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A stand up comic can write a wonderful 10-minute play out of one routine. All you need for a play are two characters in an interesting conflict. Theaters offering a 10-minute play festivals primarily select comedies, and often appeal to the same audiences that love stand-up. Nearly all ten-minute play festivals explicitly reject monologs. After all, the very nature of theater is unmediated conflict among characters. Those festivals insist on plays having two characters, and sometimes they tolerate a third and fourth, despite the casting complications. Why should a stand-up comedian do this? Maybe you

Theater is a collaborative process, of course, at the end of which everyone should be happy, not just the playwright and audience. We want to give actors interesting roles in an interesting play, not a menial chore. We can give them a head start towards success and satisfaction by following these suggestions. Help the actor understand her character You will probably have only one opportunity to do this, since you will not be present at rehearsals or contacted by the director. Do it by adding a tagline on the script cover page and by providing

10-minute plays: What audiences want Audiences want to be entertained They don’t want to be lectured or hectored. They want their attention kept on something interesting that someone else is doing. As an old Hollywood hand simply advised, don’t be boring. Start with interesting characters in an interesting situation, and then keep your play moving forward. Moving forward can mean new plot elements, or getting deeper into character and theme. Stalls can be fatal to aircraft, acrobats, and plays. Audiences want to be moved emotionally Short play festivals tend to emphasize comedy and variety, for