Variations 1-7

Brief: Use a piece of music composed by Beethoven to inspire a play.

Excerpt: 

She:                  So, do you come here often?

He:                  My writing group meets here on Thursday evenings; yes.

She:                  Is that usual? For a published author to still have a writing group?

He:                  Absolutely. Feedback is better than a home-cooked meal.

She:                  I’d think that would depend on the meal.

He:                  Oh?

She:                  Well, you know, pot noodles aren’t exactly on par with shrimp scampi.

Follow the link below to read the entire play:

07 – Variations 1-7

Cello Practice

 

Aye, Calypso!

Brief: Write a play in which you meet one of your idols.

Excerpt:

JACQUES:                  Do you know why these were made without handles?

MELISSA:                   I do. It was so the submarine officers on watch could wrap their hands around them for warmth.

JACQUES:                  Warmth is something we all need when we are at sea.

(he places the mugs on a low table between them, and pours tea from a pot into each)

Do you need milk or sugar?

MELISSA:                   I used to. Not so much anymore.

JACQUES:                  I find I like the bit of astringency that comes with black tea. It’s bracing. Reminds you you’re alive.

Notes:  Some of Jacques’s lines are taken from actual quotations.

Follow the link below to read the entire play.

06 – Aye Calypso!

Jacques Cousteau Statue by Ron Jordan

From the Logs of BASIL

Robot head looking front on camera isolated on a black background

Brief: Write a monodrama (A play for only one performer.)

Excerpt:

The Cousteau has just completed a humanitarian mission to the planet we refer to as Aquaria  Three, though the native population – a race of sentient marine mammals not far removed from the Terran cetacean species – has a different name for their world. The organic beings among our crew have been unable to reproduce the name, but I have managed a close approximation that the locals told me was ‘close enough for krill.’

Notes:

This piece is a sort of prequel or companion to a short story written a couple year’s ago: A Winter Tale

Follow the link below to read the entire piece:

05-From the Logs of BASIL

A Match Made in Purgatory

Martian demon via 123rf.com

Brief: Write a play using one or more of some pre-defined characters, using some or all of the provided traits.

Notes: I didn’t feel that any of the suggested characters were speaking with me so I went to the THEY FIGHT CRIME generator and stole two that I liked, but used a couple of traits from the pre-defined characters.

Excerpt:

HOBBES:                    Then how did you mean it?

CALVIN:                    I’m Aristide. Calvin Aristide. Metal dude on my right is Sparky.

HOBBES:                    (ruffling her wings in irritation) And this information matters to me… why?

CALVIN:                    (annoyed) The Agency didn’t tell you? I’m your new partner.

HOBBES:                    The Agency hasn’t bothered to contact me in weeks. They still blame me for what happened with the last guy. It wasn’t my fault he decided to go to Kestrel Five without me. I mean, who does that?

(beat)

Figured they’d call me in, put me on permanent sabbatical, not assign a new partner. Do you drink?

CALVIN:                    Well, not blood…

 

Follow the link below to read the entire play:

04 – Match Made in Purgatory

Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, Mirror via 123rf.com

Brief: Choose a random phobia from a list, and use it to inspire a play. I chose Eisoptrophobia: the fear of mirrors or of looking into them, or of seeing your reflection.

Excerpt:

QUEEN:                     My hunter. I had him, in my home, in my bed.

THERAPIST:              And the mirrors?

QUEEN:                     Their voices were quiet for a time. And then they were not.

THERAPIST:              When did the mirrors start speaking to you again?

QUEEN:                     Jeremiah mentioned that the girl was becoming a beautiful woman.

THERAPIST:              And?

QUEEN:                     He said she was the only person more beautiful than me.

 

Follow the link below to read the entire play:

03 – Mirror, Mirror

Agua y Fuego

Madrid Motto

Brief:  Write a play that is a love letter to part (or all) of Europe.

Excerpt:

Ignacio:            I had some tea from the replicator, thanks. And you’re underestimating with “chilly.” The last hour of the trip, I couldn’t feel my fingers… or my chin.

