This Week’s Challenge Inspired By…

Bava’s Gift: Awakening to the Impossible
Michael Urheber

Based on events that can only be described as miraculous, Bava’s Gift brings together ideas in science and spirituality, and delivers a fresh and engaging perspective about the nature of such events. The story begins with the death of the author’s close friend, but everything takes an amazing turn when a hastily prepared experiment that requires the cooperation of the deceased shatters commonly accepted notions about reality.

The Challenge:

Bava’s Gift touches on many facets of consciousness and the human condition.  Arising from the simple gift of a marble, we see not only how our state of mind can help determine what we find in life, but how we are able to connect with other consciousnesses – even those that are “beyond” the grave – in unique and impactful ways.

We challenge you to create a play where:

• Someone is guided by a soul or spirit that is not immediately present.
• One or more of the characters finds a new meaning in something they thought they previously understood fully.
• Some kind of physical object appears in higher-than-normal quantities.

Winning Submission:

Christine Sloan Stoddard was the winner of this challenge with her script, Painting During the Pandemic.  The script paints a scene of a video call between an art teacher, Michelle, and an isolated patient and his caretaker, and uses the appearance of inexplicable paint brushes to make a connection to Michelle’s recently lost grandmother.

The play was read by Arielle Kaplan (reading Michelle), Colton Weiss (reading Mohammad), and Brian Cedric Jones (reading Johnny), with stage directions and moderation by ICRL’s Jeff Dunne.  You can listen to the recording here: