You want to write a play that people will actually see performed, right? That feeling of competition, the buzz of a festival – it’s infectious! But here’s the thing: writing a short play for these events isn’t just about making a longer play shorter. It’s about distilling everything down, making every single word, every moment, count. You’re creating a whole tiny universe that sticks with the audience long after the lights go down. This guide is going to walk you through exactly how to do that, step by step.
Getting to Know the Festival World: What Are You Working With?
Before you even think about putting pen to paper, you need to understand the rules of the game. Festivals and competitions have specific requirements, and you ignore them at your peril.
Time Limits: Non-Negotiable
This is probably the biggest one. Most festivals want plays under 10, 15, maybe 20 minutes max. That’s about 10-20 pages of a script. A 10-minute play? Think 8-10 pages. This isn’t just some arbitrary number; it dictates how fast your story moves, how much character development you can squeeze in, and the shape of your plot. Go over, and you risk getting booted or forced to cut your work, which no one wants.
- Pro Tip: Read your dialogue out loud. Seriously. Even better, get some friends to read through it, pretending to be on stage, and time it. Pages are a rough guide, but actual performance time is what matters.
Production Constraints: Keep It Simple
Festivals often run on a shoestring. That means minimal sets, basic lighting, small casts, and super-fast transitions between plays. If your play requires a massive, rotating stage, a rain machine, or an army of actors, it’s probably not going to get picked, no matter how brilliant the writing.
- Pro Tip: Imagine a “black box” theater. One piece of furniture, a few chairs, versatile props, and clever lighting are your friends. Aim for 2-4 actors if you can. You can even have actors play multiple roles to make the cast seem bigger without adding complexity.
Audience Expectations: Fast, Punchy, Memorable
Festival audiences are usually seeing several short plays in a row. They’re looking for something fresh, exciting, and something that hits them quickly. Your play needs to grab them instantly and leave an impression. It doesn’t have to be a complicated narrative, but it should deliver an emotional punch or a surprising twist.
- Pro Tip: What’s the one feeling or idea you want your audience to take away? Build your entire play around delivering that.
The Seed of an Idea: Where Stories Begin
Great short plays often start with a potent, focused idea. This isn’t about telling a sprawling epic; it’s about exploring a single, powerful concept.
One Conflict, One Question: Keep It Singular
Unlike a full-length play that can juggle multiple themes, a short play shines when it focuses. It presents just one central conflict, asks one burning question, or zeroes in on one pivotal moment.
- For Example: Instead of a play about a family grieving over many years, a short play might show two siblings cleaning out their dead mother’s attic. They unearth one shocking secret that completely changes how they see each other. The conflict is internal (their new understanding of the past) and external (how this secret affects their current relationship).
High Stakes, Immediate Crisis: Jump Right In
Because you have so little time, your characters need to be in the thick of a significant problem from the moment the curtain goes up (or the lights come on). There’s no time for slow build-up. The stakes need to be crystal clear.
- For Example: Don’t show a character slowly realizing they’re about to be evicted. Open with the eviction notice already taped to their door, and a literal timer counting down. The crisis is explicit and urgent.
The “What If” That Matters: Finding the Heart of the Play
The most compelling short play ideas often come from a “what if” question that gets right to the core of a human emotion.
- For Example: What if estranged siblings had to complete a bizarre task to inherit a fortune? (Exploring themes of greed, resentment, forced resolution). What if a seemingly ordinary object held a tragic secret? (Uncovering memory, loss, revelation).
The Inciting Incident: Hook Your Audience Immediately
Your first few lines, your very first stage direction – they are crucial. They need to set the tone, introduce your characters, and hint at the central conflict right away.
Dropping In Media Res: Start in the Middle of the Action
Begin your play as close to the climax as humanly possible. The audience doesn’t need to see characters getting ready; they need to see them already caught up in the struggle.
- Pro Tip: Skip the lengthy character introductions or conversations about backstory. Let the audience figure things out through what the characters do and how they react. If a character is upset about something that happened earlier, show their current anger or sadness, don’t have them tell the whole story.
The “Explosion” or The “Quiet Reveal”: Choose Your Opening Punch
Your opening moment can be explosive (a loud argument, a physical action) or a quiet, unsettling discovery (someone opening a significant letter, finding an important object). Both work, but both must grab attention.
- “Explosion” Example: The play starts with a frantic, disheveled character bursting onto the stage, clutching a broken phone, screaming, “He knows! He knows everything!”
- “Quiet Reveal” Example: The play opens with a character silently sifting through old photos. Their hand trembles as they pull out one specific picture, and their face goes white. The sound of a key turning in a lock offstage immediately creates tension.
Character Development: Showing Depth in a Snapshot
You don’t have time for massive character arcs, but you can show glimpses of significant depth.
The “Snapshot” Character: Defining Traits, Not Life Stories
Focus on just two or three strong traits, or a key relationship that drives the conflict. The audience needs to understand enough about these people to care about their struggle within the play’s short timeframe.
