 Hello! Seeing artistic director of the One Minute Play Festival, and tonight you are going to see 105 brand new One Minute Plays by 60 Boston Playwrights staged by 10 amazing directors and performed by a company of nearly 65 actors and community members. We partner with Playwrights and community-specific theaters all around the country. We invite Playwrights living in these cities to engage in our playmaking process. We do not tell them what to write about, but sort of look at emerging themes, ideas, trends, what's happening in the zeitgeist. And we use this as a barometer project to sort of take a picture of where we might be. So this is our way of artistically saying here's 105 pulses of story that sort of speak to where we are as a community. We are here for the third year partnering with the amazing Boston Playwrights Theater. We are supporting with your proceeds. It's important to note that you guys your money is directly back to your community. We're supporting Boston Playwrights Theater's artistic residency and community-based programming. So that's artist residency, like subsidized and free space for artists, some of which are in our shows. And we also use this money to fund the Boston Theater America, where it's popular. So we thank you for that. I'd like to introduce Mr. Peter here from the theater and he's one of our alums here. I am. So yeah, basically Dominic just told me oh, you should come up and say something about the program. It's like, okay, so I have enough to prepare. So Boston Playwrights Theater in a nutshell. It is the MFA program at Boston University for playwriting. We produce three shows a year by alumni playwrights. We present the Boston Theater marathon every year. We support local high schools. We send our alums out to high schools all over the state to teach playwriting. And we're generally awesome. Tonight, hello. Those of you watching online, hopefully if our internet connection pulls up carrying a tech difficulty, if not, we're streaming a backup copy to be uploaded tomorrow as an archive. This is on HowRound's HowRoundTV. You can find it on the internet at livestream.com slash newplay or howround.tv. Again, thank you so much for being here and now the third annual Boston Theater Festival. Michelle, do you take my hat? You can't use it as a bra. I don't care. Honestly, I think the powder skin doesn't have a pat. You're mad. I mean, what kind of person is even willing to win on a call? What kind of person has so little pride he's willing to win? I know the rules, but it is the aesthetics of the spirit of goodwill. How exactly are you supposed to get out of it? I will say it all right. It's not right. I wanted to say I appreciate you putting my name in and stuff. Sort of hitting my hope sign. It's not what I do, but hey, I'm not doing that right now, so this could be fun. Not the right word. Anyway, I appreciate it and it would be a big help to get a little stir-crazy. The first six months I almost enjoyed it then that gets me old, then it actually is old. I was going to tell you this morning we got it down to five months. I'm sorry. Oh, hey. You still got my name on the list, right? Right. And there might be so many options that they haven't posted it yet. Seriously. Need. It's a big word, isn't it? That's Saturday. And then they were like, oh no, weight obstruction. Like, what is that? I didn't know it was this big. And did you see the Umsen Airpast offer down for us? Oh, the runner has the right to try for the base and he shouldn't have been in the way. Like, where was he supposed to run? Four months that I've never asked your name. It's Reggie. What do you think? Socks and six? Socks and six? What about human sacrifices? What? How nice is it even out? That's some victory. I can still see who Ahara thrusting its glove into the air. Yeah, it still gives me chills. Makes me feel all warm inside. Well, it ain't warm out here. This is the one place where things make sense. The ball is fair or foul. The runner is safe or out. Out there. People blow up crowds at the masses, lay off people by the hundreds. She's leaving. Maybe his kids say they hate him. Maybe nothing makes sense. I can still hear the crack of the ball when Victorino's back. So you just ordered one accident. You ain't know nothing about it when you order the deluxe. I mean, this is a limited time offer. Oh, excuse me, you know, it's just that you see one person and you say, is that a pickle? Yeah, this is a pickle. It's like an orgasm. Mine, theoretically. Flew out the back door, straight up like a scream and disappeared through a hole inside. Just sing me a new song every morning. A never-before-heard song, every single morning. He's saying, looking into my eyes. And just because I don't see him anymore, as he stood before the firing squad, Colonel Aureliana Wendia remembered the day his grandfather took him to discover