Writing Challenge #4 - Asteroid

Hi folks

Still playing catchup on the flurry of emails from all you very prolific playwrights.  I did at least get into December 2nd before turning in last night but there’s still a fair amount of that day, and all of December 3rd today to catch up on, after which I should have some fun initial number crunching to share about everyone’s collective output from the first two days of writing.  Keep up the good work, keep writing, keep loading up my inbox.

(I really appreciated that extra hour of sleep due to the Daylight Savings Time switch.  Now, back to work…)

SIDE NOTE, AGAIN, ABOUT VOTING…

The inevitable article popped up in my notifications about “the best places Americans can move to” should he who shall not be named wins the election for president.  To which I reply, No.  I’ve lived here all my life, I’m not moving, this is still my country, too.  I don’t need a contingency plan for him, he needs a contingency plan for me. And for those who ominously bring up the fact that said contingency plan for me is Project 2025, I reply, well then, we’ve got three days left to make sure that doesn’t happen, don’t we?

If you’ve voted already already, thank you.
If you haven’t, and you can vote early, please do.
If you haven’t and Election Day on Tuesday is your only option, make sure your phone is fully charged, you have a bottle of water and a snack to tide you over in case the lines are long.  And if you’re in line when the polls close on Tuesday, stay in line - they have to let you vote if you’re already there in line.

Minnesota playwrights, you have early voting yet today, Sunday 11/3, when I’m sending this challenge out, 9am to 3pm, and tomorrow, Monday 11/4, 7am to 5pm.
You can find early voting location information, and Election Day polling place information at the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website

And there’s still volunteer opportunities available wherever you live, including things like door knocking and helping transport people to the polls, or curing provisional ballots during the counting process.  You can find info on things like that at Vote Save America (I appreciate how on their map of the USA, they’ve highlighted ALL states as key states, not just the typical “battleground/swing states.” Wherever you live, there’s good you can go) - you can also find polling place, ballot and registration information and links on VoteSaveAmerica.com as well.

Down ballot voting is also important, since your city and state officials often have a lot more sway over your day to day life than the federal government. Make sure those people are serving your interests and solving problems in your backyard as well.

Deadline amnesty for taking time out to vote is still in effect for the next several days. Full details on that in this post.

Thank you all in advance in giving me something other than politics to occupy my mental space this coming week. (Remember, last time it took until Saturday to know the final result of the presidential election, and it look longer for California to finish counting all its many votes to determine who controlled Congress. Patience, and healthy coping mechanisms (everything from exercise to art to prayer), will be our friends. Processing all your messages will be a welcome task while we’re waiting.)

Happy writing to you all!

Let’s get you that writing prompt…


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

Challenge #4 - Asteroid

Due: Tuesday, November 5th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


My singer-songwriter friend Chris Koza has a new album dropping on November 13th called “Last Car In The Parking Lot” and I got early access so I’ve been listening to it on repeat for the last few weeks.  One of the tracks called “Graveyard Shift” has this great couplet at the end of the second verse that I can’t stop thinking about:

“If this old town caught an asteroid,
I’d be saved from what I can’t avoid.”

This put me in mind of a lot of things.

Natural disasters of all kinds do put things in perspective.  The importance of everyday annoyances does tend to pale in comparison to large traumatic events (floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, building collapses, pandemics, etc.)

For instance, ever since COVID-19 forced a lot of us to work from home for a year, the inevitable return of at least a hybrid workplace has me regularly ruminating about how performative the whole “commute to the office” thing is.

And also, ever since my mother died, traffic bothers me a lot less.  “Am I trying to rush to the bedside of my mom who is slowly dying of a brain tumor to spend more quality time with her because that always cheers her up?”  No?  OK, then, I’ll get there when I get there.

As to things I can’t, and yet am, avoiding - I don’t want to leave a house behind me to clean up the way my mother did (totally not her doing, she wasn’t planning on having a brain tumor). My friend Victoria’s mother was very deliberate to engage in what she called “Swedish death cleaning” - making sure she was tidying things up as much as possible after her cancer diagnosis so she didn’t leave a mess behind her.  And yet, I’ve still got a basement guest room full of boxes from both my mother and my father’s homes that I am avoiding opening and sorting though, mostly because opening a box feels like therapy, the kind of therapy that hurts.  Still, it’s been five years.  And a lot of other indicators in my life seem to be telling me I could handle it.  I just need to do it.

