Hi folks
The reading of Bethany Dickens Assaf’s play “Leviathan” went really well last night. The audience actually got a second show when we did the discussion afterward because the four actors were so jazzed talking about the script that it was sort of its own self-generating comedy hour/playwriting seminar afterward. Love it when that happens.
And now I have to get off to the second day job again, early shift, and then come home and finish tidying up, in case anyone shows up IRL to our writing group tomorrow, rather than completely online. We shall see.
Happy writing to you all, in the meantime.
Let’s get you that writing prompt…
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Challenge #21 - Mystery Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Due: Tuesday, November 22nd, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
I’m going to file this under, “The universe is just trying to provide me with interesting things to think about.”
As I walked out the back door to head to my second day job, I found myself face to face with a grilled cheese sandwich.
The grilled cheese sandwich was sitting on a little metal box that’s secured to the wall just outside the back door. This metal box is no longer functional. I think it may be where a meter was, back when the various power companies still sent human beings out to check meters to gauge the utility usage of a unit and everything wasn’t automated and computerized. These townhomes were all built back in the mid-1980s. Things have changed a lot in the forty years since.
Also something that was built back when this neighborhood I guess had more of an issue with crime, the front and back porches on each unit had metal gates installed. Basically you can’t get to the front or back door unless the person who lives there wants you to and leaves the gate open for you to the make that final approach.
You cannot physically reach the front or back door even if you reach your arm through the gate.
Also, there are gates enclosing the back yard to which you would need a key.
Now, one of those gates isn’t so high that you couldn’t jump it if you were really determined. And you could definitely scale any one of them if you wanted to.
But the back yard isn’t open to the public, and the back porch and back door are gated off.
So how exactly does a grilled cheese sandwich end up perched on a little metal box just outside my back door?
And why a grilled cheese sandwich?
At the time I was contemplating this unexpected sandwich, the neighbor’s cat wandered over and was wondering if I was going in rather than coming out of the back door and perhaps wanted to let them into my home where it’s warmer than it is outside.
So I couldn’t exactly (easily) go back in to dump this mysterious grilled cheese sandwich in the trash can in the kitchen.
And I needed to get to work.
So I did the next best thing, since I was in a hurry to get going.
I just flung the grilled cheese sandwich into the back yard.
There are birds and squirrels all over the back yard at all times of the day and night. They should make short work of the thing.
Still… weird, right?
The sandwich itself.
The way it got there.
It doesn’t exactly make me fear for my safety.
It’s a sandwich.
But it does make one wonder.
You ever run into something that wasn’t where it was supposed to be? A familiar thing in an unfamiliar context?
Think along those lines. Run with that.
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can try 2021’s challenge #21:
Technology Gone Awry
Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)
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Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)
Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play
Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt
No. Really. I Mean It. Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt
Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)
Don’t Stress About Thanksgiving
Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”
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How to submit your work for Challenge #21
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 paste 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 #21
(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 very challenge on the writing
challenge blog below
Again, this is: Due: Tuesday, November 22nd, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
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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.
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 12 noon Central Time on Tuesday to write if you need it. When you’re done, you’re done.
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 9 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.
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And that something can be:
Lights up.
Someone emerges through the door to their home into the outside world.
They discover something they weren’t expecting just outside the door.
They wonder what to do about it.
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.
Just write.
Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)
Now Playing:
Our video recording of our third live play reading in the New Play Reading series, Sam Walsh's "The Visible," is up on our YouTube channel (available to stream through the end of November)
Coming Soon:
The video recording of our fourth live play reading in the New Play Reading series, Bethany Dickens Assaf’s “Leviathan,” will be swapping places with “The Visible” on our YouTube channel in late November, early December
Coming Up:
Threshold Theater’s New Play Reading Series
A reading of “Zero State” by Allison Moon
Monday, March 13, 2023 - 7pm
The Black Hart of Saint Paul - 1415 University Avenue West in St. Paul
"Write. Find a way to keep alive and write. There is nothing else to say."
- James Baldwin
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