[Read the completed play here.]
So the final result is not quite dreams mixed with everyday life. I don't know if I'm clever enough to pull that off in a way that is both deep and compelling. Instead, what I decided to focus on was the idea of something that is not your life mixing so deeply with your life that it's not clear where one begins and the other ends.
Yes, folks: smart phones.
[I don't have a vendetta or anything. Mine is an artist's detached interest.]
Once I figured out the setup, my fear with this play was that it would be too slice-of-life: no story, nothing for the audience to relate to. Pretty quickly, however, my problem was the opposite: these characters wanted to banter with full abandon, and it was all I could do to hold them back.
The play didn't really come together until I realized that I had written the second half of the play before the first. I went back and tried to show how the technology had mixed with and even co-opted their lives, and took the time to work toward a more gradual build of conflict. And, though I was building up Dan's crush on Jenn, I expected what ultimately happens between Jenn and Ashley to be the climax—I didn't even see Dan and Jenn's parting moment coming until it was right there.
It's that moment, for me, that makes this a play. Relationships will always be more interesting to me than making a statement, I guess. The best I can hope for is to express meaning through the relationship.
And hopefully I have done that here.
Next up, Week Fifteen!