I wrote my 10-minute play last night for Rover Dramawerks‘ One Day Only festival. After a meet-in-greet that included a speed-bonding exercise, we writers were stationed with laptops as the directors and actors went home.

The suggestion I drew from the hat was, “When I go walking I strut my stuff. I just might stop to check you out.” Ah, the Violent Femmes, a band I hadn’t listen to in a long time. It made me want to listen to them as I was writing my script; however, I didn’t bring my headphones with me. A couple of the other writers did; that was smart. Another writer changed into soft pants. Maybe smart?

I wrote my script first in long-hand. I kept remembering what my playwriting teacher kept telling me–overwrite at first, then cut. Writing it out long-hand really helped with the pruning round, because when I started to type, I automatically started cutting out lines and merging dialog.

In a 10-minute play, it’s hard to, as people say in improv, burn the leaves (really exploring a topic for awhile). I could have done that; however, I wanted to make sure I told a story while at the same time defining the relationship between the two main characters. I realize, in the end, my script may be brisk.

What I ended up writing about, and what I put as the play’s synopsis, is how being noticed carries a price. There’s some physical fighting between two women, some cattiness throughout, and, I hope, some questions raised about what it means to be noticed in the world and why one would or wouldn’t want to be noticed.

I think that’s a topic that can be explored in a future, longer play. I’ll be keeping it in my back pocket, for sure.

The writing experience was fun. I’m looking forward to watching all the plays tonight. It will be interesting to see how my play is brought alive by others and how they interpret the theme.