Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays

In Short

This volume is an extensive 1920 anthology bringing together fifty short plays alongside an exhaustive bibliography of the one-act form. Handpicked by its editors from over a thousand submissions and published by the Stewart & Kidd Company, the collection captures the extraordinary vitality of early twentieth-century drama across international traditions. It spans romantic comedies, biting satires, backstage farces, grim naturalistic tragedies, and poetic fantasies, offering a comprehensive cross-section of global theatrical experimentation. Within its pages, a painter confronts his wife’s former husband; a tired tenor hides from swooning admirers; a tenement mother buys a coat for her child; a doomed whaler drives his crew and wife to madness in frozen seas; and an aging Spanish couple quietly recognize each other on a park bench without revealing their past. The book has endured as an indispensable archive of modern dramatic history, showcasing how much life, conflict, and philosophy can be compressed into a single, tightly coiled act.

The Story

The anthology unfolds not as a single narrative line, but as an expansive survey of the human condition captured in miniature. Beginning with an editorial introduction that details the delicate, often agonizing process of selecting fifty representative pieces from a sea of available scripts and navigating tight copyright restrictions, the book establishes the one-act play as a vital, highly specialized art form. From there, it launches into a broad theatrical tapestry where each short piece creates its own fully realized world.

Early in the collection, domestic and romantic illusions are dissected with sharp wit and psychological precision. In Clement and Margaret’s sitting room, an aspiring female novelist proudly reveals to her fiancé that her debut book is already printed and bound for bookstalls, only for him to demand its destruction and walk out on her, leaving her to process his abrupt departure just as an old flame arrives from out of town. Elsewhere, high-society parlors and artistic studios become battlegrounds of wit. A cynicism-drenched Marquis and a poet debate whether verse is merely a clever arrangement of consonants or a vehicle for sublime truth, while in a bachelor studio, a sharp-witted wife named Francoise confronts Monsieur Guerin, a long-absent friend of her husband Marcel, deftly steering their conversation to test his loyalties and uncover the truth of their home's fragile happiness.

The collection shifts effortlessly into comedy and satire. In the chaotic dressing room of a world-famous tenor named Gerardo, the singer desperately tries to manage his packed schedule while fending off an overwhelming army of female admirers, a harried valet, and the relentless intrusions of Professor Duhring, an elderly, black-clad composer with a hooked red nose who has waited two hours on the stairs to force the tenor to listen to his unproduced opera. In another theatrical space, a chaotic rehearsal devolves into complete madness as the author Sud frantically bickers with his lead actor, Mr. Ruler, over lost lines, forgotten cues, and whether an actor's job is to remember text or simply look handsome for the box-office crowd.

As the anthology progresses, its mood turns toward darker, more naturalistic, and tragic tones. In a dimly lit Russian lodging house, snow falls silently outside the window while Praskovya, the landlady, is away at Vespers; her lazy, slippers-wearing lodger Asteryi sits down to a game of greasy cards with the servant Varvara, laying bare the suffocating monotony and quiet despair of provincial life. On a remote whaling vessel trapped in Arctic ice, an unyielding captain refuses to turn back south despite running dangerously low on food and facing imminent crew mutiny, driving his fragile wife to near-total insanity as she sits silently sewing and weeping in her cabin. In a city morgue, two attendants banter with callous indifference over the corpse of a drowned woman while a struggling young artist named Kraig argues that beauty and human dreams still matter, even in a place where death reduces everyone to equal facts.

In impoverished city tenements, the drama turns to the quiet, daily struggles of survival. A poor mother named Mrs. Lezinsky sews buttons on coats while talking with her neighbor Mrs. Rooney, agonizing over her husband Solly’s failing eyesight, the terrifying cost of an operation that might not even work, and the painful necessity of handing down boys' clothes while trying to keep her children fed. Elsewhere, a financial clash erupts between Jim Madden and his wife Florrie over her reckless spending on new shoes and cashed checks marked "no funds," exposing the crushing weight of urban poverty and unfulfilled desires.

