Well, hopefully this website can help you find an answer to that question, because I sure don't know. It really depends on who you are and what you like. Who is your audience? What is your mission?
I've written plays for many different venues, and the perfect show for one theatre company may not be so perfect for another.
So take a look around. Peruse the catalogues. Read the reviews. Browse through the pictures in the photo album, and let me know what you think.
In the meantime - since you asked - I thought I'd take this opportunity to put in a good word for a few of my personal favorites from among the lesser known plays on this website. They may not be as famous as their famous cousins, but you might enjoy some of these underlooked masterpieces...
If you're just looking for a little fun, I highly recommend
the Dick Piston plays.
There's no big "message" here. Just constant silliness
and a lot of really fun roles. Audience and cast members alike seem to have
a blast with these plays which are written in short 10-minute "episodes"
so they can be chopped up and arranged into one-acts or full length plays,
late night serials, or performed as individual pieces in a longer program.
Don't let the title fool you:
Poona the Fuckdog and other plays for children is fun
for the whole family!
Sure, there's naughty words in the title,
but that's because of a subplot
about censorship
which requires adult language.
Other than that,
the show is nothing but nonstop tomfoolery.
Actors love it, because almost every role is a scene-stealer,
and audience and critics
can't seem to get enough of it, either.
Productions of Poona have set
box office records
almost everywhere it is performed,
and the critical acclaim has been unlike anything
I've ever seen.
...Now if only producers could get past the title.
Whenever I sit in on auditions for Ring Cycle! The Musical,
I laugh my patoot off. In my humble opinion, this may be the
funniest thing I have ever written.
Unfortunately, the show debuted at almost exactly the same time
that another Wagner spoof was flopping on Broadway,
so a lot of folks get the two confused, and refuse to give this one a second glance.
But the truth is
whenever it has seen the light of day
this show has done extremely well.
The absurd script (by yours truly) and the "ingenious" score (by classical composer
Larrance Fingerhut) combine to give Ring Cycle! the unique ability to appeal
to people of all brows (high and low).
Princess Gray and the Black/White Knight is currently one of my favorite children's plays.
It was written while I was still working on the popular UBU trilogy,
so it has a lot of the same over-the-top, rowdy attitude, but
with an even more flexible cast and more roles for girls.
With the possible exception of the two knights, this play could probably be
performed with an all female cast.
And if you're looking for a musical for young actors, I would heartily suggest
Elephans which is another large cast show, which has the added distinction of
having no gender-specific characters
at all. The songs are beautiful and some of them are quite moving, and the story
(about a planet of alien beings who learn to communicate even though they don't share the same language)
has a great moral. The show also has very few scenic requirements, making
it an excellent play to produce on a small budget.