Set your story during rehearsals for a production of a Shakespeare play.

Posted in High School on Jun 28, 2024

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✍️ 29 stories

“Cast of Characters” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #257

“You have to tell him, Jackie.” “Actually, I don’t have to,” came the quick response. “He deserves to know,” Robin whispered urgently. Dipping her paintbrush into the newly opened can, Jackie thought once again how strongly she disagreed with her friend’s statement. After the way he had treated her, he didn’t deserve anything. *** “Again, Anthony. Read the line like you actually mean it.” “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear… that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops,” he read the words scribbled on the scrap of paper. “Thos...

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“Chasing Juliet” by Jane Andrews

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #257

“You should totally go for it,” Artie says, giving my shoulder a squeeze as we stand gazing at the poster on the school’s bulletin board. ‘Romeo and Juliet – auditions this Thursday after school,’ the words proclaim. “Me?” My voice is the frightened squeak of a small animal cornered by a predator. Why would I want to put myself through the embarrassment and almost certain humiliation of something like that? &...

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“The Prince Of Cats” by Sean Early

Submitted to Contest #257

"Your coffee, sir." She said, cringing at the honorific. . Melody had started the day in hopes that she'd stand up for herself, she'd even practiced in the mirror. But only ten minutes into today's rehearsal and she already had caved in. She felt pathetic. "It's about goddamn time!" The director snapped while snatching the cup from her grip with force. Melody felt the eyes of the entire cast falling onto her. Some searing with hate, judging her as a kiss-ass, some looking with pangs of sympathy. Mercutio was laying across the stage, mock eat...

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“Ruins of Jealousy” by Fern Everton

Submitted to Contest #257

CW: The piece contains some profanity and themes of someone going insane. It also has spoilers for Othello if you do not know the full story. Viewer discretion is advised. (Full disclosure, I am not someone who participates in theater, so I apologize if my depictions are inaccurate) “Duke, if I hear you say ‘we have’ instead of ‘have we’ one more time, I’m taking you out of the show. You know the line! Say it correctly!” I bite my bottom lip to resist shouting at Duke as the director chastises him yet again. The sour taste of bloo...

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“The Costume Rebellion” by Sue Switzer

Submitted to Contest #257

"Okay, folks, I have heard more than enough. You are really getting on my last nerve. Meet me in the Green Room in five." I was beginning to seriously regret agreeing to serve as the costumer for the local high school's spring Drama Club production. In an abrupt departure from traditional comedies and musicals, the faculty advisor, Jeff Martin, had chosen Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet based on the extraordinary level of talent that he had observed throughout the school year. There was some serious push-back from the school's administration ...

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“The Couch of Timeless Love” by Giuliana Sica

Submitted to Contest #257

The Couch of Timeless LoveMount Bald Eagle High, known for its mediocre sports teams, cafeteria food that tasted like barf, and surprisingly excellent drama program, was in the midst of a cataclysmic uproar. Mr. Bard, with his uncanny resemblance to the aforementioned bald eagle, and his eccentric but passionate teaching, was determined to bring the magic of Shakespeare to the lives of his perennially dormant students.One of those students was a young teenager named Max. Max loved caterpillars, and the idea of hiding inside a cocoon for eter...

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“Mike and Lisa” by Cassin Villa-Lobos

Submitted to Contest #257

"To be, or not to be, that is the question." "That is really the question now, isn't it?" I sigh despondently. Currently questioning my entire life. "Oh God, Mags, not this again." My buddy Jeff hangs his head in his hands. "We had your existential crisis last night. All night, when we were supposed to be rehearsing lines." We are playing Ophelia and Laertes in our community theatre's production of Hamlet. He turns back to the stage to watch Patrick deliver his lines perfectly. "Or to take arms agains a sea of troubles, and by opposing e...

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“The Understudy” by Skott's Ghost

Submitted to Contest #257

Half an hour has passed, and the entire cast's seething resentment towards Owen, the now former actor of main character Hamlet, remains unabated. Owen was expelled after allegedly disfiguring a fellow student in a horrifying act of bullying that shook the entire campus since the news broke out. To make matters worst, the expulsion occurred as the cast began wrapping up the final chapter of the famous Shakespeare tragedy, which means they have to start all the way over from the beginning, and a new actor needed to be picked, dragging Director...

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“Too Like the Lightning” by Cristina Otero

Submitted to Contest #257

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of plague, it was the age of plague, it was the epoch of no sword control, it was epoch of no gun control, it was the season of theater box-office hits and flops, it was the season of movie theater box-office hits and flops, it was the summer of my love, it was the winter of our discontent, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we had made substantial progress, we had made no progress—in short, it was modern times and Elizabethan England and we were all goin...

