HOW TO ORDER A READING COPY OF NOW YOU SEE ME

Now You See Me is licensed by Brooklyn Publishers. To request a perusal copy or performance rights, visit their website or call them toll free at 1-888-473-8521.


ABOUT THE PLAY

Dramedy. 22+ roles using 3+ males, 5+ females. While it is possible, in the interest of using more students, to cast a different person in each role, aside from the Boy and Girl, all roles can be multiple-cast. Many are also non-gender specific. 30-35 minutes. Multiple suggested sets.

Developed during my playwriting residency at Choate Rosemary Hall Summer Arts Conservatory, it’s designed to be performed with minimal tech and within the time constraints of Thespian and other competitions. It premiered at Oak Park High School in Kansas City (MO). A few comments from the student performers:

"This play has made me think."
"The first night we ran the whole play . . . I cried."
"Being involved in the play opened my eyes . . . This play was real to life as it could come. . . Rewarding, intellectual, challenging, helpful."
"Thank you for this inspiration."

Click here to read a wonderful article about a production of the play on the website of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations!

The City Lights Youth Theatre (New York, NY) production. Photo by Jackson Lynch.

SYNOPSIS

A teenager (played by a male and a female actor who trade off playing the main character throughout the play until they unite at the end) threatens to blow up a school but is dismissed by school officials and his own parents for not looking the part. At school, the teen is virtually invisible to his schoolmates, who ignore him as they scramble for seats in a crowded class. Even the teen’s teacher doesn’t respond to him. A trip to the guidance office is a flop, as he doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s list. Depression sets in, and a psychologist far more intent on her own problems visits the now-bedridden teen. When the teen finally gets up, she is picked out by an unsavory group of new, similarly invisible friends who burn socks in their spare time. Even this group drops her, and one final appeal for help to her oblivious parents fails. It isn’t until this moment that the male and female actors share the stage as the teenager, who returns to school to seek revenge on those who have wronged him/her.

The final tableau of the City Lights Youth Theatre production. Photo by Jackson Lynch.

A GLIMPSE OF NOW YOU SEE ME

Read the opening of NOW YOU SEE ME as a PDF file using the free Adobe Acrobat reader.