A Random Prompt Generator Challenge for Bored Playwrights
How are you feeling these days? Anxious? Bored? Maybe a little scared? I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely feeling pretty unmotivated. With the loss of in-person theatre and the impossibility of large gatherings for the foreseeable future, it’s been hard to get the creative juices flowing.
And honestly? I’m actually getting tired of lying around in bed, waiting for things to change. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m even getting tired of binge-watching Netflix. I want to create things again! I want to feel excited about a project again!
So I’m giving this a try. I can’t guarantee that this prompt generator will inspire you (I haven’t even tested it out yet myself), but give it a shot and see if it helps you to create something new. Then show what you’ve created to Onstage Blog and we’ll share our favorites via social media!
How it works:
Use this random number generator (or another random method of choosing a number between one and ten) to select an option for each category:
https://numbergenerator.org/randomnumbergenerator/1-10?fb_locale=pt_BR#!start=false
Once you’ve selected something for each section, use what you’ve picked to create a story or piece that fulfills that prompt’s requirements. I envisioned this as a short playwriting challenge, but maybe you can challenge yourself even more.
Try using a medium that you’ve never used before. Create a TikTok or a Youtube video! Maybe it’s a piece told entirely through social media! Or is it a radio play recorded as a voice memo or podcast? This should be silly, fun, and work for you. Don’t worry about length or how ridiculous your story is. Just write something down and see what happens.
Let’s start!
Genre:
Horror
Sci-Fi
Romance
Mystery
Comedy
Fantasy
Superhero
Western
Action
Musical
Character quirks:
One character can travel through time
There’s at least one animal who talks
One character is a professional mime who’s really bad at their job
Include at least one stereotypical frat guy (bonus points if his name is Chad)
Every single person in this story is decidedly normal… almost weirdly normal
Base a character on a celebrity but don’t tell anyone who it is… see if they can figure it out!
Have at least one character use an accent that is not your own
Give a character a punny name
Give someone the most obnoxious personality you can possibly think of
One of your characters has won a world record for something (You can decide what it was for!)
Must include:
An animal that starts with the letter “m”
An absolutely ridiculous and unlikely kind of death
Mac and cheese
A wildly inappropriate outfit for the given situation
A dance off
The very serious celebration of a weird holiday that most people don’t typically celebrate
Either way too much of something or not enough of something
An incredibly stupid knock knock joke
A very long awkward silence
Something completely ordinary like a shoe or a spoon, but for some reason no one can remember what it’s called
Plot twist:
Long-lost family member returns
One of the main characters isn’t who they say they are
The world is about to end
Turns out the whole thing was a dream
Someone’s got a secret that will change everything
One of the characters has actually been dead the whole time
Everyone expects for there to be a plot twist but there’s no plot twist at all and everything is actually okay
Someone accidentally throws out the thing that could solve all of their problems
Someone wins the lottery
Turns out the villain is who you would least expect
Bonus challenge: Take your prompt 100% seriously and write the most serious, dramatic piece you’ve ever written in your life.
Yes, I fully expect for all of these to be ridiculous and make little to no sense. And I can’t wait to see what you come up with!