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Home > Browse > Bestsellers > The Giver

The Giver

(Two-Act Version)

Adapted by Eric Coble from the Newbery Award-winning book by Lois Lowry.

Product Code: GC9000

Full-length Play

Drama

Cast size: 4m., 4w., extras as desired or 4m., 2w. with doubling, extras as desired.

No Livestream or Record and Stream Rights Available

Rights and availability

This title can be licensed and sold throughout the World.

* Please note the royalty rate listed is the minimum royalty rate per performance. The actual royalty rate will be determined upon completion of a royalty application.

Script use

Available Formats

Print Script

$11.95

In Stock

Digital Script

$11.95

(Unprintable)

Min. Royalty Rate: $110.00/perf

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Synopsis

Jonas' world is perfect. Everything is under control and safe. There is no war or fear or pain. There are also no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. But when Jonas turns 12, he is chosen for special training from The Giver—to receive and keep the memories of the community. The Giver is the only person who holds the memories of real pain and real joy. Now Jonas will learn the truth about life—and the hypocrisy of his utopian world. Through this astonishing and moving adaptation, discover what it means to grow up, to grow wise, and to take control of your own destiny. The Giver was commissioned by Oregon Children's Theatre and has played to sold-out audiences at such theatres as Oregon Children's Theatre, First Stage Milwaukee, The Coterie Theatre, People's Light and Theatre Company, Dallas Children's Theater, Stages Repertory, Nashville Children's Theatre, Lexington Children's Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, and Indiana Repertory Theatre.

Notes

No Livestream or Record and Stream Rights Available

Read an Excerpt

Details

Status In stock
Type of Show Full-length Play
Product Code GC9000
Minimum Cast Size 6
Pages of Dialogue 64
Min. Royalty Rate $110.00/perf
Approx. Run Time 90 min
Staging Unit set.

Customer Reviews

The show was perfect for my middle schoolers. The audience loved it!

Charlene Hartley, Eastern Heights Middle School, Elyria, Ohio

This is one of the best book to stage adaptations I've ever read or produced.

Georgia Guy, ThinkTank Theatre, INC, Riverview, Fla.

This was a wonderful production to reopen our theatre after a year of being closed. The themes are so timely. We also had a wonderful collaboration with the local library in promoting the play, the book it is based on and the three follow-up books.

Trinity Bird, The Sauk, Jonesville, Mich.

This was wonderful! We very much enjoyed performing The Giver. We layered music and sound effects for each memory and paired them with specific lighting, and the results were really nice!

Kathleen Evans, Plymouth Public Schools, Plymouth, Mass.

As a community theatre producing this show we felt it was a perfect fit because it utilizes actors of all ages and a lot of patrons recognized the name. We had actors as young as 7 all the way through 87 which made up all the members of the community. We highly recommend this show for any community theatre.

Jeremiah W. Dunmyer, Sikeston Little Theatre, Sikeston, Mo.

Our cast, crew, and community loved this show! We teach the novel in our district, and the script is so compelling and true to the storyline. The storyline is nice and "tight," no wasted scenes. Many people told us after the first act, they felt like they'd only been in the theater for 15 minutes and couldn't believe it'd been closer to an hour.

Katherine Laack, Pine Island High School, Pine Island, Minn.

Hints, Tips, and Tricks

... The Two-act version was appropriately challenging for my students, and there were plenty of opportunities to get the less confident or less experienced actors on stage in various "fill in" roles. My kids had a blast creating the sound effects tech for the play, and it was a perfect training play for teaching 7-8 graders to run the mic board and lights. The simplicity of the set design contributed to the success of play as well. My more experienced actors/actresses enjoyed the challenges involved in character development throughout the play. All in all, this is well written and very doable for MS/HS.

Laura Etheridge-Reese, Woodland Middle School, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

From a technical standpoint, the set, props, and costumes were quite easy. Everything was gray. I added little pops of color once Jonas could start seeing the color red by using clip in hair extensions for Fiona and a slight of hand for the apple. Sound cues are what really helped the plot when Jonas received his memories from the Giver. The show worked really well in a small intimate space. Eric Coble did a great job with the script! My students read this book in sixth grade and had already done a lot with discussing literary elements, which made my direction of the show a little easier.

Charlene Hartley, Eastern Heights Middle School, Elyria, Ohio

I would recommend remote control LED lights for the Apple light change (pretty cheap to buy on Amazon). Just make sure Asher has the remote on his belt, as the range for the remote is pretty small.

Kathleen Evans, Plymouth Public Schools, Plymouth, Mass.

Finding a way to do the scene changes fluidly and the memories convincingly is the key to making this show work. We used A LOT of lighting and sound effects, but projection would work brilliantly if you have the capabilities. The element of color is also extremely important. We made dozens of grey tone and colored books that could be interchanged on our set, and the effect was striking.

Katherine Laack, Pine Island High School, Pine Island, Minn.

Production Map

Location	City	State	Opens	Closes
Santiam Christian Schools	Adair Village	OR	05/15/2025	05/17/2025
Thompson Church on the Square	Thompson	OH	07/25/2025	07/26/2025
Oak Ridge High School	Oak Ridge	TN	09/11/2025	09/14/2025
Old Town Playhouse	Traverse City	MI	04/16/2026	04/18/2026

Downloads

File Description	File Format
Performance Poster	pdf	Download

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