Celebrating Process - Cardboard Planets Playwriting Challenge
Enter Character A. Several beats of waiting nervously: scrolling on the phone; running fingers through hair; checking teeth in a car window; smoking. Enter Character B. They see each other. Awkward first date vibes. A hug. They sit in chairs, close but not too close. And juuust as they are settling in, about to finally converse, a band appears and drowns out their voices such that they cannot speak. Why is it that when we want to get to know someone, we go places where our attention is forced elsewhere?
… so begins another play that will never see the light of day, and continue to rot in the recesses of my Google drive. The reality of most playwrights is that the vast majority of their work will not be seen, even if it has undergone the painstaking hours of diligence that it takes to write something functional for the stage - unlike the pantomime above, which is just a memory. Balancing structure and format to best serve dramatic tension and conflict is a feat unto itself, not to mention inclusion of visual/performative considerations, practical constraints, and audience engagement. A script is meant to become a play, and it must be written to contain the desire to become a play.
Cardboard Planets is a playwriting challenge, part of the Montreal FRINGE Festival’s after-dark program, which offered the possibility of realization to its participants. Theatricians Ella Williams and Scarlet Fountain facilitate the process under the company name Off-Stage Montreal.
“We want to use the format that playwright Paula Vogal pioneered which is the Bake-Off. Which is the idea of a 24 hour playwriting challenge.” Scarlet, designer, technician, and event facilitator, has run similar challenges in the past. “We’re not being particularly strict about what [a script] looks like. The idea is to generate content and get rid of that fear of the blank page…After that playwrights can submit to us and we’re going to have a jury select 5 excerpts that are most producible, and going to be the most fun for our staged reading event. We’re going to be casting roles, we will be doing a little bit of direction, and we’re going to have a musician doing some live soundtracking to accompany the pieces.”
Bake-Offs, like any arts challenge, are as much geared towards growing a community of writers as they are the contents of the writing, although some bake-off texts may go on to live another life. A Bake-Off is characterized by the mandatory inclusion (creative loopholes encouraged) of a list of random ingredients, such as: a storm, cutting something with scissors, and the sound of bees, to name a few.
“The impetus for something like was wanting to celebrate not just the clean neat finished product that we so often see as what we’re all working towards in this industry, but to be able to celebrate all the work that happens behind the scenes that I think during the past few years and with the pandemic, we’ve all been a bit more isolated in. Particularly now, as we are doing things in person, we can come together as this community of emerging artists, who are emerging at a weird time, and just enjoy the beginning of the creative process. Maybe take some risks at the beginning of the creative process, and have a fun, generative space.” Ella is a playwright and dramaturg, interested in non-traditional strategies which prioritize process over finished product.
“We hope that this will be a springboard to doing these types of writing challenges more regularly and as a recurring thing going forwards.” added Scarlet. “What we’re hoping to do is serve the writers in part by showing them what this work feels like in a space, in front of an audience. What’s landing? What’s not? What sounds great and really sings in the voices of the actors?”
As for the dreaded task itself, what an utter nightmare. Facing the blank page with 24 hours, copious amounts of caffeine and cigarettes, playing hooky from work to find a shady patch with a pen and journal. From noon till noon on two consecutive 30 degree days in Montreal, all I can think is “What the fuck am I gonna write about?!” When the time finishes I’ve accomplished nothing except fantasizing about a girl who mixes her own drinks, dresses as the perfect combination of both Daphne and Velma, and meets a guy whose personality is an odd blend of Fred, Shaggy, and Scoob.
What is the creative process? What is this inexplicable occurrence when we look down to observe our canvas, our instrument, our bodies, and look up knowing that we are imbued with the power of creation? It’s fickle, and subtle, and must be courted like a lover. As with love, creation is all-consuming in the heat of the moment, and in retrospect shaded with longing. Why does anything artistic exist? Because there was longing for it to be there. Because you have been in love before, and whatever the timeline, or cocktail of chaotic ingredients that life whips up for you, you will find love again. I promise.
A and B rise from their chairs and walk together. They walk to a park, a monument, a mountain, and finally a metro. They part ways with a kiss - the one moment they’d been longing for the entire night, and which had been possible all the while, but needed a journey to get to.
Fin
The produced excerpts of selected plays from the challenge will be presented at MainLine Theatre on Sunday, June 4th at 8pm. Details can be found on Facebook.