Excerpt:
She: So, do you come here often?
He: My writing group meets here on Thursday evenings; yes.
She: Is that usual? For a published author to still have a writing group?
He: Absolutely. Feedback is better than a home-cooked meal.
She: I’d think that would depend on the meal.
He: Oh?
She: Well, you know, pot noodles aren’t exactly on par with shrimp scampi.
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Excerpt:
JACQUES: Do you know why these were made without handles?
MELISSA: I do. It was so the submarine officers on watch could wrap their hands around them for warmth.
JACQUES: Warmth is something we all need when we are at sea.
(he places the mugs on a low table between them, and pours tea from a pot into each)
Do you need milk or sugar?
MELISSA: I used to. Not so much anymore.
JACQUES: I find I like the bit of astringency that comes with black tea. It’s bracing. Reminds you you’re alive.
Notes: Some of Jacques’s lines are taken from actual quotations.
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Brief: Write a monodrama (A play for only one performer.)
Excerpt:
The Cousteau has just completed a humanitarian mission to the planet we refer to as Aquaria Three, though the native population – a race of sentient marine mammals not far removed from the Terran cetacean species – has a different name for their world. The organic beings among our crew have been unable to reproduce the name, but I have managed a close approximation that the locals told me was ‘close enough for krill.’
Notes:
This piece is a sort of prequel or companion to a short story written a couple year’s ago: A Winter Tale
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Brief: Write a play using one or more of some pre-defined characters, using some or all of the provided traits.
Notes: I didn’t feel that any of the suggested characters were speaking with me so I went to the THEY FIGHT CRIME generator and stole two that I liked, but used a couple of traits from the pre-defined characters.
Excerpt:
HOBBES: Then how did you mean it?
CALVIN: I’m Aristide. Calvin Aristide. Metal dude on my right is Sparky.
HOBBES: (ruffling her wings in irritation) And this information matters to me… why?
CALVIN: (annoyed) The Agency didn’t tell you? I’m your new partner.
HOBBES: The Agency hasn’t bothered to contact me in weeks. They still blame me for what happened with the last guy. It wasn’t my fault he decided to go to Kestrel Five without me. I mean, who does that?
(beat)
Figured they’d call me in, put me on permanent sabbatical, not assign a new partner. Do you drink?
CALVIN: Well, not blood…
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Brief: Choose a random phobia from a list, and use it to inspire a play. I chose Eisoptrophobia: the fear of mirrors or of looking into them, or of seeing your reflection.
Excerpt:
QUEEN: My hunter. I had him, in my home, in my bed.
THERAPIST: And the mirrors?
QUEEN: Their voices were quiet for a time. And then they were not.
THERAPIST: When did the mirrors start speaking to you again?
QUEEN: Jeremiah mentioned that the girl was becoming a beautiful woman.
THERAPIST: And?
QUEEN: He said she was the only person more beautiful than me.
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Brief: Write a play that is a love letter to part (or all) of Europe.
Excerpt:
Ignacio: I had some tea from the replicator, thanks. And you’re underestimating with “chilly.” The last hour of the trip, I couldn’t feel my fingers… or my chin.
Naomi: I guess I’m just acclimated. Well, don’t worry; you won’t have to visit the surface anytime soon, and once you’ve passed quarantine, you’ll have access to the hot springs.
Ignacio: Hot springs? I didn’t think Europa had geothermal heat?
Naomi: Europa doesn’t. Nuevo Madrid does. We cycle our waste energy through a couple of the springs within the complex, filter out any traces of radiation – don’t worry, there’s nothing harmful. Well, there was that one person who grew gills…
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Brief: Use the number 2 as inspiration for a play. Write about pairs or couples, or interpret it another way.
Excerpt:
YU: It’s funny isn’t it?
WILL: What do you mean?
YU: Well, in our parents’ time, marriage was the default. Now? I know so many couples who don’t marry until they’ve had children. Or even after.
WILL: Yeah. The question used to be when will you marry, or who. Not, you know… will you ever. (He takes a beat). Will you?
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No… we started our journey on a ship at sea, so lets end it with some “Land Ahoy!” Write about the destination… the port, the land, the horizon, the future…
ZOE
(sighing)
So much has changed, Basil. When we met, you were primarily a scientist, an explorer… then the war happened, and I was the wife of a solider, a battle commander, and finally we built peace again, and now…
BASIL
(picking up her thought)
…and now, retirement. Do you recall, Zoe, when I referred to the different changes and evolutions in our relationship as ‘etudes’ for us to master?
ZOE
I do. It was an apt metaphor.
Click Here: 1902.28 – Etudes 1902.28 – Etudes
How frustrating is it when you have to deliver something to a deadline, only to realise afterwards what you could have done better.So this is your opportunity to re-do a challenge. Pick any of the previous 26 challenges we've done, and write a NEW play following that brief.I bet you've thought of a few better ideas since sending in your first version.But don't just re-do the play you did - it has to be a completely different concept!
I chose the “TLC” Brief. You can read the details and my original submission here.
SPRITE
Yes! Yes, exactly. Like, for me, my tree, it might be a willow… or maybe an aspen. But for you, it might be a salt pine or maybe even a beech tree.
DEREK
Can it be a copper beech, like in that Sherlock Holmes story?
SPRITE
Copper? I don’t know. Maybe. The thing is… you have to find your tree. And I have to find mine. And until you do, a relationship between us can’t work.
DEREK
Wait… you’re breaking up with me because you have to go find your tree?
SPRITE
Yeah… I have to find my tree. And you have to find yours.
Click here: 1902.26 – True Love Cafe
Find an expression, an idiom, a cliche, etc…and use it as a literal impetus for the play.
Perhaps write a play about an apple standing at the gate and fighting a doctor?
Perhaps a monologue by one patch of grass, envyingly looking at another’s greenness?
Perhaps a tree trying desperately to tell a dog barking at it – that he is not the tree he’s looking for?
Two peas discussing the meaning of life… in their pod?
A shop in which customers have to pay with their arms and legs?
The life of a silver lining, having to be attached to a cloud they despise?
An it, who can only tango after taking two paracetamols?
I can go on all day!
CLAUDE
(inhales his cigarette and then blowing a perfect series of smoke rings a la the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland)
It all seems so pointless, do you see? Like carrying buckets of water to the sea. One drop and then another, one wave and then a dozen more, and on, and on, and nothing changes, nothing grows.
CLAUDE
(blows another series of smoke rings)
I look in the mirror and I see myself reflected back, and if I look more closely, look into my own eyes, I see my own reflected reflection. I search for purpose and find only algae and plankton, as if I live only to keep my section of the ocean free of tiny things.
Click Here: 1902.25.Water to the Sea