K-12 Theatre: Consider These Plays & Musicals, 2025-26

Need some new ideas for your school theatre program? Here’s an assortment of plays and musicals for you to consider, including a devised theatre piece about the environment, a sequel to Bye Bye Birdie and a Dostoyevsky comedy!

[title of show] clean version by Jeff Bowen & Hunter Bell (US/UK) 
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 2m, 1 any gender)
This innovative musical-about-a-musical is a certified winner! Jeff and Hunter, two struggling writers, scramble to create an original musical for an upcoming festival. With the help of their friends Susan and Heidi – and Larry on the eighty-eights – they “write about what to write about.” In the span of 90 minutes, [title of show] celebrates the meaning of art, the challenges of being an artist, and the strength of friendship. It is, above all, a love letter to the musical theatre – and to the joy of collaboration. Also available in original version (US/UK).

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 Agatha Christie classic boasts all the glamour, intrigue and suspense of Dame Agatha’s celebrated novel, with a healthy dose of humor to quicken the pace. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed eight times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on detective Hercule Poirot to identify the murderer – before another victim is taken. 

Alienne by Jim Colleran (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 12 any gender youth +ensemble)
A rollicking parody of a timeless classic, Alienne transports Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid into the wacky world of outer space. With plenty of audience participation and goofy humor, this spaced-out adventure is ideal for young audiences and their families. 

Anatomy of Gray by Jim Leonard Jr. (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 4m)
“A children’s story for adults,” this compelling play from the author of The Diviners explores themes of death, loss, love and healing through a unique coming-of-age story set in Indiana in the late 1800s. When June’s father dies, she prays for a healer to come to the small town of Gray so no one will ever suffer again. A man claiming to be a doctor suddenly blows into town, healing all kinds of ailments – until a mysterious plague begins to spread. 

Angel Street (Gaslight) by Patrick Hamilton (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 2m)
This brilliant suspense thriller, famously adapted into the film Gaslight, concerns an unscrupulous husband slowly driving his wife to insanity in 19th-century London.

Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer (US/UK)
(Short Play, Comedy / 3w, 5m)
In Peter Shaffer’s hilarious, crowd-pleasing slapstick comedy, several colorful, duplicitous characters stumble around a pitch-black room – all in full view of the audience, who watch the events unfold in full light. 

Bring Back Birdie by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 7m, 1 girl, 1 boy, +ensemble)
Everyone loves Bye Bye Birdie (US/UK) and its Youth Edition (US/UK). But did you know the show has a sequel? Twenty years after their adventure in Sweet Apple, Rosie and Albert Peterson, now happily settled into suburban life with teenagers of their own, set off to Arizona to find Conrad Birdie and convince him to make a comeback. 

Children’s Letters to God by Stuart Hample, David Evans and Douglas J. Cohen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 3m)
Based on the international bestselling book, Children’s Letters To God is a musical following the lives of five young friends as they voice beliefs, desires, questions and doubts common to everyone, but most disarmingly expressed by children. Sixteen tuneful songs and assorted scenes (some based on actual letters) explore timeless issues such as sibling rivalry, divorce, holidays, loss of a beloved pet, the trials of being unathletic and first love

Crime and Punishment, A Comedy by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5 any gender)
Dostoyevsky’s turn-of-the-century masterpiece is reimagined as a 90-minute romp of a morality tale, with five actors playing over 50 zany characters. Riffing on the famous novel – and all of Russian literature – this classic story follows Raskolnikov, an impoverished student who becomes a murderer to save his family. Based on the book you didn’t actually read in high school, this is literature retold as you’ve never seen it before. 

Fairy Tale Courtroom by Dana Proulx (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 2m, 21 any gender)
This extremely adaptable comedy shows the other side of several familiar fairy tales, when two of their biggest villains, the Big Bad Wolf and the Wicked Witch, are brought to trial. Snow White, Dorothy, Sleeping Beauty, the Three Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and many others testify as each trial unfolds. The audience is the jury, so each trial has two endings, depending on the verdict. The trials can be performed separately, with a few small cuts (30 minutes each) or together with no cuts (75 minutes). 

