"when strangers' lives become intertwined"
Hey writers!
So we want you to write on our theme--about chance encounters, or random things that bind us to people who otherwise, we never would have met/ known. We're going to post some research for inspiration here, nothing you HAVE to do or write about, just articles/ videos/ images that spoke to us. Just fuel for your fire.
For now, here are...
THE EVIL RULES MUAHAHAHAHA
Rules to live by, I mean write by:
1) Each section should have no more then 5 actors.
2) Each section should be between 10-15 pages. (And completed on time!!)
3) Each section should pick up from where the previous section left off and should finish open ended. A scene may end mid-section, but you cannot end your section with a scene break. (That's not fun! Too easy!)--that mean sections can not begin or end with a blackout or scene ending device (such as music or fades). It can even end mid-line...!
4) Okay--this gets complicated--bear with us...After the first playwright, each subsequent playwright should carry over one character from the previous section (this is so that directors share only one actor with one another and no more!). A character who has appeared in one section, and has been carried over into a second should somehow make a graceful (or ungraceful) exit (or disappearance?) in the transition to the third section. And so on. The character that you are passed along can not be the same character you pass along. EXAMPLE: Anna writes section 1 featuring characters A, B, and C. Anna writes characters A and B out of the scene somehow and then suddenly Patrick takes over and writes about characters C, D and E. (C being a character that remains from Anna's section). Patrick then writes characters C and D out and leaves character E. Then Jason then comes on board and writes about characters E, F and G. Patrick CANNOT pass character C onto Jason since character C has already appeared in two sections. He can only carry over characters D OR E. (It is merely to prevent a scheduling nightmare with actor sharing.)
3) Each section should pick up from where the previous section left off and should finish open ended. A scene may end mid-section, but you cannot end your section with a scene break. (That's not fun! Too easy!)--that mean sections can not begin or end with a blackout or scene ending device (such as music or fades). It can even end mid-line...!
4) Okay--this gets complicated--bear with us...After the first playwright, each subsequent playwright should carry over one character from the previous section (this is so that directors share only one actor with one another and no more!). A character who has appeared in one section, and has been carried over into a second should somehow make a graceful (or ungraceful) exit (or disappearance?) in the transition to the third section. And so on. The character that you are passed along can not be the same character you pass along. EXAMPLE: Anna writes section 1 featuring characters A, B, and C. Anna writes characters A and B out of the scene somehow and then suddenly Patrick takes over and writes about characters C, D and E. (C being a character that remains from Anna's section). Patrick then writes characters C and D out and leaves character E. Then Jason then comes on board and writes about characters E, F and G. Patrick CANNOT pass character C onto Jason since character C has already appeared in two sections. He can only carry over characters D OR E. (It is merely to prevent a scheduling nightmare with actor sharing.)
*It the playwright who is ENDING their section has the responsibility of clearing the stage of all but one of their characters. Each new playwright that is picking up the baton should be left with a stage of only one character.*
5) A writer can bring back any character from earlier in the play who has not already continued on in a previous section. EXAMPLE: When Josh begins writing, he could write about characters A, H, and I...since A only appeared in Anna's section. Or even A, B and D, for instance.
6) We encourage you to play with style, language, tone, storytelling medium, etc. We're not afraid of abrupt shifts--so write how you'd write! If a quiet, poetic play turns into an insane musical romp--we love that. Have fun and go wild!
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