The collection also embraces historical romance, classical parody, and poetic fable. In an ancient courtyard, a young Paris of Troy stands before King Menelaus and the cynical advisor Analytikos; having chosen love over wisdom, the young adventurer brazenly admits he is searching for the famed Queen of Sparta, unaware that the seemingly foolish, fat king before him is planning a far subtler revenge than the boiling oil or spears suggested by his courtier. In a quiet, sunny park, two elderly people, Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura, share a bench to feed bread crumbs to birds. Though both privately recognize each other as the passionate lovers of their youth, neither reveals their identity, preferring to preserve the radiant memory of the young lovers they once were rather than ruin it with the grotesque reality of old age.

The volume culminates in a meticulous, extensive reference section listing hundreds of short plays, authors, and publisher records—a silent testament to the vast, vibrant dramatic ecosystem from which these fifty pieces were chosen.

How It Unfolds

The editor's dilemma The volume opens with a frank editorial introduction outlining the monumental task of sifting through over a thousand plays, facing copyright hurdles, and resisting the urge to declare any single ideal standard for the one-act structure.

Literary ambitions and sudden exits Margaret eagerly awaits her fiancé Clement to show him her newly published novel, but when he demands she throw it into the fire and walks out on her forever, she is left stranded just as her past suitor Amandus Gilbert steps through the door.

The vanity of the stage The famous tenor Gerardo attempts to escape his overwhelming crowd of female devotees and prepare for a train departure, only to be ambushed in his room by Professor Duhring, an obsessive old composer begging for a hearing of his life's work.

Quiet Russian monotony Inside a dimly lit lodging house, the lazy lodger Asteryi plays patience with greasy cards while the servant Varvara waits for her mistress to return from church, capturing the heavy, silent isolation of provincial Russian life.

Tenement realities and failing eyes Mrs. Lezinsky sits threading needles and mending coats while confiding her worries to Mrs. Rooney, reflecting on her husband's failing eyesight, expensive operations, and the sharp contrast between raising boys in hand-me-downs and buying nice clothes for a little girl.

Domestic battles over empty accounts Jim Madden confronts his wife Florrie after discovering she cashed a bad check for expensive new shoes, laying bare the tensions of a household stretched to its financial breaking point.

The arctic descent into madness On a whaler locked in polar ice, a relentless captain refuses to head south for home, driving his crew to the brink of mutiny while his traumatized wife sits in her cabin, slowly losing her mind to the absolute silence.

Cynicism in the morgue Behind the black curtains of a city morgue, a callous attendant named Caren argues with Kraig, a starving artist, over whether human beauty, dignity, and dreams mean anything when a body is reduced to cold meat.

Rehearsal room chaos The playwright Sud frantically argues with his handsome lead actor Ruler over missing cues and cut lines, exposing the hilarious, backstage friction of producing a popular theater show.

Masks of the past in the park The elderly Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura sit together on a sunny park bench, feeding birds and exchanging pleasantries while secretly realizing who the other is, choosing to preserve their youthful romantic memories rather than expose their aged reality.

The final index The book concludes with a comprehensive, alphabetized bibliographic catalog of one-act plays and playwrights, anchoring the anthology's literary selections within the broader landscape of world drama.

