Hi folks
Final day of Election Day voting Amnesty that I outlined in Sunday’s post applies for Wednesday 11/8 as it has for the two days prior - details here
Thanks to all who served at the polls, and thanks to all who got out there and voted yesterday (or earlier).
Guess what? The day this is going out to you, 11/8 - after you’ve turned in your writing for Challenge #7 - you’ve all officially made it through your first week of writing for the the challenge!
The first seven days are complete (though my sorting through all your many submissions as yet is not, but I shall get there with more fun numbers to report in the near future)
Congrats to all who’ve been cranking out the pages and prioritizing your own writing a little bit (or a lot) each day. Well done.
And, as always, if you miss a day, don’t waste any time beating yourself up about it. Just write again the next day.
On with week two!
Let’s get you that writing prompt…
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Challenge #9 - Not My Blood
Due: Friday, November 10th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
There’s a scene in the movie adaptation of the book “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” (about two Mexican-American high school boys in the 1980s who form an unlikely friendship and then something more) that got me thinking.
In the scene, the teenage Aristotle finds the guy who put his friend in the hospital and proceeds to beat that guy to a bloody pulp until someone pulls him off. Then Ari drives home and is confronted by his parents, who’ve received a phone call about this altercation before Ari arrives. They know the context.
The thing that struck me was, Ari’s face and shirt are covered in blood, but it’s not his blood. It’s the blood of the person he beat up.
And it occurred to me that there are all kinds of scenarios in which a person can come upon another person they know, see them covered in blood, and become concerned that their friend/acquaintance/family member/spouse might be hurt.
But then the person tells you, “It’s not my blood.”
And then the other character is concerned for a completely different reason.
Seeing something, thinking you know the story, but then finding it’s a totally different story than the one you were composing in your head.
Doesn’t need to be a bloody mess, of course.
It could be any kind of mistaken observation.
This was just the most charged example I was thinking about.
Play around with that.
Or ignore me and do your own thing.
Just write something.
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can try 2021’s challenge #9:
The Bechdel Test
Or try 2022’s challenge #9:
“Whose Meadow Is This?”
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”
Don't Stress About What You're Turning In Each Day
***********************************************
How to submit your work for Challenge #9
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 #9
(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 10th, 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 21 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.
Charlie approaches Nick, whose T-shirt is stained with blood.
Charlie: “Oh my God, Nick, are you hurt?!”
Nick: “Don’t worry. It’s not my blood.”
Charlie: “Please tell me you beat up Ben.”
Nick grins sheepishly.
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.
(After you vote, of course :)
Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)
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
Support Threshold Theater on Give to the Max Day, November 16th
(Or feel free to give early, any time between November 1st through 15th)
Here's the link: https://www.givemn.org/story/Kssucf
Coming Monday, November 20, 2023 at 7pm:
If you’re local in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, come and join us for 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.
Location: The Black Hart of Saint Paul
- 1415 University Avenue West, St. Paul, MN - Doors at 6:30pm, Reading
begins at 7pm, Audience discussion to follow the reading -
About the
play: 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
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