Plays 26 – 28 for 31 Plays in 31 Days are below. Like all the other plays, you can read the scripts (under 10 pages each) by clicking on the title. Happy writing!
Play 26: The Law Unwritten Between a Prince and His Men – Lumpac, the faithful friend of the Prince of Aklan, Amai, brings him news that may cause a war. With his cousin, Lumpac tries to force the Prince’s decision to attack before being attacked… but at what cost. A short play of a longer one where betrayal, envy, and power pulls apart a relationship that was once built on friendship and trust.
Writing notes:
I’ve always wanted to explore the Royalty system during the Muslim period of the Philippines. The picture above is from a dance I’ve seen performed in PCN’s (Pilipino Culture Night) called the Singkil. I see the costumes and really start to wonder about Princes and Princesses and Kings and what not. And thinking about them only leads to me to think about Hamlet or MacBeth. So, with that in mind, I was looking for a play that was like Hamlet with 2 characters – Rosencrantz and Gildenstern-ish… And with that rolling around in my noggin, I felt a little Iago coming through from one of the characters. And then things started to come into view – The protagonist, Lumpac’s mission is to try to get Prince Amai to wage a war with his Father’s friend from another Kingdom by taking the other King’s daughter hostage all in the name of revenge for him making nookie with Lumpac’s unrequited love.
So delish! Might turn this into more of a full-length one day, but not sure who would produce it. Maybe for a school’s PCN, but I’m a firm believer that they should write their own and make it their own. It’s a great learning experience and I wouldn’t want my ego to take that away from their experience. But it would be nice to see a well written original story one day, and I believe that will happen. I believe in them!
Play 27: Lala Finds a New Home – A quick character study between a homeless girl looking for a place to crash with two strangers she meets at the Civic Center BART station platform. Based on true eavesdropping.
Writing notes:
This was written after a VERY LONG DAY! So, I was at a BART Platform waiting for the East Bay Train to roll through so I could roll my ass home when I stood behind a dreadlocked teen with dirty fingernails holding an unlit cigarette named Lala. More of a character study than a true play, but I tried to find something there. Not really my best work, but I needed to get #27 in the books!
Play 28: Teardropped – A prisoner set to be executed in 3 days asks a friend from High School to do him a favor before he graduates from life.
Writing notes:
Love this play. Because I didn’t feel like I had a solid ending in my last two plays, I needed to make sure that Teardropped had one. The process was, I looked online for prompts when I stumbled upon:
You receive a letter at your workplace from a high school classmate, who is now in prison. “I know I’ve caused you a lot of grief,” the letter says, “but there’s something I need that only you can get for me. Don’t tell anyone about this.”
This is from The Writer’s Digest. I’m definitely coming back here for more triggers. Anyways, in TEARDROPPED, instead of having the prisoner retrieve something from his high school classmate, I have the prisoner request that he take his last photo before he’s executed. I wanted to explore the power that a photograph of a person can have on others right after they pass away, as in many funerals that I’ve… (wish that there wasn’t that many, but I digress)… been to. And this is the last thing that this prisoner wants to leave – something permanent in a temporary world. Hope to work on this more to submit.
Anyways! THREE MORE TO GO including todays! Woohoo 🙂