The Play:
Intense, profane, and wickedly funny, 7 Minutes to Live has been described as a gothic comedy about urban angst, patriarchal privilege, caste warfare, incendiary literature, and true love. Somehow, it manages to be just plain fun, too.

 

            -- David Barr III, Jeff-winning playwright of
               “The Death of the Black Jesus” and “Middle Passage”

 
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Synopsis:
No metaphor. No joke. Child of privilege Henry Crawford has exactly seven minutes to live and he's dying to tell us all the whole sad, twisted tale of how he ended up handcuffed to a dumpster in his underwear – with broken nose, bloodied shirt, and 420 seconds left of life. We see how his wild-child girlfriend Vanessa and her erratic, fast-talking brother Luke – along with nonbinary, weed-farming neighbor Eddy – expose his prejudices and insecurities during a bewildering evening of physical, mental, sexual, and literary intimidation, setting into motion the forces which now leave Henry with mere minutes to live.

 

             -- TJ Young, Professor of Dramaturgy, Carnegie Mellon University

 

History:
This play has been workshopped in theatres and festivals across the country and the U.K. and has placed as  finalist or semi-finalist in several competitions, including the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. It’s primed for production!

 

"Entertaining and unpredictable, a delightfully dark comedy 
to read that I cannot wait to see staged.”

              -- Austin Film Festival Play Competition

 

Why we’re asking for help: Today, it’s nearly impossible to get a new play produced. That’s what the Unexpected Theatre Company is all about – to create the impossible, or at least, the unexpected. “7 Minutes to Live” is a D.I.Y. production in the best tradition of Chicago Theatre: “Let’s just find a way to f-ing do it!” (See Mark Larson’s amazing oral history of Chicago theatre: “Ensemble" for myriad examples.)

 

               -- Elizabeth Dinklova, Director and Writer, 

               Yale Directing Fellow

But we can’t do this alone:
It takes a community, it takes help, it takes a champion (or many champions). And it costs a good chunk of change – especially since Unexpected Theatre is committed to paying all its artists a fair wage. We’re looking for champions of audacious, unexpected new theatre art. 

 

So that’s why we’re asking for anything you can spare:
From small donations to large, it all helps! And, it’s all tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law, thanks to our fiscal sponsorship by Fractured Atlas. 

Thank you so much!

                           THE "7 MINUTES TO LIVE" TEAM: