A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Makin' It

Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  13w, 10m

This is a play about the ordinary kids you see walking down any hallway in any school. Yet, for all their travails, the kids come to understand their own inner
difficulties and how, truly they are all the same, searching both to
understand and accept themselves, as they strive to make it through
four years of high school.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    13w, 10m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Suggested Use
    • Monologues
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary

Makin' It is a story of people high school students interact with daily. Yes, there are the jocks, the nerds, the popular girls, but none of them are stereotypes. This is a play about the ordinary kids you see walking down any hallway in any school. A good kid, a bit baffled by high school, but trying his or her best to make it through. There's the girl who wants desperately to look like the models in Seventeen, and the football player who must protect his mother and sister from his father's wrath. There's the girl who lost weight, yet when she looks in the mirror, it's the old self she sees. There's the guy who always lands in detention, who has a surprising warmth for the other "misfit" students, and the principal who tries his best to navigate the ever shifting changes of young people. There's Monica, too innocent to know when a cruel practical joke is being played on her, and there's Libby, the girl who tries to keep her intellectual bent a secret, afraid no one will like "a smart girl." And there's the rich kid, who finds out his money will buy neither real friendship or loyalty. Yet, for all their travails, the kids come to understand their own inner difficulties and how, truly they are all the same, searching both to understand and accept themselves, as they strive to make it through four years of high school. At the heart of Makin' It are a number of monologues in which characters step out of the action to address their thoughts to the audience.

Also available as a musical.

History
Makin' It was originally presented at Urbandale High School, in Urbandale, Iowa.

SCOTT BARROWS
HUNTER DUNBAR
KARL SWANSON
BUZZARD FISHBECK
VINCE CARNELLI
ED BARROWS
HOWIE
TRAVIS
ALEX
LEN
BROOKE BENEDICT
BURNOUT
LIBBY
JEN
PAT
BARB
SHARON
MONICA
CORLY BARROWS
BEV BARROWS
SYBIL DUNBAR
MRS. COZLOWE
MS. HEALY
ANNOUNCEMENT VOICE

Sybil Dunbar and Ms. Healy may double as students. We cover most of the high school sterotypes, but with a difference -
these characters are real, in their pain, and their eventual acceptance
of themselves.

  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Additional Features Not Applicable
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

The directors of the show, the performers, and the audience, have consistently provided feedback about how real the situations are,  how realatable the characters. Some students have said the theme of the play has helped them to  greater awareness of their own struggles as they go through school. 

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)
  • Chorus Size N/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

Add-Ons

Take a look below at how you can enhance your show!

Authors

Cynthia Mercati

Cynthia Mercati has had shows performed in each of the fifty US states, as well as Australia and Canada. Many of her plays are published by Samuel French. As Playwright-in-Residence at the Des Moines, Iowa, Playhouse, Ms. Mercait wrote a show each season for Actors on Tou ...
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