ice. It was a warm day. We had been walking for a long time. My grandfather was boring on and on about something, brother. When I was a child, once a year, every spring, we would carve a sled out of ice. And we would take it sailing down the mountain of ice and because it was spring, there would be a fine film of water on the mountain. And we would slide as fast as the river flows. Sounds like the kind of story that was made up. Well, try it. You can try it. There were birds then. The color you can imagine and some you can't. And they would race the fiery ice-folds down the mountain and both of them would race us. Are we to the ice yet? Yeah, it should be right here. It's time. It was here just a year ago. It was right here. And buying hemorrhoid cream in the suppository, I found something I wasn't looking for. I hope not. If you could just write your name and a happy thought on the angel. Happy thought. Hemorrhoid cream suppository. I'm not happy. Just your name, man. Happy 12 dollars. Happens every year. This one's been warmer than mold. Now it's cold as a witch's tit and you just sit there and sing. There's something to warm you up, man. I'm coming from the soil all the way to the outside. Yeah, my fingers don't feel it. She's amazing. What do you think of Battlecom? Don't matter to me, I don't take it. You'd rather spend the night out here. It's even warm by the fire side of your music. Better not to know the other kind of warmth and it'll be hard to get warm when they dump you back out here tomorrow. Yeah, they're trying to make things better. Who told you that story? I read it. Everyone agrees change has to happen. It will eventually. See you tomorrow. Should your changes turn into fenges? Don't be a witch a man. Not a big giant bat. What the hell is that? The Johnsons, they don't recycle. You don't need a bat. Love Christmas lights. Hey, it looks like the Johnsons kids are having a beer party. Get them damn Johnson kids once and for all here. Help me with this. What? Too much for an old man? You gotta get rocked. Yeah, get him and split it up. You suckle my ass. Someone took yours. It wasn't my spot. The new is you need to learn. Don't touch the chairs. There's a shitty chair no one steals. Trash cans only work for a little while because the geography and toss it on the sidewalk don't write a fucking sign. Don't move the chair. Move the chair a little groceries but move it back when you're done. I need to park my car now. Let us not dig it. Go snuff. Spare a shitty chair. Running so late, the bus would be here by now, right? It doesn't work like that. Guess not. Why you dope? Wait, but you don't see my car? What's that? You don't got no time. Wait, but this is your space for your car. That's right. That's my chair. Right there. Oh. In that case, I think I like this model better. Thanks. Did you just tell 1,200 people that are going to kiss me? Really? I can't tell if I'm real. Oh, silly. I just wanted to get your attention. Full undivided attention. No little boxes with faces of other people. Just you and me. I'm looking at you now. I'm taking all this out on my cell phone. I keep fucking it up because I can't feel anything with this camera. But I still like it. I'm looking at the send box where I saved your contact info so that a picture of you popped up in your name. Because you're saved. I'm pretending that I'll send it once I've finished. Fix the typos and you'll see sex. Anyone, have you ever gotten a sex from me? I'd like to just want to be ripped on a picket. Give me my phone and show me the sex. This is about us and in our future on the anniversary, no less. What, is it in your pocket? Come on, give me my phone. Is she a co-worker? A friend of mine? A co-worker? It's another sex. Well, that's a sex already. You bastard! It's also not my phone. What? The guy sitting next to us at the diner. Happy anniversary, honey. Oh, cute. He's in the back room of the... a paper he drinks. I need to get laid. So that's the homeless transgender teenagers. They're weird. You're being selfish. You're so good, you're so special that you have to go happily across the planet with the bathroom. Well, yeah, things happen. Yeah, but for the price, it was a real steal. Yeah? If you get something for a steal, you can be sure someone else was robbed. Good one. Do you have the room here? Not anymore. Yes, but the judge gave you the cat so I lose. That's how it works. The judge makes the decision. Liberty, pursuit of happiness. And I want like two. You need the cockatoo and the dog and you've got the section of couch. Well, I'll burn this house down. But you won't. You forgot to pay the insurance premium and move it half the price. I didn't protect it. Give me life. And Liberty is no vice. Come out, those bullets. So don't front. You ain't got but one remark left. So you gonna shoot me now? Kill me? Then what? You gonna