Playwright's Notes
For those already experienced in theatre and those who have resources, feel free to skip this part. That is, unless you are interested in what I was imagining as I wrote exesanonymous.com.
I primarily imagined exesanonymous.com being performed in intimate spaces, where a crowd gathers around a small group of actors performing monologues. I particularly imagine coffee shops. Why coffee shops? They're the contemporary counterpart to the pubs during Shakespeare's time. They're where people gather after work to unwind and exchange ideas. They're where acoustic nights, poetry nights, improv nights happen. So why not plays? Where I come from, it's not so usual to find scripts designed specifically for coffee shop performance. The misconception of plays having to be in auditoriums and halls still prevails among people unused to theatre. But there's another explanation as to why plays in coffee shops aren't as prevalent as poetry, improv, and music performances. It's the considerations necessary for a performance to be feasible.
Coffee shops are naturally smaller than auditoriums, and there a lot of compromises that performers will have to consider. The more the performers, set, and tech support, the less space for an audience. The bigger the theatrical demand, the more expensive the production. The smaller the audience, the more expensive the tickets become. These said, there's indeed a good reason why coffee shop plays aren't as prevalent as they can be.
That's what exesanonymous.com aims to address. This play depends heavily on the quality of the monologues and the versatility of the actors. One can perform exesanonymous.com with just one or two actors on high stools. Everything else is enhancement.
This said, exesanonymous.com is also highly flexible. In terms of story, a production can freely play around with the concept. Each monologue is a story in itself, but it can also be collegedearestireane's journey through the different stories in search for his lover. It can also be Shahrazad's search through curatorpede's transformation. Stories, after all, aren't just about who's in them or who tells them; stories are also about those who listen and are affected. The play can even be performed in part or as a whole. The possibilities are impossible to enumerate here.
Lastly, this play was written for those who miss performing onstage for whatever reason: too busy at work, no venue, etc. The way exesanonymous.com is designed, one can do the performance by reading the monologue straight from any electronic device. Although memorized performances are still recommended, one can still make the play work through a simple dramatic reading.