Writing Challenge #16 - Dystopia Utopia (Write Nov. 16th)

Hi folks

With this prompt, we’re now officially over halfway there!

Once again, well done, everyone.

Whether you write every day or every other day or once a week, pat yourself on the back.

And if you don’t get to writing on a particular day, don’t beat yourself up about it.  
Life happens.  
Just try again to write the next day and keep on going.

Just write.

RAW NUMBERS

Challenge 13 had 82 playwrights submitting a total of 272 pages
(Or the equivalent of two full-length plays along with another 32 page one-act for another half hour of stage time.)

Nicely done, everyone!  Keep on writing :)


Let’s get you that writing prompt…

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Challenge #16 - Dystopia Utopia

Write Monday, November 16th - or earlier if you like
Due: Tuesday, November 17th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)



This suggestion comes from Threshold Theater company member Anya Naylor.  Anya’s list of challenge ideas included the phrase:

“the dystopia of the utopia”

Personally, I have a hard time with dystopia stories, mostly because I’d rather spend the time trying to imagine a better future.  Life is grim enough.  It’s why I also don’t enjoy horror movies.  I’m a gay man who lived through the AIDS crisis, I have a goddaughter who has less bodily autonomy than her mother did when she was pregnant with her.  I’d prefer a bit more hope in my diet.

However, just because my brain is fuzzy sometimes on what something actually means, rather than just what I think it means, I looked up the definitions of dystopia and utopia (thanks to the American Heritage Dictionary)…

Dystopia
- An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror
- A work describing such a place or state
- A vision of a future that is a corrupted (usually beyond recognition) utopian society

Interesting, the one directly tied to the other.

Though, I suppose, Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” is right there, isn’t it?

George Orwell’s “1984” is more straight-up dystopia with not much utopia in sight.

“Logan’s Run” and “Soylent Green” (set in the dystopian future of 2022 :) are another couple of old-school examples of the genre on film. More recently, “Snow Piercer” supposedly has both on the same train.

An argument could be made for all the various versions of the “Planet of the Apes” series, from 1968 all the way to the present day.

Utopia
- An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects.
- A work of fiction describing a utopia
- An impractical, idealistic scheme for social and political reform.

I find it amusing that the vision of a better world is the only one of these two that has the word “impractical” attached to it.

Now, I’ll grant you, the last decade of "Young Adult" fiction-based cinema does its best to make dystopia seem very youthful and sexy but… you can’t lure me in with the promise of cute guys and just kill them all, that seems like a waste.  (Which of course is the point of dystopian fiction, I know, the squandering of the future.  It’s just not my thing.)

Still, the two of those notions, twined together, are intriguing.

And I know I’m in the minority on this one (obviously, given popular culture).

So, what might you do with Anya’s suggestion?  

What kind of story possibilities does it conjure for you?

As always, if that doesn’t do it for you, just 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 #16: Poetry

Or try 2022’s challenge #16: Brains

Or try 2023’s Challenge #16: “How did I get here?” (from Threshold Theater co-founder and Technical Director Nick Mrozek)

Or try 2024’s challenge #16: First Times and Regrets (from Threshold Theater’s co-founder and Managing Director David Schlosser)

Or try 2025’s challenge #16: Snark

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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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 26th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2026 edition

 

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How to submit your work for Challenge #16

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 16 :) 
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 Monday, November 16th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Tuesday, November 17th, 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 Tuesday 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 14 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.

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Our protagonist walks toward their future.

The tunnel collapses on them.

Sad trombone.

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)