A Play On Perspectives

An experiment in perspectives and points of view.

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A Play

The Setting:

A forest preserve within the urban sprawl of a major American city at dusk in late summer. A clearing within, near a trail but isolated. Late evening skies have darkened to a twilight, and a faint orange glow mixes with the dying sunlight to slightly illuminate the clearing.

The Principals

1. John: Senior, 5'9", 150lbs, hair-light brown crew cut w/blond highlights, eyes-brown w/gold flecks, complexion-fair and clear with light tan. Tall, lightly muscled, slimly athletic build, long oval face with prominent nose and small ears, owns a home weight set and plays baseball on school team. Openly gay. Mostly sleek and hairless.

2. Dick: Senior, 5'10", 155lbs, hair-dark brown straight shoulder length, eyes-dark brown, complexion-pale. Oval face with wide forehead, narrow chin, large dark lips. Openly gay. Mostly hairy with a narrow but dense treasure trail.

3. Harry: Senior, 5'11", 175lbs, hair-black curly needs cut, eyes-baby blue, complexion-light w/ light acne. Round face, large angry eyes, a typical frizzy teen moustache and beard, wide shoulders, strong arms, big-chested. Secretly Gay.

4. Billy: Junior, 5'6", 145lbs, hair-med. blond, eyes-blue, complexion-light, clear. Square face, prominent bones and eyes, solid build. Small nose and mouth, pale peach lips.

5. Tony: Junior, 5'6", 140lbs, hair-black long and curly, eyes-brown, complexion-light Latino, clear. Wide nose, large ears, slightly large lips, slim build some muscle tone.

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When starting to write again, I realized that I was starting to fall into the old trap of perspective and controlling the point of view. This was something I had never really grasped before, and struggled with it constantly.

Well, I had this story, A Play In One Act, written by hand years ago as an actual play with stage directions. I started typing it in and I found more errors while typing it than I saw after reading it on paper many times. I turned the play into a third-person story, but the entire story was riddled with errors in perspective. Parts were first person, while overall it retained third person. Worse, almost all the characters slipped in and out of first person randomly. What was I doing? I remembered an exercise wherein you write a short story and the rewrite it from the point of view of the main character; a new story of the exact same events.

I decided to do it with A Play In One Act.

I re-wrote A Play In One Act entirely in unlimited third person and then from the point of view of each person in it, though I believe I will skip Tony's small part.

Please, should you find any errors, share them with me.

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