One Act Comedy Plays - Royalty Free

Script In Hand Plays

Four radio-style detective comedies featuring Dick Shamus, Fictional Detective.

The laughs come fast and furious in in these four royalty free comedies that take a slightly skewed but affectionate look back at classic radio theater and the enduring appeal of a good detective yarn—especially when the cases are this delightfully screwy.

Script in hand, actors step up the mic to bring fast-paced, laugh-out-loud comedy to life before a live studio audience.

With Script In Hand Plays, theater groups of all sizes can quickly mount an evening of laughs and entertainment with minimal sets, costumes and rehearsals. Actors can play multiple roles. Vocal talent is the key. Performers don’t have to meet any pre-conceived physical standards to play a character or characters. It’s all part of the fun.

In this collection of four one act script in hand plays we meet Dick Shamus, ace investigator of the F.B.I. (Fictional Bureau of Investigation.) as he takes on the toughest cases in modern fiction. It doesn't get more meta than that.  

 Buy on Amazon

Moments & Caught In The Act

Two romantic one-act comedies filled with wit, second chances and theatrical surprises.

MOMENTS

In Moments, a couple reunites in the very apartment where their passionate yet short-lived romance began. As they reminisce, we travel back a decade to witness their first meeting—the spark, the connection, and the abrupt ending. Now, years later, they navigate the what-ifs and the maybes of their past, uncovering regrets, surprises, and perhaps a chance to rewrite their story in this funny and surprising one act comedy.

One Male One Female (older) One Male One Female (younger versions) Two Additional Characters (gender neutral)

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

This one act takes comedy to a surreal and witty level. A couple wakes up in bed on a blank stage—characters trapped in a play that is constantly being rewritten. The Woman is aware of their predicament, while the Man has been rewritten so many times, he doesn't even know his own name. As the play progresses and her control of the situation seems to be diminishing, the Woman becomes convinced the unseen playwright must be a man. A female writer would never give her those lines. Together they grapple with the ultimate question: can they escape the author's grasp and take control of their own story?

One Male, One Female .

 

Buy on Amazon

Prince Charming's Complaint

A fractured fairy tale where Prince Charming's ex-wives finally get their say.

Happily ever after? Yeah, right.

Prince Charming has had it in this royalty free one act play. After three failed royal marriages, he’s sprawled on his therapist’s couch, venting about the impossibility of pleasing women—especially those women: Rapunzel, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. They got everything they ever dreamed of—him, plus the castle, the gowns, the fairytale life—so why wasn’t it enough?

What Charming doesn’t realize is that his ex-wives are right there behind him, unseen and unheard—by him, at least—ready to fire back with their own version of events. As he rants, they dish out snarky comebacks, call out his cluelessness, and set the record straight. Because, let’s face it, being every woman’s dream guy comes with a whole lot of unrealistic expectations… and maybe the problem isn’t them.

A sharp, witty, and delightfully twisted take on what happens after “The End,” Prince Charming's Complaint is a fairytale breakup story with a modern bite.

One Male, Five Females

Buy on Amazon

Ruby of Elsinore

Winner Of The All Ireland One Act Play Competition

An award-winning comedy that hilariously reimagines Hamlet through the eyes of Ruby, the Danish court's outspoken hairdresser.

Amid the madness of Shakespeare's Hamlet, the Danish royal court - the lovestruck Ophelia, the randy Queen Gertrude, the on the prowl King Claudius, the slovenly and indecisive Prince Hamlet, and, yes, even the Ghost - show up to spill the beans to Ruby, the quick‑witted hairdresser with attitude to spare, in this hilarious one‑act comedy that even the Bard could not have envisaged.

Buy on Amazon