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions as hapless white teaching artists scramble to create a pageant that celebrates both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month.

The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 10w)
Nine American girls on a local soccer team navigate big questions and wage tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors.

2021 Roundabout Theatre Company production of Trouble in Mind (Joan Marcus)

Classic Plays

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 7m, 1 boy)
Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking drama, a searing and timeless portrait of a family on Chicago’s South Side, is an American classic of hope and inspiration.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express adapted by Ken Ludwig (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 5m)
Ken Ludwig’s clever adaptation of the Christie classic boasts all the glamour, intrigue and suspense of the novel, with a healthy dose of humor to quicken the pace.

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 7w, 9m)
A unique take on the classic murder mystery, this chilling play explores the realms of the sadistic mind and the devastating effects of long-term psychological abuse.

August Wilson’s Fences by August Wilson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 5m)
In 1957 Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson, an embittered former star of the Negro baseball leagues, takes out his frustration on his wife and son, who now wants his own chance to play ball.

August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 8m)
In a rundown Chicago recording studio in 1927, tempers rise and simmering conflicts erupt when the “Mother of the Blues” and her band record a set of jazz and blues standards.

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 2m)
This smash comedy hit offers wit, conflict and big laughs as a fussy, cantankerous novelist finds himself haunted by the ghost of his late first wife.

for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 7w)
Capturing the brutal, tender and dramatic lives of contemporary Black women, this groundbreaking “choreopoem” offers a riveting evening of dance, music and poetry.

Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy (US)
(Short Play, Drama / 5w, 3m)
This Obie-winning classic – a daring, complex, groundbreaking work – explores themes of racial identity as a young woman struggles with her place in a world steeped in racism and conflict.

Moby Dick – Rehearsed by Orson Welles and Herman Melville (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 12m)
In this thrilling stage play from Oscar winner Orson Welles, a Shakespearean theatre company presents Melville’s tale about Captain Ahab’s obsessive pursuit of the White Whale.

Noises Off by Michael Frayn (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 5m)
Called “the funniest farce ever written,” this door-slamming romp presents a manic menagerie of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing’s On.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 7w, 17m)
Described by Edward Albee as “the greatest American play ever written,” Our Town depicts the simple daily lives of two families as their children fall in love, marry and eventually die.

Purlie Victorious by Ossie Davis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 6m)
In Ossie Davis’s hilarious and provocative romp, a dynamic traveling preacher returns to his small Georgia town to save the community’s church from oppressive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee.

The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow and John Buchan (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 1w, 1m, 2 any gender)
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python, and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre.

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie (US)
(Full-Length Play, Melodrama / 3w, 5m)
Brimming with intrigue, sophisticated humor and surprising twists, Agatha Christie’s iconic murder mystery is the world’s most successful and longest-running play.

The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 4m)
Combining farce, burlesque and satire, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play depicts an Everyman family as it narrowly escapes one end-of-the-world disaster after another.

Three Sisters by Madeleine George and Anton Chekhov (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 8m)
Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Whiting Award winner Madeleine George penned this new translation of Chekhov’s classic play about big souls trapped in tiny boxes.

Three Sisters by Sarah Ruhl, Anton Chekhov,  Elise Thoron, Natasha Paramonova and Kristin Johnsen-Neshati (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 9m)
The humor and heartbreak of one of the world’s greatest plays is revealed through the lyricism of a leading voice in contemporary theatre: two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry and Robert Nemiroff (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 3m)
Fast-paced, powerful, touching and hilarious, this kaleidoscope of shifting scenes, moods and images recreates the world of a great American artist, Lorraine Hansberry.

Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 6m)
Childress’s 1955 play – which premiered on Broadway in 2021 – is a funny, moving and heartbreaking look at racism, identity and ego in the high-stakes world of New York theatre.

2017 Off-Broadway Production of The View UpStairs (Kurt Sneddon)

MUSICALS

[title of show] by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 2m, 1 any gender)
This innovative musical-about-a-musical celebrates the meaning of art, the challenges of being an artist and the strength of friendship. Also available in a clean version (US/UK). 

21 Chump Street by Lin-Manuel Miranda (US/UK)
(Short Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 1w, 5m)
This cautionary 14-minute musical, based on a true story, addresses the ramifications of peer pressure, conformity and drug policy in our schools.

A Chorus Line by Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 9w, 10m)
The groundbreaking, Pulitzer Prize-winning classic explores the inner lives and bittersweet ambitions of professional musical performers at a high-stakes Broadway audition.

American Psycho by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Duncan Sheik and Bret Easton Ellis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 8w, 8m)
This ruthless and daring musical, based on the electrifying novel, tells the story of Patrick Bateman, a young Wall Street banker with impeccable taste and unquenchable desires.

Cabaret by Joe Masteroff, John Van Druten, Christopher Isherwood, John Kander and Fred Ebb (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 8w, 8m)
Daring, provocative and exuberantly entertaining, Cabaret explores the dark and heady life of Bohemian Berlin as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich.

Carrie: The Musical by Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford, Lawrence D. Cohen and Stephen King (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 5w, 2m +Ensemble)
In this chilling and thought-provoking musical, misfit Carrie White is bullied at school and abused at home. But she has a special power, and if pushed too far, she’s not afraid to use it.

Chicago by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 10w, 9m)
In the Roaring 20s, merry murderesses Roxie and Velma vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the American Dream: fame, fortune and acquittal.

First Date by Austin Winsberg, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 3m)
When blind date newbie Aaron is set up with serial-dater Casey, a casual drink at a busy NYC restaurant turns into a hilarious high-stakes dinner. Also available in a 5-actor version (US/UK).

Fun Home by Jeanine Tesori, Lisa Kron and Alison Bechdel (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 4w, 2m, 1 girl, 2 boys)
When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to explore her relationship with the volatile, brilliant man whose secrets defined her family.

Heathers The Musical by Kevin Murphy, Laurence O’Keefe and Daniel Waters (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 9w, 8m)    
Based on the classic 1989 film, this dark, satirical musical explores the brutal world of high school survival with style, humor, contempt and scrunchies.

In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 6m +Ensemble)
This vibrant musical captures the energy of New York City’s neighborhood of Washington Heights, a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures.

Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 1w, 8m +Ensemble)
Rice and Lloyd Webber’s first professional musical, this timeless rock opera depicts the final days of Jesus’ life as seen, unusually, through the eyes of Judas Iscariot.

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 5w, 5m, 6 any gender)
Dave Malloy’s award-winning electropop opera, based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, broke new ground in musical theatre.

No Way to Treat a Lady by Douglas J. Cohen and William Goldman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 2m)
This theatrically charged musical comedy thriller, based on the bestselling novel and renowned movie, is a devilish blend of humor, romance and murder – performed by just four actors!

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’Brien (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 3w, 7m)
Fueled by raucous audience participation, this cult classic – a boldly kitschy rock ’n’ roll sci-fi musical – is more fun than ever.

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Broadway Version) by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Douglas Carter Beane (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5w, 4m +Ensemble)
This contemporary take on the classic tale features Rodgers & Hammerstein’s beloved songs with an up-to-date, uproarious and romantic libretto by Douglas Carter Beane.

Sweet Charity by Neil Simon, Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 4m +Ensemble)
With a tuneful, groovy, mid-1960s score and a hilarious book, Sweet Charity captures all the humor and heartbreak of Life in the Big City for an unfortunate but irrepressible optimist.

The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 4w, 4m)
In this lush, romantic musical set in 1958, a mother and daughter vacationing in Italy are forced to reconsider their future when the daughter falls in love with a local Florentine boy.

The Lightning Thief by Joe Tracz, Rob Rokicki and Rick Riordan (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 7 any gender +Ensemble)
When teenager Percy Jackson discovers he’s a demigod, he and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods.

The Mad Ones by Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 1m)
Samantha Brown balances on the edge of her future, car keys in hand. This dynamic contemporary musical explores friendship, loss and redemption with passion and heart.

The Spitfire Grill by James Valcq, Fred Alley and Lee David Zlotoff (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 4w, 3m)
Based on the hit 1996 film, this heartwarming and inspirational musical, set in a small Wisconsin town, is a tale of redemption, perseverance and family.

The View UpStairs by Max Vernon (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 2w, 8m)
A young fashion designer from 2017 is transported to the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant 70s gay bar, sparking a journey of self-exploration spanning two generations of queer history.

The Wild Party by Michael John La Chiusa, George C. Wolfe and Joseph Moncure March (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 7w, 8m)
A jazz- and gin-soaked party in 1920s Manhattan is the setting for this musical fable about debauchery, decadence and sexual freedom.

Vanities: The Musical by Jack Heifner and David Kirshenbaum (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 3w)
This life-affirming musical captures a portrait of the lives, loves and dreams of three young women growing up during the turbulent 60s and 70s and reconnecting in the late 80s.

You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz, Clark Gesner, Michael Mayer and Andrew Lippa (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 4m +Ensemble)
Happiness is great musical theatre! With charm, wit and heart, this charming and unassuming show explores life through the eyes of Charlie Brown and his friends in the Peanuts gang.

For more great plays and musicals, visit Concord Theatricals in the US or UK.