- Pro Tip: Give each character a unique voice. Could you tell who’s speaking even if the character name wasn’t there? Think about their vocabulary, how they phrase things, or even their rhythm when they speak.
Revelation Through Conflict: Show, Don’t Tell
Characters really show who they are when they’re under pressure. Their choices, reactions, and dialogue in response to the play’s crisis will paint their portrait.
- For Example: Instead of a character saying they’re selfish, show them actively sabotaging another character for personal gain, or refusing to back down even if it leads to disaster for everyone. Their selfishness is revealed through their actions in the central conflict.
Subtext and Nuance: What’s Unsaid
What aren’t your characters saying? What are their hidden motivations or fears? This layer of subtext adds depth without adding pages. A pregnant pause, a meaningful look, a subtle gesture can convey so much.
- Pro Tip: Write a very brief character bio for yourself (not for the play!) for each character. Include their core desire, their deepest fear, and one secret they hold. This internal knowledge will make even short exchanges feel richer.
Plotting and Pacing: The Race to the Finish
A short play is like a tightly wound spring. It needs a clear path, building tension, and a powerful conclusion.
The Single Arc: From Start to Breakthrough (or Revelation)
Your plot should follow a focused, accelerated dramatic arc. There’s an initial situation, an inciting incident, rising action (things get complicated), a climax, and a quick aftermath/resolution.
- Setup: Briefly establish the initial situation and characters. (Really brief!)
- Inciting Incident: The event that kicks off the main conflict.
- Rising Action: Obstacles and complications pop up, making the stakes higher and tension build.
- Climax: The moment of highest tension, where the central conflict explodes.
- Falling Action/Resolution: The immediate aftermath; the conflict is resolved, or a huge revelation changes everything.
- Pro Tip: Outline your play in 5-7 bullet points, representing the main turning points. This keeps your story focused and concise. Each point should logically lead to the next and raise the stakes.
Escalation: Turning Up the Heat
The tension must constantly build. Every line, every interaction, every new development should intensify the conflict, push the characters closer to their breaking point, or reveal new information that complicates things.
- For Example: A character tries to get an important item from a locked box. First complication: the key is missing. Second: they find the key, but it’s broken. Third: while trying to force the box open, they accidentally trigger an alarm. Each step makes the problem worse.
Pacing Matters: Speeding Up to the Climax
The play should generally get faster as it goes, leading to a quick, impactful climax. Dialogue might become snappier, stage directions more urgent.
- Pro Tip: Don’t let your characters talk about irrelevant stuff. Every single line of dialogue needs to advance the plot, show something about a character, or build tension. If it doesn’t, cut it.
Dialogue: Lean, Potent, Purposeful
In a short play, dialogue isn’t just chatting; it’s a weapon, a tool, a way to reveal everything.
Economy of Language: No Wasted Words
Every word needs to serve a purpose. Get rid of repetitive phrases, casual filler (unless it’s truly part of a character’s personality), and anything that doesn’t push the story forward or deepen your understanding of character/conflict.
- Pro Tip: Read your dialogue out loud. Does it sound natural? Is it concise? If you can say it in three words instead of ten, do it.
Active Verbs and Distinct Voices: Show, Don’t Summarize
Use strong verbs to convey action and emotion. Make sure each character sounds distinct, reflecting their personality, background, and current emotional state.
- For Example: Instead of: “Susan was really sad about losing her job.”
Dialogue: “My severance packet is thinner than a supermodel’s patience.” (Shows Susan’s bitterness and wit concisely).
Or: “My hands are shaking so bad I can’t even hold this coffee.” (Shows the physical manifestation of sadness/anxiety.)
Dialogue as Action: What Are They Trying to Achieve?
Characters speak not just to share information, but to do something to another character: to persuade, accuse, comfort, manipulate, challenge. Every line should be an attempt to achieve an objective.
- For Example: Character A says, “You left the gate open.” This isn’t just a statement. Their unspoken objective might be to accuse, to shame, to demand an explanation, or to express their fear. The response will define the interaction.
Stage Directions: Minimalist & Meaningful
Stage directions help the performers and the audience imagine the world. In a short play, they need to be incredibly precise and powerful.
Function Over Flourish: Only What’s Necessary
Limit your stage directions to only what is absolutely essential for understanding the action, character emotion, or the setting. Don’t tell actors how to act; describe what they do or how they feel if it’s not obvious from the dialogue.
- Pro Tip: Avoid adverbs like “angrily,” “sadly,” “happily,” if the dialogue and context already make the emotion clear. Instead of “(He gestures angrily),” try describing the specific, telling action: “He slams the file on the desk, making the coffee cups rattle.”
Visual Economy: Simple Set, Powerful Props
Remember those production limitations. Simple, versatile set pieces that suggest rather than depict are best. Props should be crucial to the plot or symbolic. A single object can carry immense weight.