2017 Prospect Theater Company production of The Mad Ones (Richard Termine)

Fools by Neil Simon (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 7m)
Leon Tolchinsky is ecstatic. He’s landed a terrific teaching job in an idyllic Russian hamlet. When he arrives, he finds people sweeping dust from the stoops back into their houses and people milking upside down to get more cream. The town has been cursed with Chronic Stupidity for two hundred years, and Leon’s job is to break the curse

Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Ken Ludwig (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 1w, 4m)
Get your deerstalker cap on – the play’s afoot! From the award-winning mastermind of mayhem comes a fast-paced comedy about everyone’s favorite detective solving his most notorious case. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must crack the mystery of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” before a family curse dooms its newest heir.

Ken Ludwig’s Shakespeare in Hollywood by Ken Ludwig (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 8m)
It’s 1934, and Shakespeare’s most famous fairies, Oberon and Puck, have magically materialized on the Warner Bros. Hollywood set of Max Reinhardt’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The mischievous magic of moviedom sparkles in this hilarious comic romp.

Monstersongs by Rob Rokicki (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 7 any gender, expandable)
Something wicked this way rocks! Monstersongs puts audiences in a synthesized world of graphic novels, rock musicals, live performance and new technology. Following the journey of a child who opens a portal into the psyches of often misunderstood creatures, Monstersongs flips the switch on the monster narrative, inviting audiences to explore the humanity that binds us all.

Mystic Pizza by Sandy Rustin, Amy Holden Jones & Carmel Dean (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 8w, 8m)
Based on the beloved 1988 MGM rom com, this high-spirited new musical is about three working-class girls who navigate the complexities of life, love and family in a small-town pizza joint. The infectious score features megahits of the 80s and 90s, from “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” 

Now. Here. This. (Flexible Version) by Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell and Jeff Bowen, with Michael Berresse, Heidi Blickenstaff and Larry Presgrove (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4 any gender, expandable +optional ensemble)
From the creators of [title of show] (US/UK) comes this contemporary musical tackling life’s big questions with inimitable humor and humanity. Designed for theaters, schools and programs that wish to increase cast size and/or use an ensemble , Now. Here. This. (Flexible Version) follows the evolution and adventures of a group of friends as they journey through time, sharing stories about friendship, hoarding, hiding, laughing, living, dying and middle school in an attempt to step directly into that elusive “present moment”: the Now. Here. This.

Starmites High School by Barry Keating and Stuart Ross (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 8w, 6m +ensemble)
Dreaming her way into a comic book adventure in Innerspace, Eleanor saves the galaxy in this zingy rock musical adapted from the Broadway hit. Starmites (High School) is streamlined and upgraded for maximum fun and effectiveness for today’s audiences, young and old. This show is designed with students in mind – contemporary songs, funny dialogue, and real heart and soul to the story. A one-act, 75-minute version, Starmites Lite (US), is also available.

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! This two-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters, an onstage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers, and some good old-fashioned romance! Also available in Abridged Version (US/UK) and Even More Abridged Version (US/UK).

The Best School Year Ever (Expanded Cast) by Jahnna Beecham, Malcolm Hillgartner and Barbara Robinson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 8w, 2m, 7 girls, 9 boys +ensemble)
In this expanded cast edition of the unforgettably hilarious adaptation of the bestselling novels, the beloved Bradleys are starting another school year with their notorious classmates, the Herdmans. When Miss Kemp assigns the students to think of compliments for their classmates, an unforgettably hilarious school year commences – complete with a tattooed baby, a mysterious teachers’ lounge and a compassionate discovery that might prove there’s something good about this crazy clan after all. Also available for nine actors: The Best School Year Ever (US/UK).

The Diviners by Jim Leonard Jr. (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 6m)
This marvelously theatrical play is the story of a disturbed young man and his friendship with a disenchanted preacher in southern Indiana in the early 1930s. 

