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TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Emotions run high in the judges room during an art competition. Two judges implore the third judge to vote for their favorites, and when the artists are invited for interviews chaos erupts.
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Recommended by

  • Greg Vovos:
    29 Feb. 2024
    I absolutely love this play. So much joy, humor, and passion that speaks to the frustrations of the creative life in a brilliant format – judging the art of 3rd graders!! Brilliant. I would both love to direct and see this play. Great, well-drawn roles for actors to run wild with in a play with lots of escalating fun and humor. The ending, which I didn’t see coming, is the perfect cure to what ails artists of any discipline. Heartwarming perfection.
  • Jennifer O'Grady:
    15 Dec. 2023
    Martin's ten-minute play hilariously (and so aptly!) skewers the evaluation of art by those who believe they know what's "good" and what isn't. With fun roles for female actors and great for all ages, this would be a hit in any short-play festival.
  • Maximillian Gill:
    3 Dec. 2023
    I'm very late to the party for giving this play the appreciation it so richly deserves. Full of wonderful skewering satire on the pretensions of art gatekeepers. The hilarity hits a whole other level when the two finalists enter. Ripe roles for actors to go broad with their comedic chops and kill the room (as occurred at the production I saw).

Character Information

  • Mrs. Notting
    40s or 50s,
    Female
    One of three judges. She prefers Leigh Anna Harrington's drawing.
  • Mrs. Crull
    40s or 50s,
    Female
    One of three judges. She prefers Emily Smith's drawing.
  • Mrs. Kerry
    The oldest character,
    Female
    One of three judges; the oldest. She is the tiebreaker.
  • Leigh Anna Harrington
    8 or 9,
    Female
    One of two finalists. Delighted.
  • Emily Smith
    8 or 9,
    Female
    One of two finalists. Overjoyed.

Production History

  • Community Theater
    ,
    Short+Sweet Theatre Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    ,
    2024
  • High School
    ,
    Ten-Minute Play Festival, St. Aloysius College, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
    ,
    2024
  • Community Theater
    ,
    One Act Play Festival, Pend Oreille Players, Newport, WA
    ,
    2023
  • Community Theater
    ,
    A Play, A Pint & A Pie, Enter Stage Left Theater, Hopkinton, MA
    ,
    2023
  • University
    ,
    Curtain (or Lack Thereof) Call: A Reading of Four Short Plays, Farleigh Dickinson University Players, Teaneck, NJ
    ,
    2023
  • High School
    ,
    Kent School; Kent, CT
    ,
    2022
  • High School
    ,
    Theatre Fall Performance Festival, William B. Travis Middle School, McAllen, TX
    ,
    2022
  • University
    ,
    One Act Play Festival, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, AR
    ,
    2021
  • High School
    ,
    School of the Arts at Central Gwinett High School, Lawrenceville, GA
    ,
    2021
  • Community Theater
    ,
    One Act Play Festival, Artists' Exchange, Cranston, RI
    ,
    2019
  • Community Theater
    ,
    Ten-Minute Play Festival, Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette; Lafayette, IN
    ,
    2017

Awards

Finalist
,
Short+Sweet Theatre Dubai, United Arab Emirates
,
Short+Sweet
,
2024
Audience Choice
,
Third Place
,
One Act Play Festival, Pend Oreille Players, Newport, WA
,
2023
Semi-Finalist
,
Minnesota Shorts Play Festival
,
Merely Players Community Theatre, Mankato, MN
,
2020
Finalist
,
The Ten Show Season 2: Filmmaker Edition
,
The Hive Collaborative, Provo, Utah
,
2020
Finalist
,
Collection of One Acts
,
Eden Prairie Players, Eden Prairie, MN
,
2019