“The Pond Girl” — a ten-minute play written in 24 hours

The Bechdel Group invited me to write a ten-minute play for a 24-hour challenge this past weekend. I was approached by an old friend from grad school at Lesley, MJ, who was also a writer in the challenge. They asked us to contribute something on a theme of beginnings and endings, and specifically geared to be theater for young people.

It’s not my first 24-hour scriptwriting challenge, but since it went from 1PM to 1PM, it was a little easier for me than the overnight ones I’ve done in the past. I’m actually pretty happy with the piece I slapped together in that time. It’s notable for things I’ve produced under these conditions in that it’s fairly well-built structurally, something that I usually find tricky in the absence of a lot of pre-planning or revision. Several elements tied together a lot better than I was anticipating. It could of course use some polishing, but it’s not bad for a bang-together.

Maybe I’ll record it as an audio drama with some people. It would be a nice easy project, and I think it would work well as audio-only.

( The Pond Girl by Phoebe Roberts )