The chorus of “Graveyard Shift” goes…

“I’m working the graveyard shift,
Trying to get back to the other side of it,
Keeping the hours spent.
If I’m on empty then maybe I’ll forget
What I’m missing
And how time keeps slipping on
And on…”

What are your characters avoiding?

What large life or natural events could shift their perspective (or make them think, “Well, at least now I don’t have to take out the trash”)?

Play around with any or all of that.

Or the exact opposite of it.

Or ignore it entirely and do whatever you like on the page.

Just write something.

 

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

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

try 2021’s challenge #4: Science Fiction and Fantasy

Or try 2022’s challenge #4: Smackdown

Or try 2023’s Challenge #4: Wonderland (from Threshold Theater co-founder and Technical Director Nick Mrozek)

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 #4

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 #4
(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: Tuesday, November 5th, 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 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 26 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.

Stan walks into a cluttered room he knows he needs to clean.

He sighs.

There is a bright flash in the sky.

Stan looks out the window and sees a plane plummeting out of the sky toward his neighborhood.

Stan looks back at the cluttered room.

STAN - Well, I suppose I don’t really need to clean this up now.

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 :)

 

 

Writing Challenge #3 - Nazi Dildo Lady

Hi folks

Just a reminder, there’s 101 of you, and only 1 of me, so I appreciate your patience as we get this thing up and running in the early days.  

I’ll get to any questions as I quickly I can make my way through all the emails which, with 101 of you, are numerous - but that’s good, it means you’re writing, which is the whole point of this thing :)

In addition to my standard 8am to 5pm weekday day job, I have a second part time job some evenings and most weekends so… I’m still working out the juggling act with 44 more playwrights this year than last year.  We’ll get there :)

QUESTION ABOUT HOW TO SUBMIT WORK

There is a section of every email and blog post about 2/3rds of the way down that lists all the different ways you can submit your work each day by the 12 noon Central Time deadline.  Most folks are using some version of the emailing option - either replying to the original challenge email or sending an email labeled Challenge #(whatever it is) with the work attached as a doc or pdf, or just copy/pasted directly into the body of the email.  Part of the reason I send you all your own individual challenge email is so we don’t have to worrying about an accidental group Reply All situation :). Any of the other listed options (Google docs, blogs, links, etc.) are all fine as well.  Just make sure I have permission to access, and if I have problems getting in I’ll let you know.

CONFUSION ABOUT WHAT CHALLENGE TO DO WHAT DAY, ETC.

Since I’m trying to send things a day early to give you all more time to write, it can get confusing so here’s an easy way to figure out what to do.
Look at the calendar.
Whatever the number of the date is, that’s the number of the challenge you should be working on that day.
So if it’s November 3rd,
you’re writing challenge 3,
and turning it in no later than 12 noon Central Time on November 4th.
You can always work ahead and turn things in early but you don’t have to.
And if you’re ever lost in the flurry of different challenge emails you receive, just check the date on the calendar.
And if you have questions about what you’ve turned in and what you haven’t, you can always check in with me.
I’m tracking it all on a spreadsheet day by day - what gets turned in when and how many pages it is, so I can track general statistics about the overall output of the group, and who’s written all 30 days.

QUESTION ABOUT FORMAT

People were concerned about format.

Don’t worry about format.  As long as it’s legible and in English, we’re very flexible.

Just like voting, we don’t want format to get in the way of writing :)

We have a whole post about that :). It’s part of a list of handy tips about half way down every email and blog post.


VOTING

If you haven’t already voted, please do.
Vote early if you have the option.
And if it’s long lines on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th or nothing, then we do have deadline amnesty for whenever you vote, be it that day or the days prior.
We don’t want writing to get in the way of voting, or vice versa.

If you’re looking for information on how and where to vote, your Secretary of State’s website is a good resource - Minnesota, here’s yours
If you want to work off some nervous energy, volunteer opportunities can be found here, among other places.

And if you’re looking for reasons to vote, I posted my top three, two of which are theater-related.

For My Goddaughter

1 Million People Are Dead Who Didn’t Need To Be

I’m A Queer Theater Artist


The first collections of electronic pages are already coming in.

So exciting to see you all so productive.

Hope you're having fun.

Let’s get you the next writing prompt…

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

Challenge #3 - Nazi Dildo Lady

Due: Monday, November 4th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


Mostly, I use my phone to play music.  But I do still get random news alerts.

Some are more random than others.

Once, when I was checking my phone right before writing group started, to see if anyone was trying to call or text that they were on their way, a news alert popped up with the headline:

“A locally hated dyslexic hair stylist battles the Christian Right in a Texas town”

Which just sounds like a weird hybrid of the films “Steel Magnolias” and “Footloose”

The writing group attendees insist I write the headline down to use later.



Sometimes the news alerts have quotes as headlines, so it feels like the phone is trying to admonish me.  One day it was:

“Stop kink shaming people”

Another day it was:

“Love doesn’t have to be unconditional”

Both of these were also from TIME magazine, so I was wondering if perhaps the concept of time, or Father/Mother Time was trying to speak to me.



When looking through my random inspiration folder for writing challenges, I found a file labeled

“Nazi dildo lady”

(What the heck is that? I wondered)

I opened it to discover an old Huff Post headline news alert, saying

“The woman behind a Neo-Nazi network has been exposed - and her past work experience involves dildos”



What strange things have popped up on your phone?  
Any of them, or any of the above, inspire you to write something ridiculous?  Or deadly serious?

Totally up to you.  Go with that thread of inspiration, or write something completely different.

Just write.



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

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

try 2021’s challenge #3: Start With A Title

Or try 2022’s challenge #3: Clown Family

Or try 2023’s challenge #2: Place Names for People

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 #3

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 #3
(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: Monday, November 4th, 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 Monday 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 27 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.

[Stage direction - A hair stylist attends to the hair of a woman dressed in a Nazi uniform.]

[The woman has a box of dildos in her lap.]

STYLIST: Love doesn’t have to be unconditional

[Stage direction - The woman in the Nazi uniform holds her box of dildos aloft with pride.]

NAZI: Stop kink shaming people!

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 :)

 

Writing Challenge #2 - RIP: HUGE improv theater

Hi folks

A quick reminder to start - for those who have early voting or mail-in voting options available to them in the U.S., please avail yourselves of them if you haven’t already

(for instance, in Threshold Theater’s home of Minneapolis there’s three standard early vote locations, plus a pop-up location available until 6pm tonight.  The three early vote locations are also available Saturday, Sunday and Monday.)  

Then Tuesday’s Election Day.
Make your voice heard.

And if voting impacts your ability to write and make the deadline for one of these first few days of writing, amnesty is availability for the deadline - just let me know you were out voting (we’re not gonna penalize anyone for something that important)



And now, back to playwriting…

As of this morning, there are 101 playwrights signed on for the challenge!

(For comparison, last year’s total was 57 - and we thought at the time THAT was a lot - a new record a year ago compared to the two years prior, but you all blew right past that this year :)

It was back and forth all day yesterday between Minnesota and New York for the highest number of participants but a flurry of last minute entrants at the end pushed Minnesota back into the lead:

Minnesota ended up with 17 playwrights
New York bumped its total writers up to lucky 13

Other locales added on as well yesterday.  We ended up with the following:

7 from California, 7 from Georgia,
5 from Massachusetts, 5 from Ohio,
4 from Colorado,
3 from Arizona, 3 from Florida, 3 from Maryland, 3 from Texas, 3 from Washington state
2 each from Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
There’s also a single representative hailing from each of the following:
Alaska, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin.

We picked up another Canadian participant in Victoria, to go with our three folks from Ontario already in the mix.  And last but certainly not least, hail to our friend in Glasgow, Scotland.

Welcome, one and all!  Thanks for joining us in this little daily exercise in flexing your writing muscles for a month.

I am going to continue to endeavor to get you all the challenges a day early, so you have plenty of time to write, but you’ll also have the option that way to move on to the next one if you finish a challenge early.

And so…


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

Challenge #2 - RIP, HUGE improv theater

Due: Sunday, November 3rd, 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)


Sending this out on the Day of the Dead, so let’s ponder the passing of a local theater, shall we?

HUGE improv theater sadly closed its doors for the last time on October 31st.  They had an impressive 15 year run offering a stage for new and veteran improvisors alike, serving also as a summer stage for the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and creating a hub of community (and classes) for long form improv comedy in the Twin Cities.  HUGE spawned so many performers and improv groups and concept shows that its influence around town will continue for a great many years, but HUGE itself has ceased to exist as of yesterday, with its last night of performances the day before.

