Writing Challenge #23 - The Vanishing Point

Hi folks,

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Again, sending you two prompts from the future again today, so you can work ahead for the holiday weekend if you wish.

This prompt is the one you would be writing Thursday to be turned in on Friday by noon Central Time, but just label your email for prompt 23 and you can turn it early and I’ll credit it ahead.

And of course, you can always use the mini-play at the bottom of the email and blog post as an escape hatch for the day’s writing.

The reading of Madison Wetzell’s play “Mediocre Heterosexual Sex” last night (Monday 11/20) went great.  It was a really packed house for the reading itself, and a whole lot of them also stayed for the discussion afterwards.  The actors were fantastic, and the audience was with them the whole way, laughing and gasping as the script seesawed back and forth between the outrageous and the uncomfortably vulnerable.  Couldn’t have asked for a better reading for this really fun play.

Let’s get you that second writing prompt of the day…



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Challenge #23 - The Vanishing Point

Due: Friday, November 24th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet but just the very idea of this podcast peaked my interest from a storytelling standpoint

The Vanishing Point

“Six hundred thousand people are reported missing each year. Most are isolated events without a common thread. But in some instances, the victims are linked by one key detail…location.”

Apparently there are some places where a series of otherwise completely unrelated, unconnected people just… go missing.

Like a Bermuda Triangle, but on land.

If you don’t want to dwell on the idea of missing people, it could be missing things - cars, musical instruments, socks in the dryer, whatever you like.

My composer friend Rob Hartmann wrote a musical about where people go when they go missing, also called Vanishing Point.  In this case, when Amelia Earhart, Agatha Christie, and Aimee Simple McPherson all famously went missing, through some metaphysical coincidence, they all wound up in the same place together, hanging out for a bit, and then they each had to decide whether or not they wanted to go back to real life.

So it could be either end of the disappearance if you want.

I was just intrigued by the idea of a place where people vanish.

So play around with some element of that.

Or, as always, just ignore this, write whatever you want and turn it in by the deadline.


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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can try 2021’s challenge #23:

Hidden Histories

Or try 2022’s challenge #23:

Location, Singer, Poet

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 Format

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”

Don't Stress About What You're Turning In Each Day

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How to submit your work for Challenge #23

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 #23
(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: Friday, November 24th, 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 Friday 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 7 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.

A box of stuffing runs for its life across the stage.

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:
The video trailer for Threshold Theater's first virtual play reading in the New Play Reading series (back in May/June 2021), our reading of “Spellbound” by Matthew A. Everett - Thanks to his mischievous friend Jeffrey, who’s begun dabbling in witchcraft, Micah has accidentally dosed his best friend Auggie with a love potion. Which might be fine, if Auggie wasn’t straight, and married, or if Auggie’s wife Sarah wasn’t pregnant, or a practicing witch. With the help of Duncan, who runs the local metaphysical supply store, the race is on to whip up the antidote before anyone does something they’ll regret.  Now on our YouTube channel

Coming Soon:
The video recording of Threshold Theater's seventh live play reading in the New Play Reading series. Like all good LGBTQ+ theater companies, we begin our new season of programming with "Mediocre Heterosexual Sex" - which is a play by Madison Wetzell.  Four hours after her girlfriend dumps her, Erin switches her Tinder setting to dudes because she hates herself. She quickly meets Aaron, who is straight, conveniently nearby, and only too happy to indulge her masochistic fantasies. To translate this deeply ambivalent first hetero experience, Erin seeks the advice of the only straight people she knows, a couple in a Dominant/submissive relationship. A vexed exploration of gender, sex, power, and kink.

Coming Spring 2024:
“4Play with Threshold Theater”
Dates and venue still TBA
Featuring:
Amsterdam, by Collette Cullen
Bluetooth, by Liz Dooley
Hurry Up and Wail, by Anna Ralls
Just for Context, by Bethany Dickens Assaf
The Weird Ellen Prom Queen Trendsetters, by Elizabeth Shannon

Coming for Pride Month 2024
Monday, June 3, 2024
Monster Girls at Sunshine Donuts, by Dani Herd
A vampire, a werewolf, and a Frankenstein's monster walk into a doughnut shop... Meet Louise, Tally, and Elsie: the crew behind Sunshine Doughnuts! The ghouls have fallen into a pretty pleasant spooky routine for themselves; pouring coffee, baking doughnuts, arguing over Scooby-Doo cartoons, having crushes on their regulars. Along comes an unexpected late night visitor to throw everything into question. Sometimes it really sucks how much your past can come back to bite you!

 


"Write. Find a way to keep alive and write. There is nothing else to say."
- James Baldwin

"Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way."
- E.L. Doctorow