Ten-Minute Plays for Middle School Performers

My students enjoyed performing these plays. The plays are funny, clever and age appropriate. Some of the jokes are not current.

Some of the short plays are a bit outdated and include what I would consider inappropriate content. There are some good skits here for practicing character development and simple scene blocking. Not a complete loss, but I would recommend carefully reading through the short plays before assigning them to young people.

Wonderful book of tools to use with kids. As a theatre educator, I found this useful and transferrable to my HS students.

This book has many monologues, yet I feel many of them are too old for 6th and 7 th graders.

Very useful. Leans more toward female casts, which is great for middle school. The sketches are interesting and engaging as well, not space fillers.

I was looking for something that my 5th grade daughter and her partner could use for their Forensic Club competition piece. I bought this book, and Rebecca Young's other book titled, "101 Monologues for Middle School Actors: Including Duologues and Triologues." Unfortunately, both are disappointments."Ten-Minute Plays for Middle School Performers" offers only one play for two girls. It's titled, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G," and deals with a topic that my daughter and her partner (and the Forensic Club moderators) find too advance for middle school aged children. There are eighteen plays included in this book--only two for duet acting. If you are looking for a book that has plays for a group of 3 or more participants, then this book would work for you as sixteen of the plays are written for the larger groupings.Be warned that some of the plays are mean-spirited. Not exactly the behavior you would want to encourage your children to model ("Revenge of the Rash"), much less act out in front of others over-and-over again as they would have to do during a Forensics season.

I ordered this, based on the reviews, with much excitement. It sounded just like what we needed for our middle school drama quarter. But, as I read, I was horrified by the messages sent in the plays. The worst, and I found this in at least two plays, was that boys don't like smart girls in the 'like' sort of way, smart girls are only for friends (at best). "Leslie...is a good student, is there a problem with being a good student?" "To cheat off of, no, To date, yes." "...You like your friends--who are girls--to have brains. Not your girlfriends." I kept waiting, but this was never debunked. In another: "Daniel's songs make me vomit. All gushy junk. He might as well be a girl." Remarkably, this book is written by a woman. It broke my heart.

TEN-MINUTE PLAYS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL PERFORMERS delivers what it promises...and much much more. The plays are highly entertaining covering spot-on topics that are engaging and pertinent to today's typical middle school kids.The best way to get young entertainers invested in their performances and competitions is to provide kid-friendly material that addresses real issues full of personality and voice. This book does that. Perfectly.What sets this book apart from many others is that it's written for a variety of class sizes, from duos on up. Young obviously knows drama, writing...and kids.I recommend this book not only for drama classes, but for literature and gifted classes as well. The plays provide opportunities for kids to safely express themselves about kid-issues...plus they provide a spring-board for further discussions, readings, and writings/journaling. Well-done!

Used this with my teenage class of girls. They found the language up to date and realistic without it being rude or crude for us adults!Short enough to start and finish in one 45min lesson too.