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“Men Like Macbeth” by Fritz Crow

Submitted to Contest #257

Virgil had risen above the actors. The air was cooler up in the fly space. Musty, metallic, muted. Macbeth (Michael) was stumbling over his lines below. Virgil had wanted to be an actor. Now he had loftier goals. His thin arms trembled as he reached for the batten above him to steady himself. His entire body swayed with his every movement like a bough of a half-felled tree despite four crew members below holding the base of the lift steady. The cold batten provided no assurance in his slick grip, as it was suspended in the fly space with ste...

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“The Ghost in The Black Box Theater” by Kacie Foos

Submitted to Contest #257

It was a warm sunny day in London. I had just left a market and had my sandwich in hand and script in the other. I made my way up the street to my theater school nervously repeating my lines in my head.Today was my final rehearsal of 'The Scottish Play', known to most as 'Macbeth', with my scene partner Houston, and my Drama Teacher, who shall be known as D.T. We had been assigned the schools Black Box theater as our rehearsal space. This was an area of the school I was not familiar with.The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art was a large school f...

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“Sometimes, A Good Teacher is All You Need” by TC Cook

Submitted to Contest #257

The stage lights come down and focus on Tim Setty as he prepares to give Iago’s famous soliloquy from Othello, the part he had been dreading the most. The spotlights burn through him as a nervous sweat starts forming on his brow. His knees buckle and, in a flash, all of his next few lines leave his head. He scrambles and pauses trying to remember and blurt out anything. “And what’s he then…that says I play…the villain?When this advice…is free I give…and honest,Probal to thing… sorry to thinking…and indeed the courseTo win…” “Cut!” a strong ...

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“Juliet's Judgement” by Ariel Hittle

Submitted to Contest #257

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; so Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which…” As the words trailed off, so did the attention of all those surrounding the stage. Silence, lasting five seconds. Five seconds of agonizing need to recall words that weren’t surfacing. “Cut!” Mr. Wellington's voice echoed throughout the empty auditorium as all the crew flinched. “Cut, cut, cut!” Stepping away from the set, I refused to raise my eyes to the level of his face. I h...

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“Love's Labour” by Simone Ellis

Submitted to Contest #257

Christopher stomps forward towards the stage.“Bah! This meant to be a tragedy of romance, but you just keep making it a comedy of errors.”First the scenery was a fiasco and now his Juliet is squeamish about the possibility of having to kiss Romeo. Amateurs! Amateurs; therein lies the rub, working with amateurs. He was made for greater things than trying to wrangle the beauty of Shakespeare out of pubescent mouths. Bah, what whinging through reminiscence breaks? Ah, but it is his Juliet once again. Of course,“…but him? Can’t we just, like, I ...

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“Rosaline's Role” by Rachel Williams

Submitted to Contest #257

There were a couple of things in Rosaline Dawson’s life that she knew to be true.One, was that she was born to play a role in Romeo and Juliet. Not only did her own name make it seem like fate, but ever since she had joined the drama group at Eastview Academy, she had wanted to begin furthering her talents as an actress. It was her dream to become a star and ‘tread the boards’, as a seasoned actor might say and, what better way to do that than being the star in one of the most iconic plays than the bard himself?The second thing the teen knew...

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Set your story during rehearsals for a production of a Shakespeare play.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 29 stories

“Cast of Characters” by Hannah Lynn

“Chasing Juliet” by Jane Andrews

“The Prince Of Cats” by Sean Early

“Ruins of Jealousy” by Fern Everton

“The Costume Rebellion” by Sue Switzer

“The Couch of Timeless Love” by Giuliana Sica

“Mike and Lisa” by Cassin Villa-Lobos

“The Understudy” by Skott's Ghost

“Too Like the Lightning” by Cristina Otero

“Men Like Macbeth” by Fritz Crow

“The Ghost in The Black Box Theater” by Kacie Foos

“Sometimes, A Good Teacher is All You Need” by TC Cook

“Juliet's Judgement” by Ariel Hittle

“Love's Labour” by Simone Ellis

“Rosaline's Role” by Rachel Williams

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story named after, and inspired by, one of Shakespeare's plays. Think modern retellings, metanarratives, subversions, etc.

Write your story in the form of a script, complete with stage directions.

Write a story in which a case of mistaken identity plays a pivotal role.

Write a story about a tragic hero.

Contest #257

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

215

Contest entries

79

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: