Ten Minute Plays for College Directors
It’s almost the time of year when college directing students begin choosing ten-minute plays and one-acts for their directing classes, short play festivals, and showcases. When I work with university students, one question they often ask me is how to find a ten-minute play that doesn’t suck.
That’s a great question, because one of the reasons I became a playwright in the first place was that I wasn’t happy with the scenes I had access to as a student, and I wanted to leave some gifts for college directors and performers in the future.
Today, my short plays (and even some longer ones) are performed at high schools, colleges, and universities across the country. Not only do the students feel lucky to find material that resonates, but I feel lucky that my work is being interpreted and performed by enthusiastic artists with incredible artistic vision!
So, in this bonus post, I’m sharing tips on finding material for college directing showcases… and showcasing a few of my plays, just in case one of them seems right for you!
How Do I Find Ten-Minute Plays for a College Directing Class?
Back in the day, we used to have to go to the library to find books of scenes, most of which kind of sucked. Later, we could use the internet, but all that came up were questionable “free scenes and monologues” that didn’t feel personal or contemporary. Today, we have two phenomenal resources to help us find plays for ten-minute play festivals in college: Smith & Kraus Anthologies and New Play Exchange.
Smith and Kraus Anthologies
Smith and Kraus ten-minute play anthologies, also called annuals, are highly selective collections of some of the strongest ten-minute plays in a given year. Because they come out every year, they are contemporary and speak to the issues of the moment. The table of contents is organized based on the number of characters, so you can hunt for the cast size you’re looking for.
You’ll find my play Hot Blood Sundae in the 2023 anthology, and my play The Psychopomp in the 2025 anthology. My play Persephone Wasn’t Hungry That Day will appear in the 2026 anthology, so keep an eye out later this year!
The best thing about these anthologies is that colleges tend to purchase them. Definitely ask your professor if they have the latest Smith & Kraus, or check the library. If your school doesn’t have it, you might be able to get it through interlibrary loan.
In the back of the book, you can find out how to contact the playwright to inquire about rights. Since these are new plays by living playwrights, there’s typically a royalty fee. However, many playwrights have student or classroom rates, and your school might cover the fee. Reaching out to the playwright is a matter of artistic integrity, even for a student, so do the right thing. After all, once you graduate, every playwright will be your theatrical colleague.
The New Play Exchange
The New Play Exchange, also called NPX, is a goldmine. It’s the largest online collection of original plays of all lengths, and you can gain access to all of them with a single membership… and, get this… I believe a reader membership only costs about $10 a year. If your school has a membership, you might be able to get access for free, so definitely ask a professor!
With the search function, you can filter plays by length, then search by subject keyword, cast attributes, and more. You can even filter results to find work by playwright demographic! It’s not the best search function in the world, but it generally gets the job done. Then, if the playwright uploaded the play, you can download a PDF instantly.
With that said, DOWNLOADING THE PLAY FROM NPX DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO PRODUCE IT, EVEN FOR CLASS! You’ll need to go to the play listing or playwright page and click “Inquire About Rights.” There, you can send the playwright an email. They’ll probably also have their email address on the cover of the play if you’d prefer to contact them directly.
Introduce yourself, explain what your project is, talk a little about what drew you to the play, and let the playwright know whether or not you have a budget. You NEED permission to perform ANY play you download on NPX for ANY reason. My prior note about artistic integrity also applies to PDF copies of plays.
What Are Some Good Ten-Minute Plays for College Students?
Now, here’s the part we’ve all been waiting for! Here are a few of my ten-minute plays - specifically, the plays that student directors consistently choose for their directing classes, festivals, and showcases. If you have no idea where to start, maybe one of these will tickle your fancy?
The Psychopomp by Aly Kantor
The Psychopomp is an easy-to-stage play for two female, college-aged performers. It’s about two friends who drive out to a local road that’s notorious for being haunted. They’re looking for a hitchhiking ghost who is doomed to walk the same depressing road for eternity. It starts out funny, but during their search, one of the friends reveals a secret, and we learn she’s dealing with serious suicidal ideation. Through the metaphor of the ghost, the friends make a plan, and both get home safely that night. Essentially, it’s a story about how friendship can help us break bad loops.
Directors like this play because it’s set in a car, so it’s all about performance. You’ll be directing beat-to-beat. Actors have lots of opportunities to make choices. They get to play funny, and they get to play dramatic, showing off their full range. Plus, because of the subject matter, it tends to feel personal for the directors who choose to take it on.