The People

• Margaret: A passionate woman who has spent her life waiting for romantic fulfillment. When she secretly publishes a novel inspired by her experiences, her fiancé Clement abandons her, leaving her bewildered, heart-broken, and forced to confront her past suitor, Amandus Gilbert.
• Clement: Margaret's rigid, controlling fiancé. He views her creative independence as a direct threat to their future and abruptly terminates their engagement the moment he discovers her book has already gone to print.
• Gerardo: An internationally renowned, exhausted opera tenor. Swamped by fanatic admirers, overflowing mail trays, and demanding schedules, he views his artistic fame less as a triumph and more as an unbearable physical burden.
• Professor Duhring: An elderly, impoverished composer clad in black with a long white beard and a hooked red nose. He has sacrificed fifty years of his life to the tyranny of music and obsessively stalks Gerardo down stairwells just to secure a few minutes of attention for his unproduced opera score.
• Mrs. Lezinsky: A hardworking, practical tenement mother who mends clothing to support her family. She worries constantly about her husband Solly’s deteriorating eyesight and the ruinous cost of medical operations, balancing deep maternal warmth with the harsh necessity of extreme thrift.
• Jim Madden: A stressed, working-class husband struggling to keep his household afloat. He reaches his breaking point when his wife Florrie continues to spend money on shoes and entertainment using overdrawn checks while unpaid bills stack up around them.
• Kraig: A idealistic, starving creator working temporarily in a city morgue. He clings to the belief that art, love, and dreams retain their intrinsic beauty even in the presence of death, placing him in direct moral conflict with his hardened, pragmatic coworker Caren.
• Paris: A youthful, audacious adventurer who chooses romantic desire over practical wisdom. Unafraid of royal authority, he sneaks into the Spartan palace seeking a glimpse of Queen Helen, completely unaware that the unassuming man listening to his boasts is King Menelaus himself.
• Don Gonzalo & Dona Laura: Two elderly strangers who meet on a sunny park bench. Once passionate young lovers separated by time, both privately recognize the other through subtle gestures, but both choose to maintain their disguise to keep their cherished memories of youth intact.

In Its Own Voice

"I make poems / The way your seamstresses make your dresses." — A poet demystifies his craft during a sharp verbal duel with a Marquise over the nature of romantic verse.

"There is no doubt. It is he." — Dona Laura realizes in a private aside that the old man sitting near her on the park bench is the long-lost lover of her youth.

"This is one place where you get down to facts; truth. No lies, no frills, no dreams. Dreams don't count ... Money don't count. Power don't count ... beauty don't count. Nothing counts." — Caren, a hardened morgue worker, lectures his reflective colleague Kraig on the absolute equality of death.

What It's Really About

At its core, the collection examines the profound tension between external masks and internal truths. Because the one-act play demands extreme concentration, these scripts bypass long expository setups to focus directly on moments of sharp crisis where character facades crumble. Time and again, the plays ask how individuals cope when their idealized visions of love, success, or duty collide with unforgiving realities.

A major recurring theme is the cost of artistic and romantic obsession. Whether it is an old composer surrendering fifty years of his life to write an unheard opera, a sailor driving his wife to madness in pursuit of Arctic whale oil, or a woman sacrificing her engagement for the sake of her published words, the anthology repeatedly highlights how human passions can consume the very lives they are meant to enrich.

Furthermore, the volume acts as a sociological study of class, survival, and vanity. Across its varied settings—from gilded Parisian boudoirs to snowy Russian flats and cramped New York tenements—the plays demonstrate that whether one is arguing over social etiquette or the cost of a winter coat, humans are fundamentally driven by the same basic needs for connection, recognition, and self-preservation.

Why Read It Today

This anthology offers a rare, unfiltered look into a transformative era of world theater. For modern readers, directors, and actors, it functions as both a rich dramatic sampler and a masterclass in compressed storytelling. Reading these plays feels like stepping into a series of distinct, fully inhabited rooms; each script delivers an immediate, potent atmosphere within a matter of minutes.

The collection does carry the distinct markers of its era. Readers will encounter period-specific dialect spellings, older theatrical stage directions, Victorian romantic tropes, and occasional social attitudes typical of 1920 publishing standards. Yet these historical elements add to the book's charm rather than diminish it, providing an authentic window into how early twentieth-century playwrights grappled with modern life.

What lingers long after closing the book is the sheer variety of human experience packed into its pages. It reminds us that a great dramatic story does not require five acts or elaborate sets; all it needs is a single room, two contrasting human wills, and a moment where everything changes.