Happy Daze
By William Gleason.
Product Code: H36000
Full-length Play
Comedy
Cast size: 16m., 17w. (less with doubling.)
Livestream and Record & 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.
Synopsis
Julien Thaddeus Springer—J.T. for short—tries to make it as an athlete and, even more importantly, he tries to make it as a person who might interest some girl—any girl! J.T.'s problems begin to upset his home life and his parents exile him to his room. There's nothing in that room for him except a television set, and he begins watching "nostalgia" programs, set in what seems to him a much happier time. He becomes convinced that he's a 1950s personality trapped in the body of a modern teenager. To escape the unhappiness of his real world, he creates a make-believe world—a town called Oakdale, in the 1950s—and in Oakdale he's not a weirdo! In fact, he's someone special. In a climactic scene, J.T. fights through his problem and comes back prepared to cope with the real world of today.
Notes
Livestream and Record & Stream Rights Available
Details
- Status In stock
- Type of Show Full-length Play
- Product Code H36000
- Minimum Cast Size 33
- Pages of Dialogue 85
- Min. Royalty Rate $90.00/perf
- Approx. Run Time 60 min
- Staging Bare stage w/props.
Categories
- Target Audience High School | Family (all ages)
- Performing Group High School | Community Theatre
- Genre Comedy
- ISBN(13) 9780871292629
Customer Reviews
Happy Daze is a great play to do as a high school production. The audience and the crew both appreciated the message the play delivered.
This story takes the audience on a tour of an awkward high schooler's life. While J. T. creates an imaginary 50's world, his character's friends bring him back to reality where he can't escape who he really is. Great for middle school.
Happy Daze is a hidden secret from Dramatic Publishing. Audiences really appreciate the message of accepting each person for who they are and not what we want them to be. Awesome statement! Easily staged, simple set.
Funny and poignant all at the same time. Our audiences loved it.
Hints, Tips, and Tricks
We really worked hard at incorporating 1950's dance into the play.
Use a live band for dance sequences and scene transitions. J.T. and Dad should be in the diner/malt shop for the last scene involving J.T.'s dreamworld (right after the dance sequence). Utilize extras for malt shop scenes. Have Slick carry a hub cap in.
We were able to use 40 students in the cast! We used extras in the classroom, movie theater, maltshop, Little League game, and for a big dance number in the school gym. It's great to have a straight play that can include that many kids.
Also By These Authors
William Bauerfeind, Old Orchard Junior High School, Skokie, Ill.