Need a show that’s big on laughs but easy to stage? Small-cast comedies are a smart pick for schools and theatres with limited resources or short timelines. Whether it’s a two-hander or a tight-knit ensemble, these crowd-pleasing titles keep things simple backstage while delivering serious fun onstage.
Small-Cast Comedies
God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton
A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.
Cast: 2 men, 2 women
Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector
The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: representation, acceptance, social justice. In weekly meetings Eureka Day’s five board members develop and update policy to preserve this culture of inclusivity, reaching decisions only by consensus. But when a mumps outbreak threatens the Eureka community, facts become subjective and every solution divisive, leaving the school’s leadership to confront the central question of our time: How do you build consensus when no one can agree on truth?
Cast: 2 men, 3 women
The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson
Four beautiful, badass women lose their heads in this irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen (and fan of ribbons) Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle hang out, murder Marat, and try to beat back the extremist insanity in 1793 Paris. This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go about changing the world. It’s a true story. Or total fiction. Or a play about a play. Or a raucous resurrection…that ends in a song and a scaffold.
Cast: 4 women
The Cottage by Sandy Rustin
Sylvia and Beau find themselves in an English countryside cottage for their yearly rendezvous, and Sylvia knows this time it will be the beginning of their new life together. But when Beau demurs on a shared future, and their spouses arrive at the cottage, she realizes that this home-away-from-home is a refuge for determining a new path forward. With a tip of the hat to Noël Coward and sex comedies of the past, The Cottage offers a perfect showcase for six actors with endless laughs, hilarious twists, daring physical comedy, and a happy ending for lovers everywhere.
Cast: 3 men, 3 women
Now and Then by Sean Grennan
Sometimes what happens after last call just might change your life. One night in 1981, just as Jamie is closing the bar where he works, a desperate last-minute customer offers him and his girlfriend Abby two thousand dollars to sit and have a drink with him. Who wouldn’t take it? As the trio swaps stories and Jamie considers the decisions he faces about his musical career and his future with his girlfriend Abby. the young couple begins to realize that this older man is unusually invested in their choices… and the reason he gives them is completely unbelievable. But when a very displeased second stranger arrives, the unbelievable begins to look like it just might be true. Now and Then is a heartfelt romantic comedy about the costs of the choices we make, and the people who make them with us.
Cast: 2 men, 2 women
An Old-Fashioned Family Murder by Joe DiPietro
A murder. A mystery. A mother. It’s a dark and stormy night at the mansion of elderly Colonel Claythorne, and the pompous murder-mystery author Arthur Whittington is holding court with the Colonel’s family: his eldest daughter, Clarice, who is cold and glamorous; Clarice’s attractive fiancé, Jasper; Claythorne’s youngest daughter, Dotty, who is a big fan of Whittington’s; and Mrs. Shirley Peck, an unassuming but keenly observant visiting widow. When Whittington shares the news that the Colonel has modified his will to cut out one of his daughters—though which daughter won’t be revealed until the Colonel’s death—tempers flare. By the time Mrs. Peck’s son, (junior) Detective Paul Peck arrives at the house, there’s been a murder, and everyone is a suspect. With backstabbing, love, and Mrs. Peck’s mother-knows-best advice complicating the investigation, it soon becomes clear that nothing—and no one—is what it seems.
Cast: 3 men, 3 women
The Savannah Sipping Society by Jones Hope Wooten
In this laugh-out-loud comedy, four Southern women—each facing major life changes—form an unexpected bond over happy hour and heartache. As they navigate career setbacks, loss, betrayal, and reinvention, they find friendship, fun, and a fresh start. Full of humor, misadventures, and Southern charm, this Jones Hope Wooten favorite proves it’s never too late to reclaim your joy—or make new old friends.
Cast: 4 women
‘Art’ by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton
How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art? One of Marc’s best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It’s about five feet by four, all white with white diagonal lines. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn’t have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: “Go on.” This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms the power of those bonds.
Cast: 3 men
