Writing Challenge #5 - Dismantled Piano

Hi folks

Thanks again for your patience, as there’s a LOT of submissions to process.  But this is a challenge we like to have, SO many prolific playwrights.  Keep those emails coming, it’s just taking me a while to get through them.

I’m down to the end of the day on December 2nd so we have initial numbers on Challenge #1 - 87 of you turned in material for the first challenge, totaling 323 pages, which is enough for two full-length plays, plus another 83 pages for a long one-act - and that’s just your first day of output for the month.  Very impressive.  

Well done, everyone!  Keep up the good work.

Even a page or two or day definitely adds up.

You may think just having a page or two is nothing special, but any writing in a day is more progress than no writing.

And it doesn’t have to be perfect, that’s what rewriting later is for.

For now, just push through.

Thanks for prioritizing your own creativity, whether you’re responding to a prompt, or just writing your own thing and using the daily submission deadline to keep yourself moving forward on an existing script idea.

And if you aren’t feeling it one day here in November, remember that at the end of every one of these emails and challenge blog posts there’s an escape hatch option:

“Lights up
(Something happens)
Lights down.”

I change them every day to match the day’s challenge.  

So feel free to use something like that on a tough day if you need to.

(Over the past three years, playwrights have put their own spin on the mini-play option, often in very amusing ways, so feel free to have fun with that as well - I am.)

A BRIEF VOTING ASIDE…

The day I’m sending this out, Monday 11/4 is the last day for early voting here in Minnesota.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 11/5 is Election Day for everybody in the U.S.

One way I keep my head on straight is to find humor, even in politics.  One of my sanity podcasts for the past seven years has been “Lovett or Leave It” - this Saturday’s pod was “Last Call.”  Listen to the opening monologue if you need a laugh, or further inspiration to vote.

Again, to those who’ve already voted, thank you.

And if you haven’t voted already, please do vote.  Deadline amnesty due to time spent voting is still in effect.  Just let me know you were out voting, and you’ve got more wiggle room to get that latest submission in the door :)

And now, let’s get you that writing prompt for the day…


**********************************

Challenge #5 - Dismantled Piano

Due: Wednesday, November 6th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



On weekends, I head out early in the morning to run, to get some miles in before I have to work at the second job.  One summer morning, I was getting ready to back out of the garage when I noticed there was an obstacle I didn’t recognize showing up in the rear view camera. At first I was worried it might have been someone sleeping overnight in the alley, and thanked God I hadn’t started to back out without noticing, but the shape didn’t look human.  In fact, it didn’t look like anything I could make sense of.

Getting out of the car and walking around to the entry to the garage, I discovered a pile of - parts?

Piano parts.

And not “Someone took a sledgehammer to a piano and just left the shattered remains here.”

No.  Someone had very carefully taken an upright piano apart, and then very deliberately stacked each piece on top of the next in a neat and tidy little pile.

They took the black and white keys.  But left everything else.

At the very bottom of the pile was all the piano strings, then all the felt-tipped hammers that strike the strings, then the pedals, then each and every piece of wood of the body of the piano.

And they didn’t stack it all up right up against the garage door so it would fall over the minute the garage door raised, to to keep the door from raising.  They set it just off to the side, against the frame of the garage door.  So a car couldn’t get out without running into it, but it wouldn’t fall over when the door opened.

I have no idea why someone would do this.  Any of it.

Why would I take a piano apart carefully, piece by piece?
Why would I keep the keys?
Why would I stack it neatly just outside a stranger’s garage?
(I’m assuming it’s not anyone I know who did this, unless someone reads this and wants to take credit - but if it weren’t a stranger, that’s even stranger.)

You could apply this to the dismantling of any musical instrument, from a tuba to a drum set to a flute to a pair of maracas, and leave it in any unusual location.

What exactly is going on here?

Use whatever you find interesting as a jumping off point and get writing.

Or ignore me and write something completely different.


***********************************

If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can

try 2021’s challenge #5: Random Phrase Generator

Or try 2022’s challenge #5: “This Guy Told Me He Was A Centaur…”

Or try 2023’s Challenge #5: Snapshots 1 (from Threshold Theater co-founder and Managing Director David Schlosser)

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 :)


*********************************

And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:

Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)

Deadline Amnesty for Voting (and other handy challenge tips)

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 “Succeeding” or “Failing”

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

Don’t Stress About November 28th (however you recognize the holiday weekend)


*********************************

How to submit your work for Challenge #5

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 #5
(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 noted above in the comments section below on this very blog post for today's challenge on our writing challenge blog


Again, this is: Due: Wednesday, November 6th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


*******************************

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 Wednesday 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 25 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.

Someone rolls a piano on stage.

With a hammer and a screw driver and a crowbar, they carefully take the whole piano apart.

They carefully stack all the parts one on top of the other in a neat and tidy pile.

They walk offstage again.

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 :)