Stressed Much?

Just had a thoughtful conversation with Veteran Actress Alyssa Bostwick who is volunteering as a runner this weekend. She describes her undertaking as a wild scavenger hunt driving all over town for props, set and costume pieces. Earlier in the day she raided Seattle Public Theater's wardrobe. We speculate on which artistic discipline is the most stressful at 14/48. I think it's a toss-up between writing and designing. Alyssa happens to be married to this weekend's Mazen winner Wayne Rawley who she says was still up at 5:30 this morning when she woke up to an empty bed. She found him working and he exclaimed "I've got nothing! Why do I do this?!" She assures me that "he always says that."

It's a daunting pressure to crank out a 10 minute play in less than 12 hours. Sometimes I wonder if some writers have a secret file full of 10 minute plays to pull from as a back-up plan should inspiration prove elusive or hard to get. After all, not every 14/48 plays seem to fit the theme for a given night, but then again the theme is just a diving board. Some writers definitely jump off it like Olympians and others cannonball themselves into the pool without bouncing on the diving board at all. Either way, everybody gets wet.