License an Original Australian Play for Your School or Theatre Company
Pictured: The 2021 cast of our play ‘Dear Adults…’
Finding the right play can shape the entire experience of putting on a production. The script needs to suit the performers in the room, give audiences something worth engaging with and provide enough flexibility for directors and educators to make the work their own.
At Play on Stage, we publish original Australian plays created with young performers in mind. Our catalogue includes work for primary students, teenagers, schools and youth theatre companies, with stories that explore ideas young people can recognise while still giving them room to stretch themselves as performers.
Our plays cover everything from curiosity and imagination to identity, family relationships and the experience of growing up. Some are playful and fantastical. Others invite young performers to tackle more complex questions about themselves and the world around them.
All are written by professional playwrights with experience working directly with young people.
Plays for Drama Teachers and Schools
For drama teachers, choosing a script involves more than finding something entertaining for an end of term performance. A strong play can become part of the learning itself.
Our publications are designed to give primary and secondary students opportunities to explore character, voice, movement and ensemble performance through age appropriate material. Teachers can use the scripts as the foundation for rehearsal and performance while also opening conversations around the themes each work explores.
For primary students, our plays offer accessible stories that can support creative learning while introducing young performers to script work and theatrical conventions.
At high school level, works such as Scenes for Teens and Dear Adults... give students material that speaks more directly to the experiences and questions of adolescence. These scripts can complement Australian Curriculum Drama learning by giving students opportunities to interpret text, make performance choices and consider how theatre communicates ideas to an audience.
They can also support connections with English through storytelling, character and the examination of different perspectives.
Pictured: The 2024 cast of our production of ‘The Playground in the Sky’
Original Theatre for Youth Companies
Our plays are also available for theatre companies looking for Australian work created specifically for young performers and audiences.
Licensing an existing Play on Stage publication gives companies the opportunity to take a proven script and bring their own creative approach to the production.
We love seeing our work find new audiences beyond Brisbane.
This October, Jopuka Youth Arts on the Central Coast is presenting a licensed season of Dear Adults... at Red Tree Theatre. Written by Virag Dombay and Harry Fritsch, the verbatim play draws on the real stories and perspectives of young people aged 6-to-18.
The production asks a simple question: what would young people say if adults genuinely stopped to listen?
Seeing another youth arts organisation take the work and introduce it to a new community is exactly the kind of continued life we hope our published plays can have.
Find the Right Play for Your Performers
Whether you are planning a school production, looking for material for a drama class or searching for your youth theatre company’s next show, we would love to help you find a script that suits your performers.
Visit our Publications page to explore the Play on Stage catalogue and learn more about the plays currently available.
You can also contact our team directly to discuss licensing one of our works for your school or theatre company.