The name says it all. Tomorrow and Monday is the 6th Alaska One-Minute Play Festival, and not only have I had plays in all six, I've successfully recruited a few friends to take part as well. Unfortunately, the shows are always in Anchorage on a Sun-Mon, and Anchorage is a pretty long drive away (6+ hours), so I've never been able to attend, though they have been nice enough to post several of them online.

The great thing about taking part so many times is that I no longer have to wait for them to give me each year's prompt, because it's always the same: basically, write about what you think is current, local, and pressing. Which, really, can apply to just about everything. The only requirement that's changed in recent years is that they've established a firm no-plays-about-the Cheeto-in-Chief rule, which I have no objection to. I get enough of that guy rubbed in my face every day without him infecting all of our drama.

This year's plays came to me pretty easily; they're both one-joke affairs, but in a one-minute play that's all you really have time for. One of them is about an unorthodox redneck entry into a library book basket action, inspired by a visit to an actual auction in Valdez, Alaska; the other by an offhand comment by my girlfriend about frequent flyer miles. Are they about current, local and pressing matters? I mean, I guess. The more I've tried to meet the OMPF's prompt, the more my plays have felt like half-baked political screeds, and who needs those? So I've tried to stick to vignettes that are maybe not about Alaska, but America and, like, the universe. Which is local enough for me.