Hi folks
Thanks again for signing up for the November Playwriting Challenge with Threshold Theater!
Just like every year, for those of you who have signed up before the deadline day, we’re going to give you the first prompt a little early, so if you want to get started writing head of time, you can. (This is actually going out a bit later than I’d like just because the two day jobs have really hijacked my day so, apologies.)
And if you just want to wait and start tomorrow, November 1st, that’s fine, too.
You have from right now all the way through Saturday, November 1st, and into the early hours of Sunday November 2nd, to write something.
Deadline to submit the pages you’ve been working on for prompt #1 on November 1st, whatever they are, is 12 noon Central Time on Sunday, November 2nd.
You have today and tomorrow to play around - this is Saturday, November 1st’s challenge, showing up a little early, but still not due until noon Central Time on Sunday, November 2nd.
And if you’re ever looking for the next prompt and wonder if you missed the email, you can always check the challenge blog: https://thresholdwritingchallenge.blogspot.com/
If the prompt went out by email, it’ll be there as well. If it’s not there yet, then I haven’t finished sending it out by email yet. But all prompts appear there after the messages all go out.
Also, if you’ve got questions, there’s a space at the bottom of the Google form each day as you submit your pages where you can add a message for me to respond to.
People still have until midnight tonight to sign on but as of right now as a write this (3pm Central Time in Minneapolis) we have 102 playwrights from 24 states across America, plus the District of Columbia, 4 from Canada, 1 from Scotland, and 1 from Malaysia
Welcome to one and all, both far and near!
At the moment, we’ve got the usual cluster from Minnesota (9 playwrights)
(Threshold Theater is based in Minneapolis so that’s not a huge surprise :)
There’s 13 from New York state thus far,
10 from California,
9 from Illinois,
7 from Ohio,
6 from Massachusetts,
5 from Pennsylvania,
4 from Florida,
4 from Georgia,
4 from Washington state
3 from New Jersey,
3 from Texas,
2 each from Colorado,
Indiana,
Michigan,
and Virginia.
There’s also a single representative hailing from each of the following:
Arizona
Connecticut,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Maryland,
Rhode Island,
Utah,
Wisconsin,
and Washington, D.C.
All this alongside the aforementioned four in Canada (2 from Toronto, 1 from Ontario, and 1 unspecified), our returning friend in Glasgow, Scotland, and a new friend in faraway Malaysia this year.
So, let’s dive in, shall we?
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Challenge #1 - Not Love/Too Late
Write Saturday, November 1st - or earlier if you like
Due: Sunday, November 2nd, 12pm noon Central Time
Oh, and just to complicate things - daylight savings time is also in the mix that day :)
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
Here’s two lines of dialogue:
“Don’t be looking at me like that. That’s not what’s happening here. Don’t go falling in love with me.”
“Too late.”
(I will admit to being on both sides of this conversation at different points in my life. Perhaps you or someone you know has as well.)
Whatever you write needs to include these two lines in some way, and in that order.
They can be right next to each other.
Or one can happen at one point in your scene and the other can happen much later.
It can be romantic.
It can be cynical or sarcastic.
It can be sinister. (How many stalkers were born out of an exchange like this, after all?)
It doesn’t even need to be between two humans. How many dogs have immediately fallen in love with a human they just met, or humans fallen in love with dogs? Insert your favorite animal into this scenario - snake, frog, zebra, etc.
Perhaps a sentient sandwich doesn’t like the way a hungry human is looking at them and is internally hoping against hope that this ravenous person will pass them by - oops, too late, CHOMP.
Also permitted, the dialogue can instead be used as stage directions, or subtext of a completely different line.
CHESTER
(Don’t be looking at me like that.)
Do I have something stuck between my teeth?
LEO
No.
CHESTER
(That’s not what’s happening here.)
Then why are you looking at me like that?
LEO
No reason. Sorry. Didn’t know I was staring.
CHESTER
(Don’t go falling in love with me.)
Well, you are. And you have the goofiest smile on your face. It’s starting to worry me. It’s very out of character.
LEO
(Too late)
Sorry, not sorry.
Play around with those two lines however you like.
You can also have two characters dispense with them at the start or end of a scene that is about something completely different. They can be a random tangent rather than the point of the scene.
Up to you.
Or as you will read in a great many of these prompts, feel free to just ignore this suggestion and just do whatever you want on the page.
Doesn’t matter what you write, just as long as you write.
Just get something going and have fun with it.
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can try
2021’s challenge #1: I Love You, I Hate You, I Love You
Or try 2022’s challenge #1: Assorted Dialogue
Or try 2023’s challenge #1: More Assorted Dialogue
Or try 2024’s challenge #1: Still More Assorted Dialogue
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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How to submit your work for Challenge #1
We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form,
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header
but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.
After you enter the required fields of
email,
name,
challenge number (for today, that’d be 1 :)
and page count,
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:
Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.
OR
Post
your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a
Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.
OR
Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form
OR
Type directly into the Google form.
(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)
Write Saturday, November 1st - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Sunday, November 2nd, 12pm noon Central Time
And again, just to complicate things - daylight savings time is also in the mix that day :)
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
***********************
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) - 2025 edition
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 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition
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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 12pm noon Central Time on Sunday 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 29 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 makes sense to you.
It just needs to be something.
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And that something can be:
Lights up.
Two people can’t stop staring at one another.
SALLY
Don’t be looking at me like that. That’s not what’s happening here. Don’t go falling in love with me.
SUZY
Too late.
They keep staring.
They sigh.
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 (almost two days this time).
Just write.
(After you vote, of course :)
And take good care of yourselves, and each other.
Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)
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