Recommended plays for a high school cultural festival: popular, crowd-pleasing ideas
When it comes time to put on a play for your high school cultural festival, the choice of work can dramatically change the feel of the stage.
From moving fantasies to relatable comedies and heartfelt musicals, each has its own unique appeal and key directing points.
Because it’s a production everyone in the class creates together, you’ll want to pick something that’s fun for the cast to make and a joy for the audience to watch.
Here, we introduce a wide range of plays that are perfect for high school cultural festivals.
Find the one that fits your class!
- Recommended Plays and Musicals for Cultural Festivals, School Festivals, and School Performances
- Cultural Festival: Ranking of Popular Booth Ideas
- Classic plays performed by elementary school students: recommended works roundup
- [For High School Students] A roundup of recommended attractions for the school festival
- Ideas for stage events and attractions that will liven up a school festival
- Ideas for Performances That Inspire Laughter and Tears: Perfect for Upper Grades at School Arts and Learning Showcases
- Stage performance ideas to excite a cultural or school festival
- [Middle School] Cultural Festival Attractions: A roundup of popular exhibits, games, and stage performances
- [Short Movie] A collection of video project ideas you can use for cultural and school festivals
- [Cultural Festival / School Festival Theme] Carefully Selected High-Impact Recommended Phrases!
- I want to adapt these for the school festival! A roundup of comedians’ manzai, sketch comedy, and one-liner gags
- [Hilarious] One-Liner Gags That Kill at Parties and Events
- Ideas for exhibits recommended for school culture festivals. Film screenings, too.
Anime, Manga, and Contemporary School-Set & Variety Works (1–10)
SPY×FAMILY
SPY x FAMILY, whose lines like “Anya loves peanuts” went viral, is also a hugely popular manga among students.
Its easy-to-grasp setup—a hitman and a cute little girl—seems perfect for a stage adaptation.
Because the characters are so well-known, it’s great for audience engagement, too! It’s also reassuring that it follows a tried-and-true template: a villain appears, they fight, they win, and it ends happily.
I think creating an original script set in your own school would make a cultural festival or school play really exciting.
If you include a famous teacher or a teacher with a strong personality, it could be an even bigger hit!
Sazae-san
Many people are probably familiar with the nationally beloved anime Sazae-san.
It’s perfect to perform at a school culture festival.
It warmly portrays a traditional family, making casting easy, so it’s highly recommended.
Try performing it with an original episode while preserving the lively atmosphere unique to culture festivals.
Imitating the costumes and hairstyles might make the stage even more exciting.
It may also evoke a sense of nostalgia or leave you feeling warm and relaxed.
Anime, Manga, and Contemporary School-Life & Variety Works (11–20)
Mysterious Candy Shop Zenitendo
Create a world and perform it! Here are some ideas inspired by The Mysterious Candy Shop Zenitendō.
Hugely popular from children’s novels to anime and film, The Mysterious Candy Shop Zenitendō is known for its thrilling, heart-pounding stories and distinctive worldbuilding centered on sweets.
The characters are unique, of course, but focusing on the worldbuilding above all might be the key to creating a wonderful play.
Adding clever twists within the story will likely capture the audience’s attention.
Be sure to give it a try!
Chibi Maruko-chan
Let individuality shine! Here are some ideas inspired by Chibi Maruko-chan.
When you think of Chibi Maruko-chan, it’s not just the classmates—each family member and local resident has a unique personality, which makes it so entertaining.
In particular, some characters have distinctive catchphrases or sentence endings, which should be easy to incorporate.
The gap of high school students playing elementary school kids could also be a great hook to capture the audience’s interest.
Try acting while weaving everyday, ordinary moments into your script.
Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a popular TV anime based on the manga by Koyoharu Gotouge.
It tells the story of Tanjiro Kamado, the protagonist, who grows through his journey as he searches for a way to turn his sister—who has become a demon—back into a human.
Since the story is set in the Taisho era, many of the costumes are traditional Japanese clothing, which would make the production visually enjoyable.
However, there are many sword-fighting (tate) scenes, so it might be necessary to find ways to make those look as cool as possible.
Because it’s a long-form story, I think it would be good to focus on one part and adapt that for the stage!
ROCK U !
ROCK U! portrays two protagonists who, despite being at odds with each other, move toward a single goal: the school cultural festival.
The work was created by a third-year high school student in Osaka and won the Original Script Award at the National High School Drama Competition.
The story follows two students who transferred from a Korean school to a Japanese school and, based on what they felt in the Japanese school, explore ideas of “freedom” and “being themselves.” Although the theme is challenging, it is a piece that asks performers to delve deeply into the story’s content and act with the mindset that the issues are being posed to them personally.
Anpanman
If you’re expecting young children from outside the school to attend, why not choose Anpanman—a big favorite among kids—as your play? It’s best to keep the story easy to understand, similar to the original “Soreike! Anpanman.” If there won’t be small children in the audience, you could instead create a story that includes inside jokes, which might make it more exciting.
Paying attention to the characters’ costumes and props like the Anpanman-go could also enhance the overall quality of the production.
