Sunday, November 21, 2021

Challenge #22 - Left Coast Theatre Prompts

 

Hi folks

21 writing challenges down.

Only 9 to go!





Let’s get you that writing prompt…


Challenge #22 - Left Coast Theatre Prompts

Due: Tuesday, November 23rd, 8am

(whenever 8am arrives in your time zone; we’ll do the math here in the Central Time zone, no worries :)

There’s a theater in San Francisco (still hanging in there, planning for a 2022 comeback) called Left Coast Theatre Company, and once or twice a year (pre-pandemic) they would put out a call for short scripts that could fall under the umbrella of a fairly broad theme.  For instance:

I’m Not OK, Cupid

Twisted Fairy Tales

Shock & Awww

#WTFamily

Sometimes they’d offer up a bit more of a hint of the sort of thing they were looking for, or additional elements to consider, such as:

Family Programming:
the characters and characteristics of queer family life — both the chosen family and the family we were given

Screaming Queens:
an LGBT perspective to classic horror subjects from haunted houses to the Zombie Apocalypse

San Francisco, Here I Come!:
Set in a single San Francisco apartment, SFHIC gave the audience six stories of LGBT experience from a noir-ish-1949 to a tech-crazed 2018 and explored the complicated relationship our community has with the City by the Bay.

The Morning After
plays that address big moments we experience in life: weddings, funerals, breakups, proposals, birthdays, coming out. But sometimes it’s the morning after that really changes our lives. We are looking for shorts that showcases the hilarity, the joy, the grief, the angst, and the uncertainty of the morning after the big event.

Between the Sheets
the trials and tribulations of queer sex

Queerstory
Forgotten Figures and Moments of Queer History - little-known, unknown or forgotten people or events in LGBTQ+ history


Now, Left Coast is an LGBTQ+ theater company, just like Threshold, so all these prompts and subsequent anthology shows that were birthed from them had a very queer bent.  But you can feel free to embrace that or go off in any other direction which tickles your fancy and speaks to your own style and aesthetic.

Take one of the above thematic prompts as your jumping off point and have fun with it.




How to submit your work for Challenge #22

You have options.  They are:


Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and send as an attachment to an email sent to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com

OR

Copy and past your script in the body of an email and send it to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com

OR

Post your script online (as a Google doc, or in a blog post, on your own personal website, etc.) - email a link to this script to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com
(If you’re going to Google doc route, just make sure to have the document public, or give permissions to our email address to open it)

When emailing us, make the subject line of your email - Challenge #22
(That just helps us sort through the email more quickly)
(Or, you know, just reply to this email if you want :)

OR

Post the link for the online document option above in the comments section on this very blog post for this challenge on our writing challenge blog.



Again, this is: Due: Tuesday, November 23rd, 8am
(whenever 8am arrives in your time zone; we’ll do the math here in the Central Time zone, no worries :)

 

And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.

We will be VERY understanding about technical difficulties and how they can screw up making the deadline.  No need to fret about anything except the writing (and hopefully that’s not something causing you to fret too much either :)

Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 8am on Tuesday to write if you need it.  When you’re done, you’re done.

A friendly reminder - you don’t have to write to the prompts if they don’t inspire you.  You can ignore them and just write whatever you want, just as long as you’re writing (that’s the main thing, not what you write)

Someone had a good question about the overall goal of the month, are we supposed to write a full-length play, or two one-act plays, etc.?  The short answer is no (unless you want to).  The longer answer is here if you’re curious.

For those concerned about format, we’re pretty liberal about that, too - just as long as it’s legible and in English.  More on that here.

Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)

Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later. You have 8 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want. Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it make sense to you.

It just needs to be something.

And that something can be:

Lights up.

Cupid hovers in the dark corners of the bedroom, chuckling as two eager lovers awkwardly struggle to get out of their clothes and make it to the bed without suffering a concussion.

Lights down.

The End

That’s always your escape hatch, every day.

That’s your base line.

Build on it.

Have fun.

Don’t stress.

Make an impulsive decision and run with it.

Breathe.

You’ve got the day (and a half).

Just write.



1 comment:

  1. www.carolinebyrnedonnelly.com/reallifeadventures/2021/11/22/playwriting-every-day-in-november-day-22

    ReplyDelete

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