Ten-Minute Play Contest

The winning Ten-Minute Play Contest entries:

• Birdhouses by Sean Crawford, Waltham MA
• Casting Call by Jonathan T. Arrington ’21, Fort Washington MD
• Mamadou and Harry by Paul Kodiak, Bethlehem PA
• Talking Points by Steven Hayet, New Brunswick NJ
• Where the Fireworks Come From by Michael Pisaturo, Brighton MA

Honorable Mention: Bulletproof by Rebecca Kane, Find Me by Joseph Mann and Robert Goodman, and Paydayus Ex Machina by Chuck Smith

The Theater Department received over seventy entries from across the country. Most of the submitted plays were comedies, and many of the entries, both comic and serious, shared the theme of young people in love confronting their future together. Such current issues as immigration, transgender dating, and sexual harassment informed some of the plays we read; other plays treated enduring themes about family relationships, career anxiety, and the mistreatment of the elderly from fresh perspectives.

“Casting Call” by Jonathan Arrington ’21 is among the five winning plays in our Ten-Minute Play Contest.

The Theater Department thanks all those who submitted plays to the Ten-Minute Play Contest. The plays we read have strengthened our already strong faith in the power theater has to communicate and connect us. Moreover, we thank all the playwrights for observing our rules for “paperless” submissions; every move we make towards a green planet is a step in the right direction.

The five winning plays share some characteristics: sharp dialogue, tight construction, believable characters, and situations that build quickly to a climax. Nevertheless, each playwright has a distinct voice that will allow our audiences to experience five entirely different views of our world.

Set at a ferociously competitive yard sale, Birdhouses satirizes suburban angst and academic pomposity,  whereas Casting Call dissects the racist hypocrisy that permeates the movie business. Mamadou and Harry personalizes the global conflict between the West and the Middle East into a driving lesson between friends that, despite good intentions, ends in disaster. Talking Points proposes an outrageous strategy for survivors of splintered relationships when skeptical family members offer foolish advice. The complexities of male friendship create misunderstandings between two young men heading off to different colleges and new lives in Where the Fireworks Come From.

All five plays will be performed on both Friday 4 May and Saturday 5 May 2018 at 7:30 p.m. in the Studio Theater at 248 North Third Street on the Williams Arts Campus at Lafayette College.

Admission is free, but tickets are required. For reservations, call the box office at 610.330.5009