Coincidentally, Threshold Theater just held auditions for my play “Spellbound” and will be rehearsing and performing in the spring of 2025 at the Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis

The Phoenix Theater used to be the home of the long running sketch comedy ensemble the Brave New Workshop, where I first saw Improv-A-Go-Go, the weekly entry level improv showcase that provided some of the impetus for the creation of HUGE.  A weekly showcase that continued for 15 years at HUGE theater every Sunday.  And starting in 2025, Improv-A-Go-Go kicks back into gear at its new home Strike Theater - a space dedicated to storytelling, sketch comedy and spoken word that came into existence in the wake of HUGE first opening its doors. In fact, Strike is proving to be a new refuge for improv classes and performances in general.

Circle of life.

Theater spaces, like nearly all spaces, have a history - so many artists, so many audience members, so many stories, crammed into a single space.  Memories, ghosts, think of it all what you will.

Write something about the past life of a space (whatever space you like, a performance space, a home, a church, a store, a TV/movie set, etc.) manifesting somehow in the present, and have fun with the overlap.

Or, as always, just write whatever you like.

Just write something.


And I’ll leave you some parting words from the folks at HUGE improv theater:

TO THE IMPROVISORS
OF HUGE NO MORE
from your buddy Jill Bernard
(one of HUGE’s founders, there from the beginning til the very final night of performances on Wednesday)

I HOPE
…you absolutely demand that your improv teachers authentically create a space where students have agency over how they will be treated and what subjects are fair game, and model for them how to do it if they don’t know.
…you notice when you see an all-white improv team or an all-men improv team. What you do with that observation is up to you, but I want you to be tuned to observe it and not accept it as a default setting.
…you learn how to make an online form and book a space and contract a teacher and make a class happen.
…you continue the spirit of ‘cooperatition’, which is a gross fake word for cooperation + competition wherein we help other improv groups and theaters and never see ourselves as adversaries.
…you never confuse creativity and irresponsibility; you show up on time, do what you said you would do, and clean up after yourself. Maybe change the toilet paper even.
…you rent spaces and stages that can be accessed without stairs.
…you are more than queer-friendly, you’re queer-best-friendly or beyond.
…you hone the eyes through which to see your own improv style, unique to you, and polish it up.
…you’re brave about speaking the truth, kindly but surely.
…you find a way to avoid loud dull people.
…you are utterly unprecious about any one school of improv thought and try on them all.
…you recognize the fragility and loveliness of improv itself, the people who do it and watch it; and the places where it happens.
…you prank the Star Tribune newspaper however you can.
…you take your water bottle with you when you leave.

HUGE Improv Theater. 2011-2024
"Find the others.
Find the people in the same place as you who want to build the same things.
Ask them what they're interested in, ask them what they're making, and ask them if you can help. Put it together...
It's not too late for you.
It's not too late for the future.
Start talking. Start building it.
Make it calmly, and make it complex and inclusive.
Make it real.
Make it human.
Make it weird and wonderful."
- Warren Ellis


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

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

try 2021’s challenge #2: Fire Escape

Or try 2022’s challenge #2: What Haunts You?

Or try 2023’s challenge #2: Fox and Rabbit (from Threshold Theater Literary Associate Kate Cosgrove)

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 #2

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 #2
(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: Sunday, November 3rd, 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)


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

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 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 28 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.

A person sweeps an empty stage, in front and behind a couple of painted black flats that form a doorway.

Someone stacks up the chairs in the auditorium.

Some turns the lights off and locks the doors for the last time.

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 :)

 

 

Writing Challenge #1 - Still More Assorted Dialogue

Hi folks

Thanks again for signing up for the November Playwriting Challenge with Threshold Theater!

People still have until midnight tonight to sign on but as of right now (6:30am Central Time in Minneapolis) we have 88 playwrights from 26 states across America, plus the District of Columbia, three from Canada, and one from Scotland (!) (a first!)

Welcome to one and all, both far and near!

At the moment, we’ve got the usual cluster from Minnesota (12 playwrights)
(Threshold Theater is based in Minneapolis so that’s not a huge surprise :)

There’s 10 from New York state thus far,
7 from California, 7 from Georgia,
5 from Massachusetts, 5 from Ohio,
4 from Colorado,
3 from Arizona, 3 from Florida, 3 from Maryland, 3 from Texas,
2 each from Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
There’s also a single representative hailing from each of the following:
Alaska, Connecticut, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

All this alongside the aforementioned trio in Canada (all concentrated in Toronto this year), and our new friend in Glasgow, Scotland.