2016 TADA! Youth Theater production of The Gumball Gang: Crime-Solving Kids (Chad David Kraus)

The Good Doctor by Neil Simon (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 3m)
This Broadway hit, a composite of Neil Simon and Anton Chekhov, is a series of droll, funny, touching and quirky sketches. In one sketch, a feisty old woman storms a bank and upbraids the manager for his gout and lack of money. In another, a father takes his son to a brothel to initiate him into the mysteries of sex, only to relent at the last moment and leave the boy more perplexed than ever. And let us not forget the classic tale of a man who offers to drown himself for three rubles.

The Great Grey Ghost of Old Spook Lane by Anne Phillips (US)
(Full-Length Musical / 1m, 4 girls, 4 boys, 1 any gender)
The kids at school dare Roger, the new kid in town, to go into a haunted house. Roger learns that the elderly man who lives there was once a radio sound effects operator – and he still has his equipment in the basement. Together, they play a trick on the other kids. A play for young audiences about accepting new people and the limits to what you should do to be accepted. 

The Gumball Gang: Crime-Solving Kids by Jim Colleran (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 22 any gender youth +ensemble)
In this witty musical whodunit, Candy Krunch and her team of crime-solving friends leap into action when a masterpiece is stolen during their town’s art competition. With a flexible cast size and 22 speaking roles, this family-friendly mystery offers plenty of opportunity for every actor in its youth cast. 

The Insanity of Mary Girard by Lanie Robertson (US/UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 4w, 3m)
This haunting and highly theatrical piece is the real-life story of a Philadelphia woman who spent the last 25 years of her life in a mental institution. Committed to an insane asylum in 1790, Mary Girard envisions dancing “furies,” who impersonate people from her past. After she became pregnant by another man, Mary’s husband had her declared legally insane. Now, as she sits in a chair surrounded by her “furies,” Mary grows rather convincingly into her diagnosis. 

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. As she sits in the driver’s seat, she faces a choice: will she follow in her mother’s footsteps, or take the dare of her impetuous best friend and chart a new path? This dynamic contemporary musical explores themes of friendship, loss and redemption with passion and heart.

The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd by Stephen Brown (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 3m, 1 girl)
Jasmine Starr-Kidd is a 12-year-old computer genius who can hack into the AT&T mainframe, build an AI friend, and convince the Department of Defense to send her high-powered lasers. When she realizes that time travel is easier than convincing her parents to get back together, Jasmine takes matters into her own hands.

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 5m)
Brimming with intrigue, sophisticated humor and surprising twists, Agatha Christie’s iconic murder mystery – about a group of strangers trapped during a snowstorm – is the world’s most successful and longest-running play.

The Plot, Like Gravy, Thickens by Billy Wayne St. John (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 9w, 5m)
Great storm effects, spiffy costumes and lots of fun and mystery distinguish this work by the author of Abduction (US), The Reunion (US) and others. Ever want to commit a murder? Walter, the playwright’s alter ego in this madcap mystery, demonstrates just how to do someone in — in your imagination, of course!

The Return of Halley’s Comet by Andrea Green (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 15 girls, 15 boys)
Take a journey through time with this touching musical. In the year 1910, in the town of Centuryville, a friendship was born between non-verbal, bizarre-looking aliens, “Halien” beings, and a young girl, Jenny Pontillo. Seventy-five years later, the Haliens return, looking for their friend.

The River Bride by Marisela Treviño Orta (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 3m)
Three days before a wedding, a handsome and mysterious man is fished from the Amazon River. Set once upon a time in a small Brazilian fishing village, The River Bride is a tale of true love, regret and two sisters who struggle to be true to each other and their hearts.

To Tell a Story About the Earth by Miranda Rose Hall (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6 any gender)
After a disastrous first production, a fledgling theatre company wants to call it quits. But when the local librarian requests a new performance for Earth Day, the artists have a decision to make. Part scripted play, part guided introduction to devising methods, this unique work prompts ensembles everywhere to create and share an original show about the natural world close to home. 

For more great suggestions, check out K-12 Theatre: Your Guide to Season Planning or visit Concord Theatricals in the US or UK.