They like to laugh up north

Woke up to a nice piece of news: my 10-minute play “A Point of Honor” has been selected as one of nine scripts to be performed at the 10th Annual Snowdance 10-Minute Comedy Festival staged by Over Our Head Players at the Sixth Street Theatre in Racine, Wisconsin. The Festival runs from January 31st through March 2nd, and there will be cash prizes for the script voted “Best in Show” as well as 2nd and 3rd places. So, fingers crossed there.

This is actually the second time this script has found its way to the stage through a contest – it was produced by Lakeshore Players in Minnesota for their 10-Minute Playwriting Contest last summer. Guess I need to get in with a company in Michigan so I can continue my conquest of the Great Lakes States.

The nine scripts were culled from a pool of over 200, which is something to be very proud of; means I rated in the top 4-5% by the reckoning of the judges. I consider that luck territory – meaning that I can take pride that I applied enough skill and craft to create a good script, but when there are this few slots there’s definitely an “eye of the beholder” factor that determines who makes the cut. There is more than one company that has rejected this script along the same odds – one even sent me an anguished e-mail claiming that it was one of the last ones cut.

It’s just part of what we grapple with in trying to sense any control at all over what happens with the creative work we produce; and it’s why you have to make a habit out of tracking submission opportunities, pursuing them, and then getting on with your life without waiting to hear back. It’s the only way to ever turn such unfriendly numbers your way. For that, The Playwrights’ Center is, as ever, the gold standard for leads.