Playwriting Exercise: Chairs

Sometimes I see a picture, hear a sentence, something flashes in front of my eyes and a dramatic conversation instantly forms. It’s a moment that would come alive on the stage. This is one of those pictures. I look at it and I see the dramatic possibilities. Do you?

Playwriting Exercise:

Write a scene in which the entire conversation takes place on stop of chairs. In fact there is a line of chairs from stage left to right and that’s the only thing the characters can step on.

• two characters – who are they, why are they there
• decide your environment – why are the characters on top of chairs (is it a flood like in the picture)
• Keep it short – don’t get bogged down in the notion of making it a play, start with a moment, a conversation – just get writing.