Get Your "Parcel or Package" 10-Minute Play in Now!

We are perilously close to the deadline for Heartland Theatre's 10-minute play contest. Which means you still have one week left to work on your "Parcel, Package or Present" play, but you'd better be quick. Heartland will accept ten-minute plays involving a package, parcel or present of some sort (and, yes, they're looking for a physical package like the ones you see in the banner above, anything larger than a ring box and smaller than a microwave oven) until February 1, and after that... Well, you'll have to wait till summer, after this year's eight winning Parcel, Package and Present plays have been performed at Heartland Theatre, to see what next year's theme is going to be.

But for now... If you have a parcel play that's ten pages or less, following Heartland's stylesheet, you'll need to send it in before Friday, February 1.

Here's what the "Parcel/Package/Present" theme is all about:

"The Misdelivered Package is a plot staple, whether the parcel in question contains the Maltese Falcon, a bomb about to go off, the names of all the spies in Poland, or a kilo of cocaine from Colombia. There have been more packages used as McGuffins in plays, movies and TV shows than you can fit inside the largest box UPS will deliver.

When you have a parcel, when you don’t know what’s inside, when the recipient is suspicious of the giver or the sender, when the giver can’t rely on how the recipient will react, there’s plenty of dramatic potential.

Your 10-minute play can center on a tiny blue box from Tiffany & Co., a beautifully wrapped birthday present, a weird old shoebox with breathing holes poked in the top, a wooden crate full of albums from the 70s, a plastic “cremains” container, a makeup case with Barbie stickers on the outside, or a strange, lumpy parcel covered in stained brown paper and secured with string, bearing no return address but postage from Ulan Bator.

It can be any kind of parcel, package, packet, box, bundle, case, carton or container, as long as it’s no smaller than a ring box and no bigger than an orange crate. Anything in the middle is just fine. And what’s inside this mysterious parcel is completely up to you.

You have:
…No more than 4 characters…
…No more than 10 minutes…
…And unlimited possibilities to write a winning play for Heartland Theatre’s Parcel, Package or Present 10-Minute Play Festival."

Rules and guidelines are here and the all-important stylesheet is here. Don't be late! February 1!