- For Example: A chessboard where pieces are subtly moved to represent power shifts in the dialogue, or a worn teddy bear that symbolizes lost innocence. Every prop should have a specific purpose.
Transitions: Smooth and Swift
If your play has scene changes, they need to be quick and easy. Often, a change in lighting or a single sound cue is enough. Many short plays stay in one location to avoid complex transitions altogether.
- Pro Tip: If your play needs a scene change, consider if the same set could be reimagined with a new prop or lighting cue, rather than a full set modification.
The Powerful Ending: The Punch or The Echo
The ending is everything in a short play. It’s the final impression, the thought that lingers.
Hook-Reversals and Reveals: Unexpected Twists
A strong ending often has a surprise reversal, an unexpected twist, or a shocking revelation that makes you rethink everything that came before. This delivers a powerful final punch.
- For Example: Two characters have been bitterly arguing about a shared past. The final line reveals they aren’t who they claimed to be, or that the “past” they’re arguing about hasn’t even happened yet.
The Question Mark: A Lingering Ambiguity
Not all endings need clear answers. Sometimes, leaving the audience with a powerful question, a sense of unresolved tension, or an unsettling ambiguity can be even more impactful. This allows the play to “breathe” beyond the final blackout.
- For Example: A character makes a morally questionable choice, but the audience is left to wonder if it was truly the right thing to do under the circumstances, or what the long-term consequences will be.
The Poetic Image: Visual Resonance
End with a strong visual image or a resonant final line of dialogue that captures the play’s theme or emotional core. This can be more powerful than a neat resolution.
- For Example: After a play about characters searching for lost hope, the final image is one character picking up a single, withered flower, slowly, gently, placing it in a broken vase.
Revision and Refinement: Polishing the Gem
The real magic of short playwriting happens during revision. This is where you cut, compress, and make everything shine.
Ruthless Cutting: Less Is Truly More
Print your play. Grab a red pen. Ask yourself:
* Can I say this more concisely?
* Does this line move the plot forward or show me something about a character?
* Is this scene absolutely essential?
* Can I combine two characters into one?
* Can I imply this instead of stating it directly?
- Pro Tip: Try cutting 10% of your dialogue. Then try to cut another 5%. You’ll be amazed at how much you can remove without losing meaning, and often, the play gains power.
Read Aloud and Time It: Get a Performer’s View
This is non-negotiable. Gather friends, assign roles, and read the play out loud. Time it very precisely. Pay attention to:
* Pacing: Does it drag anywhere? Does it go too fast?
* Dialogue flow: Do the lines sound natural? Are there awkward phrases?
* Clarity: Does the story make sense? Is the conflict clear?
* Impact: Does the ending land effectively?
- Pro Tip: Record your read-through. Listen back without looking at the script. What stands out? What’s confusing? Where do you get bored?
Feedback is Gold: Get Diverse Perspectives
Get feedback from trusted readers and, if you can, people who work in theater (directors, actors). Be open to criticism. Don’t defend your choices; just listen. Understand their reactions, even if you don’t agree with every suggestion.
- Pro Tip: Ask specific questions: “Was the central conflict clear?” “Did the ending surprise you?” “Were the characters distinct?” Don’t just ask, “Did you like it?”
Formatting for Submission: Look Professional
While the writing is king, professional formatting shows you understand the industry and respect the submission process.
Standard Playwriting Format: Stick to the Rules
- Font: 12pt, easy to read (Times New Roman, Courier New).
- Margins: Standard 1-inch all around.
- Character Names: Centered, ALL CAPS, followed by dialogue.
- Dialogue: Indented, no quotation marks.
- Stage Directions: In parentheses, italicized, sometimes indented.
- Page Numbers: In the top right corner.
- Title Page: Your play title, your name, contact information. Don’t put your name on subsequent pages if submitting anonymously for judging.
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Pro Tip: Use screenwriting/playwriting software (like Final Draft, Celtx, Fade In Pro) or a template to make sure your formatting is perfect automatically. This also helps with page count estimates.
Anonymity and Cover Sheets: Follow Guidelines Exactly
Many competitions require anonymous submissions. Make sure your name is only on a separate cover sheet or in the specific metadata field, never on the play itself. Read the submission guidelines very, very carefully.
- Pro Tip: Double-check every single requirement. A perfect play can get disqualified for a simple formatting or submission error.
In Conclusion: The Power of Compression
Writing a short play for festivals and competitions is a fantastic exercise in discipline, precision, and impact. It forces you to get to the absolute core of your story, characters, and themes. Master this form, and you not only increase your chances of production and recognition, but you also sharpen skills that will improve all your writing. The limitations aren’t something holding you back; they are the forge where compelling, unforgettable theater is created. Embrace the challenge, find your unique voice, and craft a world that bursts to life within just a few powerful minutes.