New 10-Minute Dark Comedy for 2 Actors: 20 Magical Minutes of Darkness & Silence & Peace
Well, folks, here’s another 10-minute play about animals! In my new dark comedy 10-minute play, 20 MAGICAL MINUTES OF DARKNESS & SILENCE & PEACE:
Grace, a raccoon, is begrudgingly charged to find, and bring back, her fellow raccoon who has gone missing after a shocking personal tragedy. When she finally finds the depressed Joffrey in a train station parking lot, he refuses to come back with her—yet. Because he has something important he has to do first. In this parking lot. And he needs her help.
This is a play where our feature characters (in fact, our only characters) are raccoons. They talk about cat food and their gaze and pizza from a dumpster and being tired when staying awake during the daylight. But at its core, this is a story about love, loss, pain, grief and ultimately friendship—which is 100% relatable to humans.
20 MAGICAL MINUTES OF DARKNESS & SILENCE & PEACE is set in a parking lot, which is perfect if you’re looking for outdoor theater. In fact, this play was written for Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) with the prompt to create a play to be staged in a parking lot. In its premier production last month, the actors were making their way around cars and hopping over a fence by the river. I loved the gritty reality of it, since that is the world the raccoons are in (It was also interesting that a family of raccoons actually had been camping out near the theater and this parking lot!). Since I often start writing with the inspiration of a setting, this was a fun jumping off point for me. If you aren’t looking to stage outdoors, there’s a lot of room to be creative with the design, and the setting can work if you need to be minimal, as well. BTW— if you want to read another 2-hander 10-minute play set in a parking lot, you can check out the play I wrote last year for WCT with the same prompt, PITFALLS AND TREASURES (also published in Smith & Kraus’s anthology The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2022, editor Debbie Lamedman) That play has 2 seagulls in it).
This is a 2 person play (1 male, 1 female, although could be flexible) for actors anywhere from older teens throughout mature adults. It runs 10-15 minutes.
20 MAGICAL MINUTES OF DARKNESS & SILENCE & PEACE was first produced by Westchester Collaborative Theater in July 2022 featuring Brian Bagot and Rob McEvily as Joffrey and Brenda Hettmansberger as Grace. It was directed by Susan Ward. Huge thanks and appreciation to this incredible team for their insights and bringing the piece to life for the first time! You can see of the production photos below (Gregory Perry Photography).
Click here to download a free excerpt from 20 MAGICAL MINUTES OF DARKNESS & SILENCE & PEACE.
If you’d like to read the whole play, click below.
Photos from premier production at Westchester Collaborative Theater, July 2022, featuring Brian Bagot/Rob McEvily as Joffrey (Bagot pictured below) and Brenda Hettmansberger as Grace; directed by Susan Ward. Gregory Perry Photography