NPX Weekly Round-Up: Deep Blue: A Dysphoria by Alex Moon
A shortie but a goodie that portrays a moving conversation about gender identity, as well as three more play suggestions for your weekly reading.
As a playwright, and a writer in general honestly, I’ve always had trouble with brevity. I go on for much longer than necessary sometimes and have a hard time creating anything shorter than a full length play. I find it hilarious that, at the time of writing, my most “successful” work is a one act one woman play, because I so often have trouble creating short works that I think are impactful.
In the interest of learning how to write better ten minute plays, or perhaps one acts, I have begun accumulating short works that I have been recommended in the past. This is one of them— Deep Blue: A Dysphoria by Alex Moon.
Having consumed some of Moon’s longer works in the past, I was interested to see how they wrote shorter pieces. I was not disappointed!
Here is the summary of Deep Blue… from NPX:
Having just been proposed to, Corey seeks shelter in the hypnotic calm of the Open Ocean exhibit, but even there he cannot avoid coming to terms with his own sense of self, and what that means for the loved ones in his life.
Short, sweet, and to the point, much like the play itself!
This work also happens to take place somewhere that I find incredibly soothing as well as strangely moving— a large aquarium tank. I’ve never been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but I imagine it is just as calming as the ones I’ve seen before. I find it a lovely setting for the conversation that occurs between the two characters, in large part due to the fact that the conversation is not an easy one.
Let me set the scene: Corey has just been proposed to by his partner, Nadia, in public at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He freaks out and runs away, finding himself at the Open Ocean Tank. Nadia comes to find him to ask him why the hell he ran away instead of responding to her proposal.
Got it? Good.
What follows is a heart wrenching discussion about identity and gender, and how those two things can effect your relationships (especially your romantic ones). Corey has been experimenting with his gender, feeling uncomfortable in his own skin, and he hasn’t been able to find the words to tell Nadia about it. He wants to be with her— but the idea of being a ‘husband’ is causing him dysphoria. As a queer person who loves a lot of other queer people, it’s a conversation I’m familiar with to some degree. Moon’s depiction of this breakdown of identity is real, heartbreaking, but also hopeful. Nadia doesn’t reject Corey. She supports him, regardless of who he is.
In a way, this play feels like a prayer. A little nugget of hope to show in the dark: “Look, maybe things could be more like this, instead.” The fact that it is done in less than ten pages is stunning.
I read this as a lesson in brevity, in getting themes and such across in a shorter story. What I took away from it is that sometimes, all a play needs to be is the climactic conversation, the straw-breaking-the-camel’s-back moment. As a writer, I can imagine the scenes around this play that would make it into a full length 65-100 page script, but it doesn’t need to be that to get Moon’s point across. That conversation between the two characters says everything.
This week, I’m going to try and take this lesson and apply it! Wish me luck on attempting the ten minute play once more.
Here is my full review of Deep Blue… on NPX:
I read this as part of my mission to read more short plays, so I can better learn how to write them. And wow, was this play a joy to read. I loved the hope present in it, from how Nadia supports Corey to how honest Corey is about all his feelings regarding this complicated topic. I'm so happy to see more works taking on this conversation about gender in a graceful way, full of self-love and understanding.
I hope you take a moment to read this work this week.
Other plays I’m reading or are peaking my interest this week:
Opening Night by Courtney Taylor
At Hotel MacGuffin by M Sloth Levine
Desert Death Reversal by Bailey Macejak
I’m excited to keep reading! I hope you are too. As always, if you have any plays you want me to read, just let me know by replying to this email/post.
Have a great week!
Brynn