Spanning just 10 minutes is an escalating story of cats, church, betrayal, and murder—by snake.
It’s a short play—made in just five short days—in the small town of Belle Fourche, South Dakota. New playwright Margaret Bolte brainchilded Cleopatra the Cat during a creative writing session in town.
“I don’t know where [writing] comes from,” the retiree says. “You just get these ideas and words on paper, and it all comes together.”
Bolte and five others tried their hands at one-act playwriting for Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s inaugural Center of the Nation Playwriting Festival. The community theater has been putting on original plays for 15 years, but director Derek Olson wanted to try something new.
“Why not? Who knows if this’ll work or not?” Olson says. And it did: “We got six writers to do the workshops. They had never finished a play, and they [all] wrote a play. And to us, that’s a win.”
One Week, Plenty of Passion
Earlier this fall, for one week, writers gathered under the guidance of local Isabella Quijano, the festival director. Writers who responded to an open call completed workshops and exercises to find their play’s objective. Quijano worked with them on developing character voices and plots. Then the group read one another’s work and gave feedback.
“It was a lot of comradery and passion in one room at a time,” says Quijano, who recently graduated college with an English major. “It was really special.”
That special end product? Six, 10-minute plays performed by community members in front of an audience—including the writer.
Margaret Bolte, Center of the Nation Playwriting Festival participant“To actually hear these characters—characters I created for a story—come to life on the stage was absolutely surreal. It was just wonderful and performed perfectly.”
The staged readings included props, set pieces, and a whole lot of enthusiasm.
“It wasn’t just standing in a corner and reading awkwardly. They put their hearts and souls into this for a week and a half straight with almost no notice. So it was just a really big and wonderful thing that we made with so much love,” Quijano says.
A ‘Yes’ Town
For a town of 5,000-some people, that love ripples. There aren’t many opportunities to see plays around Belle Fourche, let alone learn how to write one. Thanks to a grant, festival tickets were low-cost and the workshops were free to encourage participation and creativity, no matter where folks live.
“People don’t expect it. Belle Fourche is a very rural town,” Olson says of the area’s enthusiasm for the plays. “I think it shocks people, but I think it shows that . . . people need a creative outlet everywhere.”
Directors are hoping for a rerun next year (and then some). Belle Fourche, like many small Midwestern towns, is a great place to just say “yes,” Olson says.
“We say, ‘yes’ because . . . who knows, [Belle Fourche residents] could be the next people [who] are having their plays produced across the country.”