Naomi:            I guess I’m just acclimated. Well, don’t worry; you won’t have to visit the surface anytime soon, and once you’ve passed quarantine, you’ll have access to the hot springs.

Ignacio:            Hot springs? I didn’t think Europa had geothermal heat?

Naomi:            Europa doesn’t. Nuevo Madrid does. We cycle our waste energy through a couple of the springs within the complex, filter out any traces of radiation – don’t worry, there’s nothing harmful. Well, there was that one person who grew gills…

Follow the link below to read the entire play:

02 – Agua y Fuego

Marry Me a Little

Marry Me a Little

Brief: Use the number 2 as inspiration for a play. Write about pairs or couples, or interpret it another way.

Excerpt:

YU: It’s funny isn’t it?

WILL: What do you mean?

YU: Well, in our parents’ time, marriage was the default. Now? I know so many couples who don’t marry until they’ve had children. Or even after.

WILL: Yeah. The question used to be when will you marry, or who. Not, you know… will you ever. (He takes a beat). Will you?

Follow the link below to read the entire play:

01 – Marry Me A Little

Etudes

Copyright: kentoh / 123RF Stock Photo

The Brief

No… we started our journey on a ship at sea, so lets end it with some “Land Ahoy!” Write about the destination… the port, the land, the horizon, the future…

The Excerpt

ZOE

(sighing)

So much has changed, Basil. When we met, you were primarily a scientist, an explorer… then the war happened, and I was the wife of a solider, a battle commander, and finally we built peace again, and now…

BASIL

(picking up her thought)

…and now, retirement. Do you recall, Zoe, when I referred to the different changes and evolutions in our relationship as ‘etudes’ for us to master?

ZOE

I do. It was an apt metaphor.

 

To Read the Entire Play

Click Here: 1902.28 – Etudes 1902.28 – Etudes

True Love Cafe

72035583_s

 

The Brief

How frustrating is it when you have to deliver something to a deadline, only to realise afterwards what you could have done better.
So this is your opportunity to re-do a challenge. Pick any of the previous 26 challenges we've done, and write a NEW play following that brief.
I bet you've thought of a few better ideas since sending in your first version.
But don't just re-do the play you did - it has to be a completely different concept!

Notes

I chose the “TLC” Brief. You can read the details and my original submission here.

 

The Excerpt

SPRITE

Yes! Yes, exactly. Like, for me, my tree, it might be a willow… or maybe an aspen. But for you, it might be a salt pine or maybe even a beech tree.

DEREK

Can it be a copper beech, like in that Sherlock Holmes story?

SPRITE

Copper? I don’t know. Maybe. The thing is… you have to find your tree. And I have to find mine. And until you do, a relationship between us can’t work.

DEREK

Wait… you’re breaking up with me because you have to go find your tree?

SPRITE

Yeah… I have to find my tree. And you have to find yours.

 

To Read the Entire Play

Click here: 1902.26 – True Love Cafe

Water to the Sea

wind power farm on the coastal mud flat in sunrise

 

The Brief

Find an expression, an idiom, a cliche, etc…and use it as a literal impetus for the play.
Perhaps write a play about an apple standing at the gate and fighting a doctor?
Perhaps a monologue by one patch of grass, envyingly looking at another’s greenness?
Perhaps a tree trying desperately to tell a dog barking at it – that he is not the tree he’s looking for?
Two peas discussing the meaning of life… in their pod?
A shop in which customers have to pay with their arms and legs?
The life of a silver lining, having to be attached to a cloud they despise?
An it, who can only tango after taking two paracetamols?
I can go on all day!

 

The Excerpt

CLAUDE

(inhales his cigarette and then blowing a perfect series of smoke rings a la the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland)

It all seems so pointless, do you see? Like carrying buckets of water to the sea. One drop and then another, one wave and then a dozen more, and on, and on, and nothing changes, nothing grows.

CLAUDE

(blows another series of smoke rings)

I look in the mirror and I see myself reflected back, and if I look more closely, look into my own eyes, I see my own reflected reflection. I search for purpose and find only algae and plankton, as if I live only to keep my section of the ocean free of tiny things.

 

To Read the Entire Play

Click Here: 1902.25.Water to the Sea