Listed below are plays 20-18. I’m one play behind (#21) and I still need to write today’s (#22), but I’m pretty confident that I will.
Play 20: Our Last Dance – When Hector hires an actress to make his ex-fiance, Salma, jealous at the wedding of their mutual friend, things don’t go as planned… but when have they ever? OUR LAST DANCE is a heartbreakingly short romantic comedy.
Play 19: Failure to Communicate dot Send – A relationship play using only text messages.
Play 18: Fade Out at 11 – Heinrich has been the news anchor for a Bay Area TV station for the last 20 years and accuses the new News Director of retiring him early because of his age… or is it?
Out of all the plays, I think that 18-19 are my weakest. I finally re-read them and, quite frankly, they confuse me. It’s probably due to the fact that I started writing them so late (around 10pm) and worked quick to get them done before the midnight submission times.
But then I wrote #20. The idea came from a friend of whom we have writing sessions together. We spoke about a recent wedding that she went to. In a corner of my memory, I remember seeing a Craigslist ad to hire someone to be this guy’s date for some reason. So, I kind of put 2 and orange together to come up with OUR LAST DANCE.
Brief synopsis: Hector goes over the script with the Spanish aspiring actress, Maricela, who is a couple of candles short of a cake while waiting for his ex, Salma to show up. Salma arrives with a French B-Movie Producer and instead of making Salma jealous, Maricela makes a play for the movie producer. At the end, Hector and Salma find closure as they have their last dance at a wedding that was supposed to be.
The first draft clocks in at 13 pages, and pretty rough, but this is my style. Quick funny natural dialogue without too much setup; avoidance of dialogue plot cliches (well mostly); and a heartfelt ending. I did go a little crass, with some sexual innuendos, but I go there… no profanity however. And I dig up some pretty hurtful memories… picking at scabs if you will. But I’m really happy with the result. Hope to see it on stage one day 😉