Usher  —  A Totally Teen Comedy     Usher  —  A Totally Teen Comedy


Cast:  Flexible cast of 24
Set:  One interior set
Time:  About 80 minutes

Script:  $6.00
Royalty:  $50 First performance/$40 Each additional performance

The works of Edgar Allan Poe are bone-chilling, dark, depressing — nevermore, quoth the raven!  This skillful adaptation takes a grand mix of Poes writing and characters and weaves them together into a teen-savvy comedy loosely based on The Fall of the House of Usher but with more laughs and a much brighter ending.  After the bus breaks down on a dark and stormy night, a bunch of high school students on a field trip are forced to spend the night in the spooky house of Usher.  But theyre not alone!  The spirits of Usher ancestors haunt the halls, cursed to stay trapped in the house forever, unless someone helps the last surviving Usher find the will to truly live life.  Along with a healthy dose of entertaining teen drama, Usher touches on some weighty issues that haunt the nightmares of most teens — isolation, loneliness, suicide and peer pressure.  But lighten up, its a comedy after all!  With characters drawn from classics such as The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell Tale Heart, Annabel Lee and some lesser-known works, there are countless winks, nudges and nods to the Master of Horror.  The House of Usher doesnt fall at the end in this show, but Usher will bring down yours!

Other titles you may like:
Beowulf:  User Friendly
Cry Of The Banshee
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
The Prince and the Pauper
Twain's Tales
Click here to preview the cast list and production notes
Click here to view a slide show from a previous production

Ask the playwright a question
Flip Kobler



Ask the playwright a question
Cindy Marcus



Other products you might be interested in:

The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide
The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide
Written specifically for the middle school or high school drama director, this book is about how one person can run a successful extracurricular drama program.



Will Power
Actors need never again be confused about where to begin when developing a Shakespearean role!  Clear stepping stones have been laid out before them...  by Shakespeare himself!
Will Power