Pardon Me While I Write this Play

Not much of a blog today because I am writing a play! I signed up for the 72-hour play writing challenge with the Red Octopus Theatre Company. Participants have three days to write a play. The play has to include 5 prompts that are randomly drawn from a hat or a bag or something. The five prompts that were drawn for this challenge included a prop, a sound effect, a character, a costume piece and a setting. Actually I don't think the setting was randomly picked as is is "an on screen communication," a video call etc. That seems a little spot on for the current situation if it is to be performed in a quarantined world. There are no guarantees that any of the 72 hour plays will be performed. But if they are, it will probably be via Zoom or some such.

I have done this before (write play to a deadline). The last time I did this I had to write a Christmas play in a month. And one time I did the 24 hour theater, which means I had eight hours to write the play. It's amazing how time expands and contracts to change your perception of whatever deadline you may have. Creativity comes in fits and starts, and having a deadline gives creativity a kick in the pants. I am not sure I spent more actual time writing my first draft for the one-month-deadline play than I did for the eight-hour-deadline play. I certainly had more time to revise the former, and that may have produced a more polished final product. But the real heavy lifting as far as creativity is concerned is that first draft.

Okay, back to it. I will finish by saying deadlines don't work for everybody, but for me they help me get things done. See you onstage (maybe).

(My novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book through Amazon and other online sources).

Link to Star Liner

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