"Unchecked Baggage" arrives

In early 2025, I saw a competition for 10-minute plays that took place anywhere within an airport. 

 

I assumed most people would naturally gravitate to scenarios around the most obvious settings – TSA lines, airport gates and baggage claims. So it seemed one way to stand out was to set my script in none of those.

 

Instead, I’d feature a family of four as they arrived at the airport with their bags. No interactions with airport personnel, no social or political commentary – just an all-out comedy about their inter-family conflicts, triggered by the stresses of traveling together. 

 

I thought of it as writing a scene for the cast of a family sitcom – All in the Family in particular, not that I was trying to use their characters. But like that show, and other well-crafted sitcoms, I wanted every cast member to have a distinctive relationship to each of the other characters, that would guide their responses. In fact, I (sloppily) diagrammed out how each of my family members would relate to each other.

The resulting script was one of my funniest and strongest, and I felt validated when it made it into the Winter Yield 2 play festival by the Vidalia Theatre Company.

I thought the title I chose – Unchecked Baggage – was appropriate. But when I saw the names of the other plays in the show, I wished I had been a little less clever in my naming. There was also a Baggage and a Check Your Baggage. 

 

I offered to change my play’s title – since the daughter referred to her parents’ behavior as one of the stages they go through on trips, I realized Flight Stages would have worked, too – but I didn’t hear back from the theatre. So Unchecked Baggage it was.

 

I planned to fly to Atlanta to see the final performance – but the January weather didn’t cooperate. An ice storm cancelled the last night’s show. 

 

Fortunately, Vidalia Theatre Company recorded a performance, so I was able to see my play brought to life – and get the most laughs of any play I’ve yet had produced.