During my twenty years crafting plays for Scholastic, my assignments have nearly always been of a more serious nature.  The plays, usually about American history, civil rights, or classic short story plays, have typically been well-received, and having used all of them with my own students, I know kids thoroughly enjoy enacting them. Secretly, though, I’ve been yearning to write plays that elicit giggles, guffaws, and belly laughs. I know this because most of the recent titles I’ve crafted—these exclusively for my ReadAloudPlays.com brand— are what I would call “Laugh Out Loud Plays.”

Today I’m releasing two new ones, both crafted with student enjoyment foremost on my mind. The Goldilocks story has no doubt been done nearly to death, but I think my version is unique. Imagine Goldi as a television home renovation expert. With the help of her three little pig contractors, she dares to turn the bears’ dreary, worn out space into their “forever home.” If only the bears were in on it!

The second play, Barbed Wire, is a revision of Guy de Maupassant’s classic cautionary tale, A Piece of String. My editors at Storyworks once termed my String play the best thing I’d ever written (to that point in my career, I hope). String is still available on my TpT store, but there’s little doubt it’s more appropriate for middle school and up. It’s a great play, but again— kind of serious. By changing the setting to the Wild West, making the characters animals, and giving those characters a western dialect, I’ve aged it down while “funning it up.”  

My serious plays remain important. Plays are an exceptional format for introducing students to Claudette Colvin, the Birmingham Children’s Crusade, and Juneteenth. Stories from American history, such as that of the Secret Soldier and the burning of the White House, are a lot more memorable when taught through reader’s theater. And though archaic language is often a barrier to understanding classic short stories like The Monkey’s Paw and Tell-Tale Heart, acting them out gives students “a window of comprehension” and a willingness to engage.   

For certain, there are also important lessons embedded in my newer plays, but none more so than that reading, acting, and performing should be a ton of fun.  You and your kids will love enacting The Pied Piper, Nature Talks Back, The Nose, and now Barbed Wire, and Goldilocks. They’re all ideal for kicking off the school year. Take a gander on my TpT storefront. You can also see videos or hear podcasts of many of the plays—as performed by elementary kids—by clicking on the Performances tab.

Happy directing!