- Music: Rocking Horse by The Dead Weather
Last night was One Night Stand at the Studios of Key West. The idea is this: On a Friday night, 5 writers, 25 actors, 5 directors and 5 set designers come together. The writers pull actors and a director out of a hat. Each playwright must use the same first line, the same last line, and a common prop, revealed after the actors and directors are drawn out of a hat. Then, the playwrights have until 6am to write a ten-minute play. On Saturday morning, the sleepless playwrights meet with directors and set designers, then the actors show up. They have all day to rehearse the play, which then is performed Saturday p.m. The whole process takes 24 hours. It is amazingly challenging!
Last year, I was an actress, which was harrowing enough. This year, I volunteered to be a writer, which was a lot harder, but also more rewarding. One Night Stand is amazing in general, because you have all the island's most creative people in one space all focused on a common goal. This year, the 200 seats sold out in 3 days!
So, our first line this year was: "Um, I have a confession to make, Pat." Our last line was: "I don't know. Maybe you shouldn't."
The common prop was a twelve-pack of toilet paper.
So I went home and started writing soon after I knew who my cast and director were and the common lines and props, at about 7:30pm. I was very excited to see in my cast a few actors I knew were strong performers, and even more excited to draw the name of my dear friend Cricket as a director, because I knew she would never drop the ball and would bring her own creativity and drive to the project.
By 9:30pm, I realized no muses were going to zing me with something inspirational, and I just had to write something. The best strategy with these pieces seems to be keep it light and funny and let the actors be goofy. I came up with a very bad day on the set of Wheel of Fortune: Vanna is in a catfight with a contestant who wants her job, Pat has been ordered by the producers to let her talk (despite the fact that she can't think of anything to say) and there is a mummy on the set (dressed in toilet paper) who followed an archaeologist contestant from Egypt--and he is hungry for Pat Sajak's brains.
Okay, Shakespeare it wasn't, but what do you want at 2 in the morning? I finished at 3:30am, and tried to catch a few hours sleep before heading back to the Studios at 8am.
After the morning meeting, I went home to get some rest. It was so cool to come back hours later and see what the team had created out of my script. Though we didn't win the prize for best play, the audience laughed and enjoyed the piece. Whew!
As with last year, I am so glad I challenged myself, and so proud of everyone involved. I can't wait until next year's One Night Stand! (okay let me get some sleep first.)
Now I just need to get my body clock back on schedule. It's been many years since I stayed up all night, and bouncing back sure isn't as easy as it used to be!
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