Your next summer reading recommendation is coming at you early because I leave later this afternoon for USA Water Polo's Junior Olympics! My son will be competing first in a four day 16u tournament, and then my daughter will play in the 18u division. Eight days of water polo, plus one day in between for a water polo expo, will leave me little time to blog, so I decided to get ahead of the game.
And so, today I'm recommending that you give my hilarious (and ridiculous) detective noir full-length (and one-act) play Biz Town a read! Biz Town is available with Playscripts and was inspired by an immersive project my kids did through school. If you ever thought, it sure would be fun to put on a comedic show inspired by “Chinatown” in middle or high school, Biz Town is the play for you.
Looking for something that'll have your audience in stitches?
When I was writing Biz Town I constantly kept asking myself, “Can I really do that with a play intended for school age performers?!” And for the most part I just shrugged and went with it. And so, the “Chinatown” references and jokes abound. Will the students understand all of the humor? Maybe not, but there's plenty there that they will clock, especially when guided by an astute director. And as a bonus there are gems for their parents sitting in the audience. I've seen this performed live and have witnessed for myself adults crying with laughter during this play. No joke, it is simply hilarious.
Looking for a variety of roles?
Biz Town has a part for everyone. There's the main character, a detective, which is large and meaty, with plenty of comedic opportunity, best for someone who's a whiz with memorization. But there are plenty of other parts (35 additional roles, actually!), that have huge range, so there's plenty of opportunities for actors in all levels of experience. Biz Town has 36 roles (woof!), that can be doubled to as few as 8 incredibly busy actors. None of the characters in Biz Town are gendered.
Looking for something “light” on sets?
Obviously a set can never be zero work, but this play gets awfully close. The set is four folding chairs and four folding tables. And those stay on the whole time! In fact Biz Town just keeps going in one long scene, with our trusty Detective as a guide.
Looking for something that's also light on costumes?
Yep, both the sets and costumes are light with Biz Town. The costumes can be as complex or simple as the production wants. Each character is dressed as their desired profession, so whatever work that character put in to dress up is their costume. This can include an huge variety, of course, and can also just be all characters wearing their normal school clothes. Director's and/or costumer's choice!
Here's the synopsis for Biz Town:
An in-class “adult life” simulation goes very wrong after students throw the rules out and turn to lying, cheating, stealing, and kidnapping to one-up their classmates. The bottom line is that the kid with the most heart points gets to pick the toppings for their pizza party, and that’s a prize worth playing dirty to win. One detective tries to uncover the criminals and set the town on a better path, but maybe Biz Town just can’t play nice. Maybe it’s just not built that way.
Biz Town is both an 80-90 minute full-length, as well as a 30-40 minute one-act. You can find both lengths with Playscripts. Biz Town can be performed with as few as 8, and as many as 36 actors. None of the characters are gendered.
Enjoy your reading!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to warm up my cheering muscles.