Ever since I rediscovered my love of writing a few years ago, this has been in the back of my mind. Since we moved back to the city a couple years ago. and bought season subscriptions the last two years for The Globe Theatre, it has been pushing to the forefront of things I want to accomplish. Then, about a month ago, I heard about the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre’s 24 Hour Playwriting Competition.
What better opportunity to force myself to write a play than to sign up for a competition where you have to actually show up and write alongside 25 other playwrights and wannabes (like me). I figured it would force me work on a play and allow me to interact with some creative minds.
So last Friday at 3 in the afternoon, I headed over to the University and at 4 I started writing my first play. I started with a few ideas scratched out on a piece of paper before hand and that formed the basis for what would eventually become my first play.
You may think that 24 hours is a long time to be sitting in front of a computer, but I can tell you that the time went really quickly. The night before the competition I did not sleep very well so I was concerned about my ability to stay awake and focused long enough to get a play written. But once I sat down at the computer, the time flew by and before I knew it more than 12 hours had gone by and I had more than 8,000 words filling 35 pages. My first draft was complete!
I headed home for a bit of rest and climbed into my bed right around 5 AM. After a quick sleep, I was up by 8:30 and headed back over to the university by shortly after 9. By the time I was back at it, I had just over 6 hours remaining to put some polish on my play. It took me several hours to reread my creation three times and take some of the rough edges off of it. By 2:30, Apocalypse, Saskatchewan was completed and submitted as an official entry in the competition.
It feels great to have been able to check another item off my list. It also feels great to be able to have taken an idea I had in my head, start to get it out in written form and come away with a completed story. I find that the more often I write and come away with a finished work, the more I want to write and create in this way. It also is so stimulating to be around so many creative people. Throughout my experience I heard so many bits and pieces of plays that were so different from what I was writing. Hearing about plays that are heavy on sex, gunfights, or mythical creatures (kind of makes my play set in a small town coffee shop seem boring) were just some of the storylines that I heard.
The winning plays were announced at an awards brunch this morning (Sunday), however I had to miss it as after I got home from the competition yesterday my wife and I headed out on the road as we are on holidays this week. Now, I didn’t enter the competition with the thought that I would write the best play in the competition (I know, this is the mantra of the loser, but it’s true, honestly) I just wanted the push to actually get a play written. So imagine my very pleasant surprise this afternoon when just as we were driving into the mountains I got an email informing me that my play had won honorable mention!
Of course, I am very pleasantly shocked by the fact my play won a prize, but most of all, I can honestly say that this success has encouraged me to continue to pursue this hobby.
Although it is a bit of a stretch, from now on, I am going to introduce myself as Dion Huel, award-winning playwright.
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