A playwright for one minute
Back in the late ‘80s, a Minneapolis screenwriters' group sponsored a couple of public readings for a movie script I’d written. It was small performance, for maybe 40 to 50 people, but it was professionally done, with local stage actors volunteering their time and talent to act out my words. And though the script never amounted to much beyond that, I still remember the thrill of hearing my characters come to life, hearing my jokes getting actual laughs.
I didn’t go on to become a screenwriter or TV writer, but last year, I started thinking about the possibility of again having something I wrote performed on stage, this time via those 10-minute play competitions that are popular with theatre groups. I had a story that I’d started to tell in a movie script 40 years ago, but never finished; I lifted a sequence from that screenplay, and through a lot of rewriting, turned it into ten-minute, two-person play.
Twenty-five submissions later, that play remains unproduced. But in the process of seeking out potential play festivals, I came across a call for submissions for one-minute (yes, one-minute) plays for the Minnesota Shorts Play Festival, presented by the Merely Players Community Theatre in Mankato, MN.
Still, I’d spent a good chunk of my advertising career writing 60-second radio commercials, and usually in less than two days, so it seemed doable. And for once, I could just do the comedy part and leave out the selling.
So I quickly came up with a premise, banged out a draft, revised it a couple times over the next day and a half … and I had my play, Thinking of Elephants.
As I summarized it, “A chance encounter at a laundromat leads to an uncomfortable conversation on an ‘unmentionable’ subject.” (Hence, the analogy one character makes about not being able to unsee something in a coworker's laundry basket – how if you're told not to think of elephants, that's all you can think about.)
I thought it was pretty funny with a good payoff, but then, I’m often my best audience.
A month or so later, I received an email from the Minnesota Shorts Play Festival coordinator, saying my play made the list of 15 semi-finalists (narrowed down from 42 plays submitted). That seemed promising, but we were still vying for just 5 spots, so I really didn’t know what my chances were.
Then, after a second round of judging, I learned my script had been chosen as one of the plays to be produced for its fall festival. A director would be selected in June, and actors would be cast by July, with rehearsals in August – all leading up to performances on Thursday, Sept. 7, and Friday, Sept. 8, at the Mankato West Theater.
It was only a minute-long play, true – but hey, I was getting something produced on stage, even if it wasn’t the 10-minute play I had originally set out with. And it was fun to be recognized for writing something other than clever advertising. I had actually fulfilled a dream, if only in a small way.
I talked to my wife about us going to Mankato for a night to watch the Friday production, but this was still April. Over the next 5 months, I barely thought about it at all. Eventually I remembered and thought I’d better check the date so I don’t miss the production … and realized that the festival had taken place the previous weekend.
I’d missed my chance at seeing Thinking of Elephants performed live for an audience.
But wait – The festival recorded the one-minute plays and posted them online – so I got to see my play after all. I was surprised to see it performed by two women – the subtext of sexual tension was less obvious than if it’d been a woman and a man – but I liked their line readings and they did get the laughs.
And since the actual production clocked in at about two-and-a-half minutes, now I’m thinking, hmm, I just need about seven-and-a-half more minutes to turn this into a ten-minute play, and I can start submitting it to more festivals, and …
Well, maybe.
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