Ten minute plays are such a novelty of playwriting. With the invention of ten-minute plays, it became possible to see five or six different plays in the course of one evening of theatre. Playwrights were able to write collections that were related different stories, different characters, each play capable of standing on its own and yet beautifully intertwined with the other plays it stood with; or not beautifully intertwined, but beautiful in their diversity and lack of relation.
The Man Who Couldn't Dance: I saw this play performed here last year, it was a component of the Directing Class One Acts. What I learned about playwriting from this play is that ten minute plays are snippets of life. They start in the middle of a story and carry on for a time, and then continue after the story ends. With the possible exception of Bowl of Soup, none of the stories are wrapped up nicely at the end, and while "endings" are suggested, it is also clear that the story carries on lng after the stage time. With The Man Who Couldn't Dance, did they actully have sex? or just reconnect? Will she stay with her husband?
Midnight Rodeo: Something I learned about ten minute plays from the Midnight Rodeo was that with a ten minute play, because of its snapshot nature, it is possible, and even permissable to leave the audience in the dark for much of the play, and only let in little plot twists as they would come into natural conversation without having to really create/provide exposition. The exposition that we have been talking about in class like "Hey, how did that bio exam that you were up studying all night for go?" obvious exposition of that nature becomes possible to omit. With a ten minute play audiences are more willing to stay in the dark for longer. When we sit in the dark for a corrosponding length of time over a full length play, audiences are much more apt to get squirmy and fed up with not knowing what is going on for half an hour to forty five minutes rather than four or five minutes. Another perk of ten minute plays.
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In a lot of ways, ten minute plays give you lots of freedom. You're more free to be more confusing, to leave folks in the dark for longer. You're more free to raise questions without answers, to leave endings ambiguous. And you're more free to take teeny tiny moments in life and turn them into plays. I like your idea too of a collection of interrelated plays that can also stand on their own. Like intertwined short stories. Might be fun to play with as you write your ten minute plays and revise your other plays.
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