eat me? I'll make you sick. Wait, where I'm standing? I can only walk around Harvard Yards so many times. You're healthy. You could do a few more turns. But this is love. This is not what love does. If you only opened this door, we could have a conversation. You would need to have a conversation if you just kept your hands on. You're right. But I know you're still standing on the other side of this door. So we're still connected to the possibility of the best of you and me. And I'm saying I was wrong, Claire. I asked you to open this door and give me some time. Time is the cure for everything we think we know and feel. And Claire. My fault. It must be uncomfortable. Just surprising. Well, that's you. You're not yourself. You've had a billion selves the first day we met. The ocean is lovely today. Salty. They don't look like they're rotten. They're rotten from the inside out. It's actually here. It's here. This? One thing. Do they come with it? It's fine. We cannot give anything you'd like to contract. I don't know yet. Do you ever kind of work? We could solve the world anything. There shouldn't be men on the floor because you did anything when you didn't work. With a knife to your wrist. You're weak. Stop blaming him. You want people out of credit? I wouldn't last a day in myself. And not because he's black. Sad boy. I fucking respect kids. Everyone's high on something. And not me. I didn't clean two years. Two years. Next month. No shit. Eleven years. Cool. And here we are. That's when we met like this. In 10 months. Not three. At breakfast, she'd shake out 10 pills into it and crush them with a wooden milk melt. She'd tell him. Then she shakes out the crushed pills. On top of the cereal. Stop that. It's embarrassing. What are you making out of a burning house? I think I'd rather die. What did you bring me? Pages like that? Huh? What do your pockets do? Up down? Huh? You know. You know! Don't say something. You came here, right? You brought me this? And then nothing? You need to know your history. For two to four weeks, allowing for sufficient time for the synchronization of the pulse. Step two. Establish occupancy in the emission zone of the subject. Maintain that proximity for a period of four to 12 weeks. Allowing time for the subject to adapt to habitual hypoxia. Step three. Place the fingers between the spaces of the thoracic vertebrae. Evenly spaced between TH1 and TH12. Maintain continuous contact for a period of four to 12 months. By this time, the subject's autonomous nervous system will have rerouted integrated step four. Happen much? Yes, not. I mean, not at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I haven't. About 2002? You haven't made it in your first. He just sleeps most afternoons. So I just kind of... I have a T. I don't usually see anyone I know. Give me a call. Say number. Are you sure? That's what you... I don't understand why you don't just... in this place could really use an address, son. Why didn't you call? Why aren't you? Have you forgotten how to? I wish you didn't always. I mean, didn't you need to? Didn't you? You need to be. You need to call back the immediate mail. I lost my... Sorry, look. The question should have been what are you going to do? I really, really don't know. I just don't came up so suddenly. This is unreal. No, son. This is very real. That's the point. It just seems like this did not have to happen. I thought I knew it. I thought I knew it all. All right. Don't be so hard on yourself. Ah, easy for you to say. Look, it happens to the best of us today. When your... Who is you half a decision's made? Okay? You have to make it fast because those people in there are waiting on us. On you. Sweet. Are you okay? You said just these are some of the witnesses and then I looked at that and... Athena, look. Divorced. Divorced twice. Widow? Thirty years, but miserable. Dad kid, a breasted kid, a crippled twin. Has affairs the way I can preforms. Happy. But crippled by the mortgage. Happy. But sexless. No offense. Happy. But I don't know, babe. We can be the leaders. Said these odds? I think so. Don't you? Maybe we should go over the... Anytime. You know we need to train like you do? I said tell me something I don't know. As a group. Because we know each other since we were kids. And I thought she would tell me something about her mom. Who never stops asking about when she's going to get married or work. The same old things. But instead she told me about how this guy raped her at her house on Copper Street. This guy at her house for a party. She woke up on her couch and there he was. I remember the party. Sam said I never told you that story. But there's one you didn't know. For a moment I couldn't say anything. Sam looked on her drinkings and her straw made that burglary sound. I just sat there. And you got a nope. I hadn't heard that one before. Because you all have your earbuds in and your screens on. But I figure I should say it anyhow because it's a big deal for me, you know? My family is touchy. We hug a lot. We're like that. And living alone here is... It's different than what I'm used to. This is nice. Beautiful eyes. Do you know that? Do you? This is the time you needed me to make my decision. You said you didn't know what I want this time. You said you want this to be the time. You said this wasn't the right time. You said we might not have another time. You said we can't get carried away at a time like this. We can't get carried away at a time like this. We might not have another time. I think this isn't the right time. But I want this to be the time. But I don't know what you want this time. This is the time I need you to make your decision. We don't have time for this. You remind me of your dog. The first time your dog saw Jess in her little stup-started wagon, she give-give-give grand-drops a room of junk into his lap. She sensed he was fair. The first time she saw me, she peed all over my shoes. She just slugged. I should have gone urrrrr. She went to the toilet. What kind of moron would kill a fish? Well, you know what? This is the time I killed the dog. That isn't possible. Do me a favor. Let's go to the kitchen and check. Don't even say such a thing. I killed the dog and now it's the wall. Get this time before you go all stiff. Shout out to your woman. I know this is due from here to eternity. I'm just a bug, man. I got babes, but no women. I've never been in love. I never said I love you. Me, either. I could never pull the trigger. Work choice, too. Love. Did a fish on the family? And then I turned. Appreciation for real art. She loves me. She feeds me. She takes me on walks. She loves me so much that she treats me as a person just like her. My mother is coming over in an hour. I'd like to see you act like this. Honestly, sometimes I think she forgets that I'm a dog. You're crazy. It's good money. He was big. He's near the top. Pretty much the number two guy. Vice. Jesus. For real. It's Jesus. Does he try anything? All the time. What? Man, this is all they think about. It's Jesus. Hey. It's just a good thing I'm saying. I mean, I cry way too much for it to be normal. I just want him to hear me crying. Mostly I don't. How can I? You know? I understand. You know what I mean? You know? We're on here. Then I'm going to pull back this bar here, load this spring here, put it on the floor, and go to bed. And if you try to come into my kitchen and eat the bait, this spring here will spring, I guess. And the bar will snap down on your back, and it will kill you. And I'll find you in the morning, and I'll put you in a bag. Oh, your head. It might fall off, but I'll bring you the dumpster. Then I'm going to come back in here, beat the chop again, load the spring, wash my hands, and go to work. And if any of your family tries to come in here while I'm gone, they will be killed by the same trap. Some of your parents, maybe. Oh, and also blood, but they will all die. You said there's peanut butter on there? Yes. King loves people. Big telephone. Call up right next to you on the couch for a nap. And super smart. Perfect sit. Perfect lay down. Perfect paw. Thank you so much. I'll leave him out alone. He knows the routine. Leave him in this bowl. And I says, leave them alone, but it's not training young children. And he is a king. Perhaps bowl. Run. No. People don't know. Whoever said, don't eat up the children, don't know. Don't run next to a big king, partner. Leave the king alone. Is anyone else coming here? No. Time to. My king. Oh, look at it. Fly around every which way trying to get up. I reckon we can't see through the laughs. Must be damn confusing. Like you're just walking along and then, BAM! I know you mean it. I haven't been doing that in my whole life. Like you're just walking along and you think, oh, there's something in the way. Well, I'll just go this way and BAM! It's from the other side. Yeah. What do you reckon that is? Nothing. Just the way of the world. The way of the world? Let it go. We should give it a name first. What do we call it? Well, Clarence. Little buddy. Here you go. He's gone. Yeah. Ain't it great? Yeah. Why not? Because you're an atheist. What's an atheist? Somebody who doesn't believe in God. Why don't I believe in God? Because I don't believe in God. My son, you have to believe what I believe. That's the way it goes. What if I didn't want to believe in God? What would that make me? That would make you an asshole, son. Asshole is somebody who believes in God. And no son of mine is an asshole. Good. So let me get this straight. People who believe in God are assholes. That's right, son. But when they die, all these assholes say that they'll go to heaven. Now you got it. So if I want to believe that I'll go to heaven, I have to be an asshole. That's