THE UNKNOWN
an original 15-minute play
what it's about
This play follows Lucy and Michael through several stages of their friendship and childhood; it starts when they are both six years old and follows them to age eighteen.
The play is set entirely in Lucy's childhood bedroom, and the same two actors portray these characters at five different ages.
This play is about personal growth and exploration, and how we are truly never done exploring ourselves.
my inspiration
While attending The Performing Arts Project in 2017,
I took a class on playwriting.
I'd written many plays and short stories as a young child, but this experience reawoke my love of playwriting.
The structure of the class was that we would receive a prompt and then write a short play or scene around this prompt. One prompt we were given was "fear."
I was so inspired by this prompt and the endless stories it could tell that I wrote an anthology of plays surrounding this idea. One fear I wrote about was the fear of the unknown. This play is my interpretation of this fear.
While I would one day love to share the rest of these plays, here is just a little snippet of this idea!
In the spring of 2019, I had to write a ten-minute play for my high school theatre class.From there, a handful of plays would be selected to perform in a Ten Minute Play showcase. Having written many plays, I decided to revisit and revise this play for submission.
After being selected as 1 of 6 plays that would be performed, I had to cast, direct and design it myself. The set consisted of a gym mat, a blanket, a pillow and a few action figures, but it was still an incredibly transformative experience!
Before this showcase, a classmate reached out to me about submitting for the Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. Second Annual Playwrights Scholarship Contest. From there, my play went on to be produced at a Houston area theatre company in June of 2019!
the play's journey
media coverage
"A Spring Branch Independent School District senior is one of three teens to have their plays selected for the second annual Student Playwright Festival presented by Dirt Dogs Theatre Co... Lauren Dodds of Stratford will debut her play 'The Unknown' on June 5. The play focuses on friends Michael and Lucy and how he tries to help her overcome her desire to always 'play it safe.'"
"Describing 'The Unknown,' Trevor B. Cone, executive director of Dirt Dogs Theatre Co., said the play 'follows a pair of characters starting as young children through young adults. The same two actors play characters at five or six ages. It's kind of a light drama.'"
"Cone explained the selection process. 'We have a team of panelists made up primarily of mentors and executive members of Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. who are given a list of criteria by which to score the plays based on a number of elements.' He described the elements as including plot, characterization and producibility. 'Scores are compiled. The festival chooses between three and five selections,' he said. Feb. 28 was the deadline to enter the competition, which is open to high school seniors. Winners were notified in April. Each winner receives a $500 scholarship."
- THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