We actually decided to give everyone a head-start on the first challenge just to get things rolling, so read on, and you can begin writing as soon as you like...

You have today and tomorrow to play around - this is November 1st’s challenge, showing up a little early, but still not due until noon Central Time on November 2nd.

So, let’s  dive in, shall we?


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Challenge #1 - Still More Assorted Dialogue

Due: Saturday, November 2nd, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


Something random with multiple options always seems to be a good jumping off point for each year’s challenge, so here are nine completely unconnected lines of dialogue for you to consider:

“It’s the perfect ending.”

“Will you watch the sunrise with me?”

“I hurt people because it’s the only thing I’m good at.”

“She lives in a small town where it always rains.”

“Do angels need to breathe?”

“It’s a giant field and you don’t know where to stand.”

“All he wanted was freedom from this place; and he finally got it.  Just not the way he hoped.”

“I waited here, every day.  Just for them.”

“Tears smell like rain if you wait long enough.”



Take one of those and run with it to get an idea started.

Or if you like two or more of them, feel free to use as many as you like.

If I was being a show-off, I’d try to include all nine of them, but I only have a day to write so… I can always come back and use more later for another day.

(Don’t set yourself up with a hurdle to clear that keeps you from writing, that’s the opposite of what all these writing challenges are supposed to do :)

And if you hate all these options, you can check out the source, Clay Belvedere’s writing Instagram account, www.instagram.com/scrolls_of_cryptids/, for other handy writing prompt material for the day.  They currently have 32 numbered sets of writing prompts posted, plus a bunch more that are unnumbered further back in time in their account. Lots of raw material to sift though there while Clay’s on temporary hiatus due to college this fall.

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, 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 :)

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)


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How to submit your work for Challenge #1

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 #1
(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 the challenge here on our writing challenge blog



Again, this is: Due: Saturday, November 2nd, 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.

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 Saturday 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 make sense to you.

It just needs to be something.


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And that something can be:



Lights up.

[Stage direction - Two people walk onstage sharing an umbrella.]

“She lives in a small town where it always rains.”

“Tears smell like rain if you wait long enough.”

[Stage direction - The clouds part.  The lights brighten.]

“Will you watch the sunrise with me?”

“It’s the perfect ending.”

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 :)

Deadline Amnesty for Voting (and other handy challenge tips)

Even more important than writing - VOTING in the election this year.

I took care of this myself back on September 20th, the first day of early voting here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which Threshold Theater calls home.

A great many of you live in states where early voting is already available.  Please take advantage of it.

However, if you haven’t voted by the time November 1st rolls around, the November Playwriting Challenge is not going to be standing in your way.

Any day from November 1st through November 5th, if time spent voting prevents you from having the time you need to write, just let me know that and the noon Central Time deadline doesn’t apply to you for the day’s writing which is impacted by your going to the polls.

This will also apply the day after the election (November 6th), since I know the lines are liable to be longest on Election Day on November 5th and that could snowball through that day’s writing, due by noon Central Time on November 6th.

So, please make your voices heard and VOTE.

Not just the top of the ticket but all the way down - the President will need a House and Senate willing to work with them, and school board and city and state government have an even greater impact on your day to day lives often than the federal government does.  Choose the people exercising power over you.  That’s your power.  Choose people who are going to address issues that matter to you.  I did.

Your Secretary of State’s website will have voting information for you.  For instance, here’s Minnesota’s where you can find out how to register to vote, where you can early vote or where your polling place is on Election Day, and what’s on your ballot.

Good national resources include:

I Will Vote

Vote Save America
VSA can help you figure out how to vote
Where you can volunteer to help campaigns
How you can donate to make the biggest impact

In addition to getting out there and voting, because we all can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month, handy tips gleaned from the three previous years of the challenge:

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 28th (however you recognize the holiday weekend)

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

This question always comes up eventually, so… about Thanksgiving (2024 edition):

Yes, there will still be a writing prompt.

However, the plan that week is to send you writing prompts in advance for the holiday weekend, so you can write ahead and bank them if you want.

The last few years, what I’ve done is sent out
Tuesday and Wednesday’s prompts on Monday,
Thursday and Friday’s prompts on Tuesday,
and Saturday’s prompt on Wednesday.

(This year the holiday weekend is stranger than usual because it’s at the very end of the month, so we don’t have the usual challenge scenario of the holiday weekend followed by a couple of “normal” weekdays again before the end of the month.  In fact, the month turns over in the middle of the holiday weekend in 2024.  Saturday is November 30th, our final day of writing.  Sunday is December 1st, when the results of that final day of writing get turned in.)

And, as always, there will be an escape hatch prompt that you can copy, paste and embellish as your submission for the day, such as…

“Lights up

A turkey runs for its life across the stage.

Lights down”

So don’t stress the holiday.  There are ways around it.

 

 

The Return of Threshold Theater's November Playwriting Challenge (Year 4)

And after our standard nine month hibernation, we're back for round four!

November is traditionally a month when all sorts of writers sign up for challenges to finish the Great American Novel or that unfinished screenplay - why shouldn’t playwrights get in on the fun?



The goal is simple: to get you to prioritize your own playwriting, even if it’s just for a little while each day, every day, for a whole month.



Even if you only manage it every other day, or a couple of days a week, that’s still progress.



If you’re like me, you can sometimes be so good at putting off your writing until another day that you can look up and find weeks have gone by without you writing a single line of dialogue.  

We want to get out of that habit and replace it with a more creative habit.



And if you manage to write every single day of the month of November, then there’s an extra little prize for you at the end (read on for more details on that…)



Our challenge was created as a bit of an homage to a similar writing challenge that my friends at Red Theater in Chicago ran for several years in which I took part (so far I’ve mined the material I developed there for two full-length plays and a ten minute play).  Since they’ve sadly discontinued the event, and Threshold Theater is devoted to the development of new work and creating a community of writers for the theater, we thought, “why not revive that November playwriting challenge idea and do it here?”



How it works:

Everyone who wants to participate in the challenge can sign up on this fancy new page on the Threshold Theater website, where you “purchase” the November Playwriting Challenge for $15 (https://www.thresholdtheatermpls.com/store/p14/Threshold_Theater%27s_4th_Annual_November_Playwriting_Challenge.html#/)

(That $15 is sort of like putting money in a pool for March Madness or an Oscar party, but this time, you're betting on yourself as a writer.)



(If the payment is a problem for you, contact us at ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com - we don’t want money to be a barrier to people participating in the challenge - we’ll make something work to get you in.)


Threshold Theater will take 20% off the top, which will go towards supporting the artists in our New Play Reading Series and future productions.  The remaining 80% of the money collected from the $15 entry fees will go into the pot to create that prize at the end I mentioned before.


After purchasing the challenge with your entry fee, drop us an email at ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com to let us know you’re in.

PLEASE NOTE: Since Gmail is being aggressive about curating people’s email inboxes the last year or so, if you don’t see emails from the Challenge in your inbox, and you have a gmail account, be sure to check on the “All Mail” option, which will reveal all the emails you receive, not just the ones Gmail thinks are important.  Since we have links in the challenge emails and since you either have never received emails from us before, or haven’t since last November, Gmail may not be as interested in the playwriting challenge as you are :)


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Formal Rules:

Contest (aka, November Playwriting Challenge) entry period ends October 31, 2024 at 11:59pm Central Time.

The contest will run from 12:00 a.m. (midnight) Central Time on November 1, 2024 to 12:00pm (noon) Central Time on December 1, 2024

Participants must submit work by 12:00 p.m. (noon) Central Time each day to be considered eligible for winnings on December 1, 2024.

Winner(s) will be announced no later than December 8, 2024

Winnings will be sent out (check via US mail) no later than two weeks after winners are announced (December 22, 2024).

Winnings of $600 and over will require a form W-2 to be issued by Threshold Theater.

By paying the entrance fee and submitting the email you agree to the rules set forth from Threshold Theater and all disputes will be settled directly between Threshold Theater and participants.


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The writers who manage to write something every single day for the 30 days of November will split the money at the end.

That, of course, is an extra reward on top of the main reward, which is that you prioritized your playwriting and wrote a whole bunch of new material in November.

(And everyone, whether they write all 30 days or not, will get that “new play material” prize.)

(Every year I did this challenge through Red Theater, I wrote all 30 days and ended up getting my $15 back at the end as part of my share of the kitty, so it was basically free writing encouragement :)



First rule of the challenge - it doesn’t have to be good writing, it just has to be writing.



Part of the point of the challenge is to get you to just make decisions and run with them, blast past your internal censor and just put something on the page. One participating writer has likened it to doing improv with your keyboard.



Everything you write will, by the circumstances of its creation, be a first draft.  You can always go back and “fix it” later :)



Each day you will have a writing prompt.



I will post the writing challenge on our challenge blog at https://thresholdwritingchallenge.blogspot.com/



I will also email everyone participating with the text of that day’s challenge and a link to that blog post (which will come in handy later…)



(The plan is to give you two or three days’ worth of prompts in advance, so if you want to keep writing or get a head start on the next day’s work, you can.  The more writing the better.)



You can write to the prompt, or ignore it and write something completely different.  Up to you.  As long as you’re writing.



The point is just to give yourself the space and time to write something new.  



Doesn’t even need to be a complete scene, you could just have the beginning and the middle and not have any idea how to end it, the rest of the idea may come to you another day down the road.



As long as you have something written, that’s a good day.



If you’re just not able to get anything going one day in November, and all you can come up with is:

“Lights up



CAROL dances across the stage and disappears



Lights down



The End”



That’s fine



(Obviously we want to avoid 30 days of that but that’s enough of a placeholder to count for the day’s writing: Lights up, Something happens on stage, Lights down, The End - that’s the baseline we all start with as our escape hatch for the day, challenge yourself to do more)



The daily check-in to keep us all honest and for me to be able to track who’s writing each day will go like this:



You’ll get the prompt for November 1st in advance of that date.  You’ll have all day on November 1st to write.

By 12 noon, Central Time, on November 2nd, you’ll share your work with us in one of the following ways:



You can email us the script at ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com



You can post the script as a comment on the blog entry for the day’s challenge at https://thresholdwritingchallenge.blogspot.com/



You can post your script online on your own blog or website (or post it as a Google doc) and post a link to it in a comment on the blog entry for the day’s challenge at https://thresholdwritingchallenge.blogspot.com/



You can email that link to your posted work for the day at ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com



You can always turn your writing in early, but 12 noon Central Time will be the cutoff each day, and that way no one has an unnaturally early morning to make the deadline, regardless of what time zone they might be in.

So, submit your writing of the day for November 1st no later than 12 noon Central Time on November 2nd.



Then get working on the writing for November 2nd, to be turned in by12 noon Central Time on November 3rd.

And so on...



And we’ll all go through that process daily until 12 noon, Central Time, on December 1st, for the November 30th challenge.



(And don’t panic the first couple of days when we’re all getting up and running.  We’re not going to be sticklers while we’re all fighting technology and working out the kinks on November 1, 2 and 3… Just post as you’re able and keep us in the loop by email on what’s going on if you’re having trouble, need tech support, etc. :)



Then December 1st, I’ll sit down and make a list of all the people who logged in with writing work every day of the month, and I’ll double check it with you all, to make sure I didn’t miss anybody.



And then we’ll split the collective 80 percent of the entry fees for the challenge between those prolific writers who all remain standing at the end of the month.  We'll confirm contact details at that time for the best way to get you your money.

I have always had a tremendous amount of fun doing challenges like this as a writer myself, and my aim is to make this one fun and inspiring for all of you as well.

An overview of how things turned out the past three years:
Honestly, I was expecting maybe half a dozen writers from the Twin Cities metro our first time out in 2021. Instead, we got 10 writers in Minnesota, plus 33 other writers from 20 other states, 2 from Canada, and 2 whose location was unknown. 27 of the 47 writers wrote every single day.
In 2022, due to a technical glitch, we got a late start getting the word out, but we still ended up with 12 writers in Minnesota, plus 23 other writers from 15 other states, 1 from Canada, and 4 whose location was unknown.  22 of the 40 writers wrote every single day.
Last year, we had 57 writers, 33 of whom wrote all 30 days. 19 of the writers were from Minnesota, the rest came from 16 other states around the U.S. and the District of Columbia, plus we had another Canadian representative for the third year running.



If you’re interested in participating, go purchase the November Playwriting Challenge on the Threshold Theater website (which will put your $15 in the prize pot) and send us an email at ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com to let us know you want to take part in the challenge.

Deadline to sign up is October 31, 2024 - 11:59pm, Central Time

(Donation needs to be entered no later than 11:59pm 10/31/24; but if you don't get around to the email part of it to notify us until later, that's fine - I just need your email address so I know where to send you the prompts every day :)

The fun (and writing) begin November 1, 2024.



Happy writing to you all!



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