"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley"

In celebration of creative writing, Jim Anderson and the theatre department are offering a one hour workshop on the basics and format of playwriting here at Texas A&M University Commerce. This is part of a competition known as the No Experience Necessary 24 Hour Short Play Competition and Festival, a very unique idea of coming up with an idea for an 8-10 minute play and writing it for submission the very next day.

I think that this is a wonderful opportunity for individuals who may not have much experience in playwriting to get their creative works out to the public very quickly and with more focus on creative spontaneity than over-preparation. As a sometimes-serious fiction writer, I know how difficult it is sometimes to develop a very elaborate idea over the course of several months or years and how much preparation is required for such a feat. Sometimes my best work comes from pressure to get something written by the very next day; it is often the motivation I need to get creative.

Also, this program allows people who may not be familiar with playwriting and who would otherwise feel put off by such a specific genre to be briefly introduced to it and very quickly get involved in it on a very creative level. As is suggested by the title, no experience is necessary to develop something creative and worthwhile, and a project such as this will likely produce a great deal of different sorts of plays from people who otherwise would not even consider writing for such a medium.

Over these 24 hours, there will be plenty of guidance. Participants may attend an optional 1 hour workshop on playwriting in PAC 100 at 4:30 pm, Thursday October 22. Afterward, at 5:00 pm, participants may go to the Theatre Department website to obtain a prompt and instructions, and they will write an 8-10 minute play based on this prompt. Plays should be submitted no later than 10:00 am on Friday, October 23, to Jim_Anderson@TAMU-Commerce.edu , a short enough time to put plenty of pressure on writers to get their works in, again, something that I encourage, as a procrastinator. The committee that will look at these drafts includes Jim Anderson, Dr. John Hanners, and award-winning playwright Gary Burton, who I've had the good fortune of taking a theatre course from. As a side note, if you ever have the chance to see Doorknobs, a play written by Gary Burton, please do so; it was hands-down the best play that I had seen that year, and well-worth your time. Gary's an excellent playwright.

Once the top 5 plays are selected, playwrights will be invited to attend rehearsals at 3:00 pm on October 23. At 5:00, doors open for festival. This quick process should be an excellent experience for those who either procrastinate too much or have little to no experience with playwriting. John Waters once said that a great exercise for film students is to read a story in the newspaper, make a film based on it that day, and release the film the very next day. While he was speaking primarily of the film being based on a concept that had only entered the consciousness of the audience very recently, the same concept could apply to these potential playwrights. Think about a potential concept, recent or otherwise, write a play based on it, and submit it for rehearsals the very next day; since it only recently entered your consciousness, it will be new and fresh, and generally more potent. If I have the opportunity to do so, I will enter this contest myself, and I encourage anyone else to do the same.