Come Back Right by Aly Kantor
Come Back Right is a “variations” play. It’s about a Resurrector and the Body she’s trying to resurrect, and the many different ways that Body (who we learn is the Resurrector’s ex-girlfriend) comes back wrong.
Each vignette is a little more absurd than the last, giving the actor portraying the Body lots of fun characters to play (ranging from dead little boys doing funky dance moves to eldritch entities). With each time-loop-like repetition, the Resurrector learns a little bit more about how to navigate this odd resurrection… and so does the audience. By the end, we find out what really happened to the resurrector’s ex-girlfriend, and the way it’s impacting her relationships in the present. It’s a weird, queer little story that’s perfect for lovers of Mary Shelley, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or David Ives… or all three!
This one’s also simple to stage without too much “stuff.” All you need is a bed or a table for the Body, a pillow, and an ambitious lighting designer who’s ready to make some magic. In addition to college productions, this one gets picked up by professional theatres quite often, too, and ends up in lots of spooky, queer play festivals!
Hot Blood Sundae by Aly Kantor
If you’re looking for a comedy that’s all about chemistry and you’re not afraid to HOWL, you’ll love Hot Blood Sundae! This comedy is about two women who are catching up while one of them is waiting on test results. In the meantime, there’s diet talk, they explore one another’s bodies, and howl at the fucking moon. It’s all about the comedic timing, and works best with a naturalistic presentation that’s earnest despite the sheer absurdity of the situation. It’s fiercely feminist and very empowering!
This one doesn’t have any special set requirements. I’ve seen it set on park benches, in bedrooms, on a big fluffy couch - use what you have and make it work! The only thing you NEED is a pair of actors who are willing to go apeshit! You might want to incorporate some intimacy direction into this production, but if you love funny ladies and werewolves, it’s worth the effort!
37 Origami Bees by Aly Kantor
I will preface this by explaining that there are MANY plays titled 37 Origami Bees because this play was written as part of a shared title challenge, meaning many playwrights all wrote very different plays with the same title! I take responsibility because, uh, I may have contributed this title!
My version is about a manic college biology student working on research about protein folding. She is VERY sleep-deprived and calls her art-major bestie to meet her in the lab because she thinks she's found the meaning of life… by folding, not proteins, but exactly 37 origami bees.
She spouts a lot of nonsense, but slowly but surely, we come to realize she’s dealing with anticipatory grief over her sister, who has a genetic disease and whom she no longer believes she can save due to the impending closure of the school’s research program. Her friend helps her come to her senses, and they make a plan to face the present instead of obsessing over imagined futures… but there’s a fun little surprise at the end, too! She didn’t fold all those bees for nothing!
This is another play that starts off ridiculous and funny, but quickly becomes a bit more earnest. The friendship in the play is sweet and natural, and is based on my own experience of being the crazy arts major with a bunch of friends in the science program!
This is a good choice if you’re down for some fun prop work - one of the characters dumps a massive bucket of origami creatures on the floor, and it’s quite the spectacle!
CONCEALER by Aly Kantor
And, finally, a brand new one! This play was presented by Cherry Picking Off-Broadway at Wild Project, but it has only existed for about a month, so it has never been produced in a college… meaning you can be the first to give this play life!
CONCEALER is about two friends, Blair and Sloane. Blair is going on a date with Sloane’s brother, so they have to get ready. Sloane puts on a true crime podcast, and they talk while she does Blair’s makeup. We learn Sloane loves true crime because she thinks it keeps her safe as a woman in the world, while Blair hates it because she doesn’t want to think about murder all the time. They both believe they’re smart enough to keep themselves safe if something were to happen.
As Sloane does Blair’s makeup, they continue to chat, and slowly but surely, the dialogue paints a picture of Blair’s relationship. Sloane doesn’t hear the red flags, even as Blair quietly and subtly cries for help in front of the “true crime expert.” When we finally see Blair’s makeup, she’s not covered in makeup, but in bruises. Is Sloane complicit in what will happen on the date that night?
Finding Ten Minute Plays is Hard (But Fun!)
Unless you already have a ten-minute play that you love, get ready to read a lot of plays until you find one! You’ll love some, you’ll resonate with others, and have your life changed by a small few. Some of them will suck. Some of them will suck, and you’ll love them anyway. The only thing that matters is that you love the story and the theatrical possibilities enough to work on it for a few weeks.
I hope this was helpful for somebody, and I wish you all happy hunting, and I hope you discover the play of your dreams! If you’re not sure where to start, check out my NPX page for the plays above, plus a whole bunch more!
