By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sixteen plays, ten minutes each, performed across four days in June. This ambitious theatre speedrun is the enterprising venture of Theatre Burlington this summer, as the venue plans to host its second annual Play Time 2 — Short Play Festival. This year’s festival has assembled an array of local writing as well as acting talent, and seeks to match the success of its first year.
Two part-time playwrights, Wendy Oughtred and Valerie King, will premiere their ten-minute plays at this year’s festival. Oughtred is a retired criminal defence lawyer, originally from Sarnia, who has resided in Burlington for the past twenty-seven years. King is a medical secretary and rehab therapist, born in Owen Sound and currently based in Brantford. They have both agreed to discuss their contributions to Play Time 2 and their future creative endeavours. Answers have been lightly edited for flow.
What is the name of your play in the festival, and what inspired you to write it?
King: The name of my play is At the Cottage. It was inspired by a real conversation. I had two plays in the Grand River Festival last year, and we were enjoying a break between the two plays at a local restaurant. A discussion ensued about how we want to die (I can’t remember how this came about). The spouse of one of the actors stated she would like to die by getting hit by a meteor. Naturally, this created more discussion and much ribbing. I couldn’t resist writing about it.
Oughtred: My play is called The Great Deception. With all the plays I write, it starts with an incident occurring in my life. A good friend of mine confessed that she is still unable to clean out her deceased husband’s closet. The mother of another friend has not been able to do this despite her husband dying over ten years ago.
I started thinking about what that seemingly simple task entails and started writing what I thought would be a poignant reflection of that event. I started writing with that intent, but then it morphed into another thought. What if the man was not as he seemed? What if he was really a horrible person? So I had my grieving widow find a letter her husband wrote, confessing some awful things. It became a comedic melodrama as the reactions and emotions were written to be overplayed. The letter will be narrated by an actor offstage.
Do you have a background in the theatre world?
King: I have been involved in theatre off and on since I was six. It had been my dream to be an actor since I could remember. I finally decided to follow my dream and thus started taking acting classes in Toronto around 2012. I took classes for two years. I briefly had an agent and was fortunate to get a few gigs. However, the reality of how much effort, money, and schmoozing it takes to become known, along with the amount of rejection — I decided this was not for me. I enjoyed a certain amount of stability in my “real” job, and although the pay was not as good, I rather liked knowing that I had money to pay my bills.
Oughtred: In 2011, my son decided he wanted to try theatre; I auditioned for a role to inspire him to do the same. Since then, I have been in many plays in Oakville and Burlington. The death of my mother in 2016 inspired me to start writing plays. I’ve been doing that for about ten years and producing them in Oakville and Burlington. I have written, directed, and acted in many of my short plays.
What are some of the challenges of writing a ten-minute play as opposed to a full-length play?
King: I have never tried to write a full-length play. I believe that would be much more challenging for me than a ten-minute play because you would need a lot more interesting dialogue, more complex themes, and more characters.
Oughtred: There certainly are challenges in writing short plays. There has to be an identifiable arc; something has to go from point A to point B. You have to work within a very limited space, and the plot has to be described succinctly and clearly through the dialogue. Short plays are usually roughly ten minutes long. It’s not a long time to tell your story, so you have to learn to write clearly, as your audience has to be able to follow your plot.
What are you hoping audiences will take away from your play?
King: At the Cottage is a comedy, so I hope the audience finds it funny and enjoyable. I also always hope that they might feel it is well-written.
Oughtred: I’m hoping the audience will be able to relate to the emotional aspect of the widow’s dilemma. There is also the issue of someone not being the person they pretended to be. I hope the audience will find humour in how the issues unfold.
What writing projects are you working on next?
King: During the conversation at the restaurant mentioned above, with the same people, there was another discussion about an individual who had participated in theatre and had some serious mental health issues. She was catfishing some of the actors. One actor was talking about her experience with this individual, and another one of the other actors interjected that he knew who she was talking about. He had a different and bizarre story to tell. They have encouraged me to write about it, and I am still in the stage of thinking about how to present it without it being obvious.
Oughtred: In September, I have a play in the Grand River Arts Festival. This is a ten-minute play competition taking place in Brantford. Twenty-one plays have been selected, and the competition takes place on September 20. I am always looking for ideas to write a play around.
Tickets to Theatre Burlington’s highly anticipated Play Time 2 — Short Play Festival can be purchased here. Tickets are only $15.00. As previously mentioned, the shows will run across four days: June 13, 14, 20, and 21. The first eight short plays will be performed on the weekend of June 13 to 14, the second set of eight will run on the weekend of June 20 to 21. After the conclusion of the festival on June 21, Theatre Burlington’s spring/summer season will end. In the fall, Mark Crawford’s Birds and the Bees will premiere on October 17, 2025. There is currently an open call for volunteers at Theatre Burlington.
