Writing Challenge #13 - Impossible Scene (Write Nov. 13th)

Hi folks

Lucky 13!   We’re nearly two weeks into November.

Initial numbers on turning in challenge 10 yesterday:
82 playwrights, with material totaling 275 pages
(Or the equivalent of two full-length plays plus another short one-act)

Well done!  Keep at it!

Let’s get you that writing prompt…


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Challenge #13 - Impossible Scene

Write Thursday, November 13th - or earlier if you like
Due: Friday, November 14th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


Threshold Theater Literary Associate Maren Findlay suggests the following:

“Write a technically impossible scene.
Like literally, you could never stage this.”


Some variation of this idea floats into view every other challenge year, it seems

In year one, 2021, we had “Unstageable” from yours truly

In year three, 2023, we had “Impossible Set” from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove

And now it’s Maren’s turn to lay down the gauntlet :)

I say this every time, I don’t think anything’s unstageable.  If you have the audience’s imagination and suspension of disbelief on your side, you can do pretty much anything.

But hey, prove me wrong.


Take the impossible and throw it onstage.

Or don’t.  

Write whatever you like.

Just write something.

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

try 2021’s challenge #13: Your Favorite Song

Or try 2022’s challenge #13: Abscission

Or try 2023’s Challenge #13 - Box of Doorknobs

Or try 2024’s challenge #13: License Plates and Bumper Stickers

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 #13

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 13 :) 
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 Thursday, November 13th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Friday, November 14th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)

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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 :)

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.

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 17 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.

An eighteen-foot mechanical shark, jaws agape, bursts up out of the stage floor, splashing water all over the stage and perhaps the audience.

A chorus line of dancing ladies and men in sparkly outfits dance themselves off a plank high above the stage one at a time, into the waiting jaws of the shark, who gobbles them up, a seemingly unending line of human limbs and screams emitting from that big mouth.

As the chorus line carnage above continues, down below the shark starts pooping tiny dances out the other end of its body, dancing a completely different, super tiny but enthusiastic musical number, covered in shark feces and human blood.

That’s entertainment!

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.

And take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)