The Next Time Portnoy Sneezed

TEN MINUTE: On this day, Portnoy awoke with a start. What would happen to Portnoy on this day was something no one could have foreseen. It all started going wrong when he found the man hiding behind his curtain.

Written for the 2022 Playwrights Thriving Secret Santa Title Swap

Updated Draft Uploaded 1/20/24
  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

The Next Time Portnoy Sneezed

Recommended by

  • Christopher Plumridge:
    16 Jan. 2023
    This is a clever concept, protagonist meets their narrator, I wish I had thought of it! Portnoy wakes up from a nightmare straight into another, at least a very strange dream. Who is this intruder, how does he know so much, why does he want him to sneeze? Portnoys reaction to his narrator is hilarious in places, other times he's naturally very worried. I love this play!
  • Morey Norkin:
    15 Jan. 2023
    What an interesting and entertaining way to examine the relationship between narrator and protagonist. When the narrator is quite literally unveiled, we are left to wonder whose story is being told. Any writer who has struggled to make a character conform to their expectations (all?) will readily identify with this story. This would be a pleasure to see on stage!
  • Samuel Langellier:
    14 Jan. 2023
    We don't always get to tell our own stories or even shape the way the world perceives us, an issue that even impacts the storytellers and narrators among us no less! The chance to change that is nothing to sneeze at, at least until sneezing becomes the most important factor in bringing it all together for one final chance to break through the narrative confines.

    Break out the black pepper grinder, it's time to go to work and Heyman's got the whole thing set right up for us.

Character Information

  • Portnoy
    30s-40s
    The Protagonist
  • Carl
    The Narrator