I posted about this project many moons ago. Doomsday Think Tank is my first play. I've always loved reading plays and always had it in mind that I wanted to write my own at some point. Over the years I've come up with several that would be a lot of fun to write and even put on myself. This one wasn't planned but kind of snuck up on me.
As I stated years ago, it began as a deleted sequence from the comic book I do with Dennis Magnant called Tourniquet (which is currently undergoing an overhaul and retool). The leads, a team of monsters, rescues a man who, in a desperate attempt to hide it from his captors, shoves a microchip containing important information in a wound. After this is revealed to the group, they sit around a table at headquarters theorizing about what could be on the chip. It went on too long - about three pages. Once I had hit that third page of conspiracy conversation I thought "I love this but it is definitely NOT for this book. It's breaking the flow and just doesn't belong." After all, the monsters had bad guys to kill.
I cut it and pasted it into a blank document because I didn't want to throw it away. I would go back to it periodically and the conversation in my head continued, so I played stenographer. I kept it with four people around a table theorizing. It kept growing slowly line by line over the years until I had the thought of "I'd love to put this on as a show. It's a simple production to put on. Four conspiracy theorists sitting around a table discussing the possible contents of a newly recovered disc." The conversation wouldn't stop.
I eventually had to put a capper on it. I sent it to my aunt, Wanda Hoffman, to read and edit it. She had done so for me with my horror anthologies (available to buy). At first, she didn't see why it wouldn't just end - then she started asking questions and realized why it kept growing. We tossed it back and forth a couple of times before I let it sit for a while.
I've been working on a LOT while the five books I've done have been out (awaiting to be read, har-har). I've recently posted a series of short scripts, but I knew I wanted Doomsday Think Tank to be my first actual release of 2018 so I got back to it. I cleaned it up and added a few lines because the conversation started again and I had to show restraint or else it would never end.
I am very much looking forward to get some readings going once it's out; some live, some closed, some probably filmed - time will tell. It may seem short in length to some considering how long it's been lingering, however, it's 99% dialogue so, when read, it feels fuller than its length would have it seem.
I hope you all pick up a copy when it's released. Should be within a week or so. Buy it, read it, hold readings with your friends. As said, I'm working on a lot so there's more to come and just like the others I have out, it's all different.
