Would-be playwrights are poised for Nakai’s annual overnight writing challenge
In the interest of full disclosure, let me admit to being a bit of a junkie when it comes to Nakai Theatre’s 24-hour Playwriting Competition, which starts on November 8 this year.
My age-hazed memory refuses to cough up how many times I’ve participated in this annual rite of self-flagellation. I know for certain I’ve never actually won it, although I’ve been the bridesmaid more times than enough.
Not that I’m bitter. Not at all. I’m thrilled and delighted for those who beat me year after year.
People like Barry “Jack” Jenkins, who graciously gloated after the 2005 awards ceremony, “Well, at least it was good enough to beat your sorry ass.”
Or Danna Waldman, who cranked out a full-blown musical, complete with 14 songs, while I slumped at the other side of the hotel room we shared, and produced a staggering eight pages of inconsequential drivel that will never see the light of day.
Never bitter. Not ever. I promise.
So when the guy in the big chair at What’s Up Yukon suggested I write an advancer on this year’s competition, it seemed logical to turn to the professionals.
I sent seven previous winners a short questionnaire about their experience. Four replied — a huge response rate, according to those who conduct polls for a living.
Philip Adams won in 1994 for his play, Free’s Point.
Nakai later produced it, and Playwrights Canada published it in an anthology called Staging the North. Another professional production is slated for 2016.
Adams drafted the play twice by hand before typing it on a Smith-Corona.
“It allowed me to… to hold it in my hand, flip pages, and then make the final revision and the many corrections before submitting it in the morning gloaming.”
Adams, who now lives in Saskatoon, advises first-time competitors to consider the event a luxury, not a task.
“You have lots and lots of time; take it. Nap, don’t sleep. Tea, not coffee,” he suggests.
“Don’t panic, just remain urgent. The time is yours. You’ve paid for it, the taxpayers have supported it, and you have all manner of support on hand should you need it.”
Jenkins won in 2005 for Heather’s String Theory (originally called Dual Nature), but it’s his 2011 runner-up play, The Busker and the Barista, that has received the most traction.
Different versions have appeared at Nakai’s Pivot and Homegrown theatre festivals. Whitehorse rock group Speed Control regularly performs some of the songs he wrote for it.
Jenkins terms the 24-hour event “a nonstop binge fuelled by massive amounts of caffeine or alcohol, often both.”
He even compares it to Christmas: “I look forward to it all year, never quite get what I expected and spend the rest of the time too drunk to remember.”
First drafts are just explorations that don’t have to be perfect, he counsels newcomers. “Listen to your characters and let them go where they want; they might surprise you,” he says.
“Sleep is unnecessary, exhaustion can be creative. Close the curtains. Keep snacks and other writing fuel handy. Stay hydrated. Stretch. Don’t get too comfortable. Write at maximum volume.”
Doug Rutherford was the first to sign up this year, after enjoying a bit of a roll. In 2011 and 2013, he won the Next 24-hour competition for reworking plays already in progress.
Fracture Zone (2011) and And, On the Second Day (2013) both went on to Homegrown stagings.
Rutherford says the competition offers a rare chance to focus on writing.
“If I did the same thing from home, to achieve the same amount, it would have to be the 24-week Playwriting Challenge.” he admits.
His advice to first-time competitors: “Have some idea of what you want to do. Then cut your expectations, because you never seem to accomplish as much as you hoped. Also, have fun.”
Rounding out the survey was editor Peter Jickling, whose 2009 runner-up winner, Syphilis: A Love Story, was picked up by Ramshackle Theatre and won the Best Comedy award at last year’s Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival.
“It’s a lot of fun. A good community of people who are all engaged in something slightly ridiculous usually makes for a pretty good time. Plus you get a hotel room,” Jickling says.
First-time competitors should “power through the uninspired sections,” he intones.
“Not every line or every scene is going to be as good as you want it to be; accept this and write on.”
This year’s competition takes place at the Gold Rush Inn from 1:00 p.m. Saturday, November 8 to 1:00 p.m. Sunday, November 9.
Winners will be announced at the 24-hour Cabaret on Thursday, December 4 on the deck at the High Country Inn. The public event will also feature readings of excerpts from this year’s plays.
For more information contact Nakai Theatre at 667-2646
