800-448-7469 Mon-Fri 8:30am - 5:00pm CST

Cart

Ship times are not guaranteed. Learn More.

Same Day Shipping [+]

ALL

All

By Title By Author By Page

Browse

One Act Plays Full Length Plays Musicals Musicals with Accompaniment CDs Collections Scenes and Monologues

Discover

Livestream Titles Digital Scripts New In Print 1-Person Plays Radio Plays Bestsellers Holiday Children's Favorites Competition Titles AATE Award Recipients

Authors

Resources

Logo Packs Books

Help

Livestreaming FAQs Digital Script FAQs Licensing and Royalties Producing a Play 101 Producing a Musical 101 Cutting & Special Permissions 101

About Us

Updated To Kill A Mockingbird Statement About DPC Contact DPC Conferences Affiliates

Home > Browse > Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope

By Ray Bradbury.

Product Code: K20000

Full-length Play

Cast size: 7m. or 7w.

Limited Streaming Rights Available

Rights and availability

This title can be licensed and sold throughout the World.

* Please note the royalty rate listed is the minimum royalty rate per performance. The actual royalty rate will be determined upon completion of a royalty application.

Apply for rights

Save for later

Synopsis

What would you do if you were a million miles from Earth and your rocket ship was hit by a meteor and suddenly split open, leaving you floating in space with only your communicator to link you to your six crew members? Don't know? Faced with this problem, Bradbury's people contemplate their fate and philosophize about life and its purpose. This play is not only a director's dream of possibilities but also a marvelous chance for actors to dig into their beings and face questions of profound magnitude.

Notes

Limited Streaming Rights Available

Details

Status In stock
Type of Show Full-length Play
Product Code K20000
Minimum Cast Size 7
Pages of Dialogue 35
Min. Royalty Rate $110.00/perf
Approx. Run Time 50 min
Staging Bare stage with props.

Customer Reviews

This show adapted wonderfully to an online environment. It's also only about 35 minutes long, which most viewers seem to prefer, but it could easily be paired with something else for a longer evening. Post-show discussion was also lively.

Tara Enedy, Altoona Community Theatre, Altoona, Pa.

Actors loved this show. Lots of good, meaningful character stuff for them to dig into. Our audiences were also moved by the show. "Intense" was one parent review.

Eric Holsen, South St. Paul Public Schools, South St. Paul, Minn.

My cast, crew and I truly enjoyed this show. It has nuances in the script that can bring out the best in the actors and technical challenges for director and tech crew but if done right, creates a moving story that's quite different from most other plays just by its setting.

Michael Moore, Yantis High School, Yantis, Texas

Kaleidoscope allows the actors and audience members to evaluate their own mortality. Suspense, silence, and emotion all lead to a riveting conclusion for the members of Space Flight Apollo 99. My cast was challenged by the subject matter as well as staging. They had to be able to articulate a character without use of their bodies (as they were floating in space).

Kristen Williams, Tunstall High School, Dry Fork, Va.

Excellent script! The teens find the material challenging and very emotional. I have never heard such silent listening from the audience. Bradbury's themes stand out as strongly today as when this was written.

Darlene Lentz, Sand/Storybook Theater Center, Deland, Fla.

Hints, Tips, and Tricks

We used painters coveralls for the astronaut suits - sewed NASA patches onto them. White gloves and painter's booties completed the look. When they put their "helmets" on it was just a matter of popping on the hoodie. The set was acting blocks. When the ship exploded, the actors moved the blocks to lights pre-placed on the stage (flat LED pars, and a party light for Applegate's kaleidoscope meteor swarm). Actors were each lit with their own light which went out when their character died. Some actors stood on the block, others in front of. When the character died, they sat on the block with back to the audience (in the "dim"). The most expensive part of all of this was obviously the lights, but those are going to be useful for many shows to come, so they were a good investment.

Eric Holsen, South St. Paul Public Schools, South St. Paul, Minn.

I think the key to making this play work is the use of light and sound. Once the play is underway, it needs a nearly blacked out stage so lighting the actors is crucial. Sound needs layers of electronic noise, old radio broadcasts and music for certain scenes to reach full potential.

Michael Moore, Yantis High School, Yantis, Texas

Production Map

Location	City	State	Opens	Closes
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute	Toronto		02/26/2025	05/23/2025

Downloads

File Description	File Format
Performance Poster	pdf	Download

Poster Suggestions

Each poster includes a text box which allows you to customize it with your production information. Once a poster has been opened, position your mouse over the lower third portion until you see a label with instructions on entering your production information. Use the Text Select Tool to customize your poster.
You can print the poster in its original format and hand write your information.
Your local copy shop should be able to create prints from a file saved to disk. They might even be able to increase the size of the poster for you (although some loss of resolution will occur).