What do you think of this as an idea for a play?

I am not entirely convinced that the well made 3 act or 2 act play is dead. I realise we are attempting to attract people who are used to getting their entertainment in bite size chunks of 30 minutes or 1 hour on TV but none the less the stories we are trying to tell must sometimes take more time than an episode of 2 and a Half Men or CSI. I have written a number of 10 - 15 minute plays and they are great for exploring an idea and can be very entertaining. I have been involved with or produced a number of shows comprising of these plays and have done reasonably well with audiences but I still think that the true measure of our medium is a full length play. It give both the writer and the actor a chance to thoroughly explore a character and bring it to life as well as really exploring the true depth of the message or issue that you wish to examine. I do agree that developing an idea through several stages can be productive particularly if the various stages are in some way taken through a process of dramaturgy but in the end you must decide how long the play is going to be and write it but be careful of unnecessary padding to make it the length you think it should be. If a scene does not drive either the character or the plot on further then it is probably unnecessary. Sydney has it's own Short and Sweet Festival and there is almost certainly some sort of writers organisation that offer some assistance. The Australian Script Centre is in Hobart but they have a website you can check on and if I remember they have links. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au