Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind

I just heard this on an old podcast from This American Life, from December 12, 2008. It's based on the idea from a theater company in Chicago that performs two minute plays. They do 30 plays in 60 minutes. Apparently this is not a unique idea, as I discovered books of two minute plays. Of course, I don't know which came first, so maybe the theater company did come up with the concept. (I should investigate this more before ranting on about it, eh?)

But, one part of this episode I found especially funny. It's from the theater company itself. It starts at 24:35 into the show. In this play the actors don't talk in sentences but rather in phrases that describe the sentences. For example, they begin with the man saying, "Statement. Statement. Statement." The woman responds with, "Question?" He replies with, "Clarifying statement. Confident statement. OVER confident statement." See? They use phrases that describe the kind of sentence it is, rather than saying the sentence itself. Oh... one can't do it justice by typing it. You have to listen to it. I laughed out loud at it.

I just thought that it would be an interesting thing to play for students. Maybe even the whole idea of 2 minute plays could be a great idea for some creative writing classes. Listen to the show. They tell some great short stories. I can't help but think that it would be a FUN assignment to write one of your own. I thought about Anne Smith's classes right away. How about YOUR classes?

Give the show a listen, then tell me what you think of the idea.