I have never written a play in my life, but fortunately, an award-winning playwright and friend lives right down the street from me. For today’s creativity project, I roped in my friend Andrew to help me write a play.
We brainstormed for an hour and then wrote for about half an hour. It is a lot harder than it looks.
Anyway… here goes.
Congressman Diane Stark: Are you comfortable with what we talked about?
Bill: Yes…
Sanjay (with camera crew): Are you ready?
Diane: Let’s do it.
Sanjay: Rolling….. Good morning, I am standing in the lower 9th ward, here to see the community’s rebuilding effort since Katrina. I’m here with Congresswoman Stark
Diane: Good morning Sanjay. As you can see — I’ve made sure we’ve invested smartly into the infrastructure of the area — so that residents can quickly — and safely — live here again.
Sanjay: Congresswoman — what has been the most difficult part of rebuilding the community?
Diane: To get people to move back. We’ve been working hard to listen to the community’s every need. This is the last time they will have to rebuild their homes — we will make sure that disasters like this will never happen again.
Sanjay: Bill, you are a community leader. What do you think about the rebuilding effort?
Bill: It’s been great. Congresswoman Stark has been wonderful. (continues talking)
—Jordan, Diane’s aide, is clutching a PDA and pulling at Diane’s hand. She shoots him a glare —
Jordan (whispers): Congresswoman Stark…
Diane: Not now, Jordan.
Jordan: It’s really important.
Diane: Jordan, this is really important! I’m on live CNN!
Sanjay: —interrupting Bill— It sounds like the community has really rebuilt itself. Thank you for your comments.
Bill: But Sanjay, what we really need is —-
Sanjay: Thank you, Bill, Congresswoman Stark, for sharing with us your experiences here in New Orleans.
Diane (sweetly): No problem Sanjay — we’ve been working really hard and —
Jordan (tries to push PDA in front of Diane)
Diane (swats him away): ahem… we will ensure that disasters like this will never happen again.
Sanjay (at the camera): This is Sanjay Lee, reporting from New Orleans.
Jordan (urgently): Congresswoman Stark — there’s been an explosion. In the gulf. On an oil rig.
Diane: Shit. Jordan —- I have an interview with the Times-Pic in an hour. What am I going to say?
Bill: (starts approaching Diane)
Diane: (interrupting) Bill — I’m sorry dear but I have to run. Really important stuff. Send Jordan a tweet with your request, okay?
Jordan: Gulf explosion is a trending topic on Twitter right now.
Diane: Shit. Let me see that (grabs PDA).
Bill: Sanjay, Congresswoman Stark, I think it’s really important that you know that…
Sanjay: Sorry buddy it’s not looking good, there’s news in the gulf. I need get on that story before someone else does.
I’ve never written a play before. And now I have! Good or bad, I did it. Creative Project #15 —- done. (If you want to see how a play is REALLY written, Andrew wrote an awesome piece in 20 minutes (PDF) while we were working on this). This is why he is a real-life playwright and I am not.
Steph Yiu 