right, junior. You can either be an asshole and go to heaven, or be an atheist like me, and go absolutely nowhere. Gee, Dad, you're so smart. I don't know why everyone says you're an asshole. Who says I'm an asshole? Imagine. It's so final. Final. Weird. Like, how do you say to keep looking for signals? I find myself looking for signs from him. Not me. Not anymore. I don't believe in signs anymore. Why? Yesterday, when I came over to work, there was this beautiful, sweet little dead bird lying right in front of my front door. I have to describe how bad this was. So, like, really bad? Worse, way worse. Like, beyond bad? Yes, beyond bad. Really, really. Just un-good. Oh, that's what Emily can be sometimes. Un-good. So with Emily, it's like, double. So, right. Double plus un-good. You don't have such a way with words. And districts are coming up? So you didn't study? I'm going to go to the principal and switch her into another class. With this tuition, if she isn't getting good grades, what's the point? I'm sick of these un-licensed teachers ruining my daughter's chances at an Ivy with deeds. It's why she goes there in the first place. If his students are getting bad grades on tests, she's got to be held accountable. He hates me. He's been an asshole to me. Now you're sitting right here. Well, she's outraged and he is fucking with her future. I'm going to give that principal a piece of my mind. He's got to know what kind of useless trash he has working for. And while I'm at it, I'm going to find out what he's doing to prevent violence in that school. I will not have any active shooters or butcher teachers putting a black mark on my angels' college applications. And they're ending up to circle and circle. Listen to me. I still don't understand why you want me to go to Harvard. Do you know the list of un-afflicted Harvard grads? Just... I can play a song. In Bolivia, maybe. You're not a college star. It's in your blood. Your great-grandfather. Your grandfather. We all... That must have moved. Exactly. It is that important. A lot of our courses are online now. I could get like the same education for free with MOOCs. But massive online open courses. And... Fine. If... If you're sure. I accept. So then you could pot the car in Harvard. Car. Car. Car? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Christ just bought me a piece of the driveway. Tell me again about that pot, who said it was free. A teen or a police person. Or even like a factory worker. He's like, you know the factory could explode. Because then we'd be... Praying for it. We'd be... Well, they locked the doors now, at least. These last few. They weren't random sicko. They weren't... They were students. Well that's... I mean that's not comforting. But... He said the driveway... COOPOW! You ought to die now. I shot you. BREAK! Oooooh! Oooooh! Ha ha ha ha! A teen with solo exercises. Face never, not smiling. The boys kinda respected him. Feel their hearts. Smiling with them. He was a boxer. He won a championship. In his own country? Here. He wasn't that big, but he had these... Arms. In those t-shirts. Because I'm not sure when Thine's went to an acting class. I think he said he wanted to be in films. We came to show, remember? Yeah. The BCA. A couple of us went out after. We got so drunk. He wanted to go to Alaska. Got a friend there on a fishing boat. We considered it. Face in the middle of a frozen tundra. A couple of fishermen in front of the audience. He stopped going to class for it after that. I wish he had stayed. I just went until I saw his face everywhere. In the newspapers. A few days after the marathon. I'll consider it. I mean, these are crazy times we're living in. That is an understatement I know. But it's true. There is a constant state of flux all around us. There is nothing you can rely on. I'm so close. I can't even jog past a black backpack now. Without giving in case of the shivers. I went into Models to meet after the marathon. The whole wall full of black backpacks. And I was like, are you pregnant? Seriously? It was just so insensitive. I can't even look at any of my students now. Without seeing threats all around me. Oh jeez kindergarten. No idea what kind of dark thoughts lurk in the mind in a world of war. No, I can't say that way. Adorable but constantly thinking of murder. I have never. My point is, it is totally unfair to dialogue. You need to have somebody to help you hold back that darkness. You know this is our first date. Yeah. So, your point. That is cool. It's dangerous. Don't tell your mom because she won't look at it. But you're a big kid now. Not even the club. If we let Sally in, well then we'll just have to let Jamie in. And then where does it stop? It would ruin the sanctity of club membership. It's not going to fit. Whatever. It's making a lot of noise. Whatever. It's making a lot of noise. Broken shoe. I had to do an investigation into the long standing feudy in the Middle East. I planned to employ the five paragraph essay structure you taught us last week. And that way I can look at both sides and offer a resolution to the Jewish and Muslim people. 