Playing Outside the Box

Recently I got comments from Baltimore Playwrights Festival judges on my play Who Killed Jackie Bass. The work is a ten-minute play that is outside the box—the main character Jackie Bass is killed multiple times as the story of her murder unfolds from various perspectives. The play trades on poetry, juxtaposition, metaphor and repetition. There are four characters and two of these characters are dead. The overall tone of the piece is optimistic and uplifting.

Getting comments from four judges is an amazing and eye-opening occurrence that was well worth the $10 spent to enter this contest. While my play was not selected for a reading, what I learned is that experimental work, because it does not fit the formula for playwriting, has to try harder to find appreciative audience.

Of the four judges, #2 said:

Hello Author,



This is an ambitious piece, and I think it deserves a staged-reading. It is well-written and thoughtfully composed. In particular, I found the reoccurring deaths amusing. It is also not a typical play, so I must confess that I did not fully grasp all the angles of it yet. I’m hoping a reading will illuminate those things that are purposefully ambiguous and those things that still need improvement.



By the way, I marked many of my responses as “somewhat” simply because this is a piece that does not fit the standard question model.



All the best with your continued development.

All the judges rated the plays using the following set of questions. Here are the answers provided by Judge #2

Is the dialogue appropriate?	Somewhat
Is the dialogue under/over written?	No
Do you find the characters interesting?	Yes
Are the characters motivations clear?	Somewhat
Are the characters well developed?	Somewhat
Is the plot well developed?	Somewhat
Is the plot logical or appropriate?	Somewhat
Does the plot consistently move forward?	Somewhat
Is the ending appropriate?	Somewhat
Does the play hold your interest?	Yes

How did the other three judges answer the questions?

Is the dialogue appropriate?	2/No & 1/Yes
Is the dialogue under/over written?	1/No, 1/under, 1/over
Do you find the characters interesting?	3/Somewhat
Are the characters motivations clear?	3/No
Are the characters well developed?	2/No, 1/Somewhat
Is the plot well developed?	2/No, 1/Somewhat
Is the plot logical or appropriate?	2/No, 1/Yes
Does the plot consistently move forward?	2/No, 1/Yes
Is the ending appropriate?	1/No, 2/Somewhat
Does the play hold your interest?	3/No

The judge who answered most of the questions no (except for saying the dialogue was overwritten and the characters were somewhat interesting) provided a rather interesting comment that might be how rewrite might work best: “The playwright has a lively imagination, and these 10 pages might work as the opening of a longer work, but in my opinion they do not work as a 10-minute play.”