The 10 Most-Produced High School Plays and Musicals of 2022–2023 (2024)

Education NewsThe 10 Most-Produced High School Plays and Musicals of 2022–2023

This year's survey also measured the impact of censorship on school theatre departments during the past school year.

The Educational Theatre Association has unveiled its list of the most-produced plays, musicals, and short plays in U.S. high schools during the 2022-2023 school year, the result of a survey that has been conducted annually since 1938.

Frequent chart topperThe Addams Family was back on top for the musicalsthis year, dethroning last year's winner and this year's runner up,Mamma Mia!New to this year's full-length musicals list wereMeanGirls:High School Version, released by Music Theatre International just last fall; andChicago:Teen Edition. The former ranked number 10, whileChicago came in eighth on the list.

This year's list is the second totrack short musicals, with full-length winner's short adaptation,The Addams Family Young@Part, making the list for the first time ranking ninth.Disney's Frozen JR. came in first for the second year in a row, followed by Roald Dahl's Matilda: The Musical JR. and Disney's Newsies JR. This list was again dominated by MTI's Broadway Junior collection, which adapts Broadway musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged actors—Theatrical Rights Worldwide'sThe Addams Family Young@Part was the sole title not from the Broadway catalogue.

The most produced play of the year was Clue—a title the work has held for now four years—followed by Puffs, A Midsummer Night's Dream,The Play That Goes Wrong, andRadium Girls.List mainstay Almost, Maine dropped to the sixth position, with Thornton Wilder'sOur Town falling short of the top 10 after placing on almost every list since its inception in 1938. Playwright Don Zolidis continues to dominate the most-produced short plays, with his10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse tying with JonathanRand's Check Please for the top spot. The play is one of five Zolidis works to make the list this year.

The survey also tracked school theatre programs facing increased scrutiny on selection of material. The survey reports 30% being aware of student, parent, or administrative concerns about their play or musical selections during the 2022-2023 school year, though just 6% reported being asked to switch to a different title and 4% went through with a change. Cancellations were pretty rare this past school year, affecting only 1% of responding educators. Concerns about this growing trend were another story, with 85% of respondents reporting concern about censorship and 67% saying that those concerns are affecting their selections for the upcoming school year.

"Teachers know that they need to be strategic and mindful about what they're putting on their stages," says EdTA executive director Dr. Jennifer Katona. "They're making choices that will allow them to keep their theatre programs. Theatre has always been a safe space for a lot of our students, but with the increasing concerns about censorship, it's become even more important for educators to navigate these challenges and ensure that diverse voices and perspectives are represented so that our stages can be a safe space for all students."

In better news, school theatre seems to be slowly rebounding from the pandemic. Schools presented an average of 11 performances last school year, an increase of one from the year prior, and audience size went up by 13%. Both of these figuresare an increase from the 2018-2019 school year, the most recent to not be affected by the pandemic.

Take a look at the complete list of the most-produced shows at high schools in the 2021-2022 school year:

FULL-LENGTH PLAYS:
1. Clue (Sandy Rustin, Hunter Foster, and Eric Price), Broadway Licensing (BL)
2. Puffs (Matt Cox), CT
3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Shakespeare), public domain
4. (tie)The Play That Goes Wrong (Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields), BL
4. (tie)Radium Girls (D.W. Gregory), Dramatic Publishing (DP)
6. Almost, Maine (John Cariani), BL
7. (tie)Peter and the Starcatcher (Rick Elice and Wayne Barker), MTI
7. (tie)She Kills Monsters:Young Adventurer's Edition(Qui Nguyen), CT
9. Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), Various
10. 12 Angry Jurors (Reginald Rose), DP

SHORT PLAYS:
1. (tie) 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse (Don Zolidis), BL
1. (tie)Check Please (Jonathan Rand), BL
3. The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon (One-Act) (Don Zolidis), BL
4.Bad Auditions by Bad Actors (Ian McWethy), BL
5.The One-Act Play Disaster (Dan Zolidis), BL
6.Too Much Light Makes Baby Go Blind (Greg Allen), BL
7.13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview (Ian McWethy), BL
8.(tie) Our Place (Terry Wayne Gabbard), DP
8. (tie)Tracks (Peter Tarsi), DP
10. (tie)The 9 Worst Breakups of All Time (Ian McWethy), BL
10. (tie)15 Reasons Not to Be in a Play (Alan Haehnel), BL
10. (tie)Game of Tiaras (One-Act) (Don Zolidis), BL
10. (tie)The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza (One-Act) (Don Zolidis), BL

The Educational Theatre Association houses both the Educational Theatre Foundation and the International Thespian Society and works to support, celebrate, and increase access to theatre education.

For more on the 2022-2023 survey, visit SchoolTheatre.org.