25 minutes. And you're not giving any scrap paper. Maybe I'll pick something different. You pick just decide your decision right from the start. You don't even need to believe in it. Just go with whatever is the most easiest to defend. Keeps all from new town Connecticut. All on town. So I lash out. Hello. Across the island. My American and foreign. I need you. You need me to give you purpose. You're a dirt. I know why purpose and love. They are sufficient weapons. Too lifeful. What's the difference? They'll kill us anyway. If we succeed, we kill. Who knows how many lives we'll save. It could be millions. You take the grenade and I'll take the pistol. I'll take the pistol. He's a little late. In seventh. A small flick or a curlicue of black. He gave his life to save me. And then suddenly, he's faster and fiercer than any living creature. His love was so vast. Swiming up my Lucy. Bigger than the earth. Too big to be held in one heart. I don't remind me rushing. Not like mom's everyday life. He cannot bear to lose what matters most to him in that moment. Hers is the kind that's like a hand in their pockets. So he goes for his stash. The poison that ignited our home. I take this breath because of his love. My hands find her in the dark haze. Eyes closed. Feet brushing fire. The air we need to breathe. And God's so close. It's the reason I walk this earth. And as I pull her out under the cool green grass she makes. Swimming in my scorched heart. Coming up in my blistering esophagus. Your daddy was a hero. Sixty-five. Three. Six. Five. Three sixty-five. Feels good, right? Feels good. Really good. Now, the last step. The last of the last time you do this you are the other side. You are strong. You prove that. I am strong. Now, be invincible. Be a hero. Can you do that? There you go. Good. Really good. Look at hero. Like a goddamn hero. That's you. Honey, the hero. You're my hero. See you at the motel. We'll celebrate. I'll be there. Three sixty-five. Three sixty-five. Would you get in your bag? Put your bag down on the floor. Get out of the way. I'm saying that. Well, you ought to suck. Who is it? God, I can hear you. Who is it breaking your headphones? Stop will be Heinz. Break t-shirt. Fuck you here. Nobody said that about pink. Pink's everywhere. Pink, pink, pink, pink. Pink. It's been nine months. Everyone around me went down. I have no business standing here on two good legs. I'm strong. Not this table or the next one or the one after that. It's today. It's right now. I don't understand. The marathon coming happened in all we got with a lousy fucking t-shirt. Mr. Strong? Me? You sucked. How did I stay? People don't say hello. Goodbye. Because I'm slow. Can't learn too quick. You're not a runner. And Lou? From the race. Sort of. Because if you're a marathoner I could help you out. Oh, I'm in a marathon. I'm just gonna have the right shirt. You don't have any shirt. Maybe that's why I'm so cold. Mr. Strong? Age where we're watching ourselves ripping the world apart. Did you have any information about what was in her hide? A whole little piece. No wonder, filling our earth with poison on this cyber-ship bombarding us. No, the man who's got the DNA. He's getting radiation. Oh, perfect. Pour some more poison around the crisis. Here, open up a shot right here. Pour some of that chemistry straight into our veins. On this fucking government shutdown. Shut down. I know it. Stick in the shit. Ready to blow the whole mess of them up? You sound like Marvin. What was his last name? A little Jewish guy. Wasn't like the only anybody I ever knew radical enough to blow himself up. Our kids wouldn't know what we're talking about. We say the weatherman. I don't remember. What was he building that bomb for? We were on fire. We were a generation on fire. Wonder where we went. Still want to switch places? A chair upside down changed the way you see its lines. Its angles. Note the double entendre of the word attitude. A position or posture of the body in relation to a person or a thing. In ballet. A pose. You might see a chair that is falling and can't get up. I might see a chair that's in revolt. A chair that says ain't no bad gonna sit down on me. Another might see a chair that is right side up in a world that is upside down. Come! The revolution! What are you doing back there anyway? I bet there are still 10 tables to still clean. Get your ass back to work. Okay. You forget to wipe them chairs. You're fired. The world's wide web. Have you ever seen the area before? Okay. I know you're in a really bad mood. If you click on it, your screen's just gonna fill up the pop-ups. What's a pop-up?