My Play in RROAPS 2011

The Decision to be Produced

As luck would have it a little play of mine (at present titled The Decision) has been selected for a production in the RROAPS one-act festival at Texas Tech for the coming Spring. Perhaps it wasn’t luck at all (maybe it was something else) but I’m not complaining. Here’s the <50 word description:

A terrible event took place. An unlikely friendship was broken. One decision can’t be undone but two others hang in the balance. Can the advice of a sixty year old man help a troubled youth? Help himself? The Decision examines how the decisions we’ve made change the decisions we’ll make.

Street Photography

This particular play was an outgrowth of a series of monologues I was writing while studying for my qualifying exams. I decided to look at so called “street photography” via the web and find interesting images of people. I would find a person that struck me (mostly portraits as I wasn’t interested in what they were actually doing) and take off writing something in a way that I imagined they might speak.

Most of these experiments terminated (happily) in about half a page. They were a little world of their own. Sometimes they were successful and sometimes they weren’t. They were always interesting though (and I plan on releasing a set of them under the plays section once I have about ten pages worth of material to share. They just might make for an interesting moment or two of theatre (in performance or audition).

The Decision, happily, would not conclude in half a page and was, instead, forced to continue as something a little bigger and a little more complex. The play is basically an outgrowth of a monologue, inspired by a street photograph, that refused to just be a monologue.

The Wrongs: A Temporarily Unfortunate Copyright

As a condition of being considered (and subsequently selected) for the RROAPS festival scheduled for the coming spring I am unable to allow productions of The Decision prior to Texas Tech’s RROAPS . I do not, however, want to leave the play in a semi-hidden state. So while the play will (for the time being) be released under the unfortunate “ALL RIGHTS RESERVED” copyright license, I do want people to read and respond to it in the interim.

One of the purposes of RROAPS is to put original works in front of an audience (after being in the forming fires of actors, directors, dramaturgs and designers) for the purpose of improving them. While I will certainly receive many great ideas and opinions from the many great people working on the show at TTU, I would also welcome comments from the larger community.

The Play

Click to download the play: The Decision

At present it is released ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (which will change after production). I’d love to have you read and respond to the play in the comments below. Please understand that if you comment about the play you are giving me the right to incorporate those opinions, comments, and ideas into the work (or maybe some other work in the future). You needn’t worry. All of those works, too, will be returned to you by being released under a CC BY-SA license eventually.

Multiple Drafts

When I (I’m assuming that I will) complete subsequent versions/drafts of The Decision I will continue to post them here for your responses. When we are finished I will post the various variations of the script to show a progression. All will be released under a CC BY-SA license following the closing night of performance.

Thanks & Enjoy. ~Kyle


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2 responses to “My Play in RROAPS 2011”

  1. […] Kyle Reynolds Conway Skip to content HomePlaysWritingBlogCV ← My Play in RROAPS 2011 […]

  2. […] Last semester I penned a play called The Decision and asked for comments from a variety of sources (including in the comments of this website). The comments did not flood in. One of the difficulties of crowdsourcing something like dramaturgy with lengthy material (even as short as my ten-minute play) is that a play is too long. The concept of crowdsourcing almost requires something that can be consumed in one quick gulp. […]

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