Hi folks
The day job is a bit crazy right now because my department supervisor left for another opportunity. Tying off the loose ends of projects they wanted to get too before they left but were unable to do so. Deadlines (I know you sympathize :) As a result, my ability to keep up with you all during the day is severely restricted.
Needless to say your output is keeping me hopping and I’m still playing catchup. I should have some fun statistics for you on our opening day in the near future.
Also, we had a handful of additional writers sneak in under the wire at the last minute to join our little project. So our number has swollen to 36, and we added another state represented - Nebraska.
Let’s get you that writing prompt…
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Challenge #4 - Smackdown
Due: Saturday, November 5th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
Since this also the day I need to send out the notices to my playwriting group for our upcoming meeting on Monday, and I have permission from our host Lana to re-purpose the meeting’s writing challenge as one for you all, it seems fitting to do that for today’s entry.
We were talking at the last meeting about how sometimes a person needs more than just a single item as inspiration to really get going. For instance for many years, the Twin Cities theater company Theatre Unbound (RIP, as one could say for so many small theater companies recently - sigh) - anyway, Unbound annually did a 24-hour play festival as a fundraiser. They, of course, like everyone had to stop calling it a “24-hour play” project because some rando theater company decided they should copyright the name so only they could use it. (Artists and lawyers, am I right?). So, they called theirs the 24 Hour Xtreme Theater Smackdown - complete with female professional wrestler mascot and over the top champion belt.
Concept was the same - teams of writers gather together in a single location and are given their list of ingredients to be included in the play at 9pm at night. They write up until 5am the next morning at which point directors and casts of actors are assigned to rehearse the new scripts during the day. The plays are performed starting at 8pm that evening, ideally concluding by 9pm - 24 hours to write and stage a new play.
Typically, the writers would be given a list of items to include in their play
A prop
A line of dialogue
A stage direction
Something random
They would also pull from a hat the number of actors they had to write for (as the acting pool had been recruited ahead of time and they knew how many they had to spread among the plays).
So for this meeting’s writing challenge, host Lana Aylesworth gave us all the following assignment, should we choose to accept it:
Write a 10-minute play that uses a word coined by Shakespeare as the titular character - and of course she helpfully gave us a reference point for that:
(It also includes handy links to phrases we supposedly got from Shakespeare, and quotes from the plays arranged by theme, and summaries of the plays so a handy resource if you’re being told to brush up your Shakespeare for a reason such as this)
The play must also include an embrace held too long,
the line ‘I may be still, but I am still here’,
and a pumpkin.
So there you go, have at it.
Use as much or as little of that as you like for inspiration.
Follow all of the instructions, or none of them and just do whatever you want.
But write something.
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can try 2021’s challenge #4:
Science Fiction and Fantasy
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 Forget To Vote: Tuesday, November 8th (or If You Can, By All Means Vote Early)
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 #4
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 #4
(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: Saturday, November 5th, 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.
We will be VERY understanding about technical difficulties and how they can screw up making the deadline on the first few days. 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 12 noon Central Time on Saturday 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 26 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.
An obscene puppy dog enters and yelps.
A critic observes them with a jaded eyeball.
The puppy kisses the critic.
The critic stops being so critical.
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)
Coming Up:
Threshold Theater’s New Play Reading Series
A reading of “Leviathan” by Bethany Dickens Assaf
Saturday, November 19, 2022 - 7pm
The Black Hart of Saint Paul - 1415 University Avenue West in St. Paul
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) -
Support Threshold Theater on Give to the Max Day, November 17th
(Or feel free to give early, any time between November 1st through 16th)
Here's the link: https://www.givemn.org/story/Kssucf
"Write. Find a way to keep alive and write. There is nothing else to say."
- James Baldwin
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