Bread and Wine Theatre Co. Presents The Time of My Life
How I Came to Write a Play
By Owen Brown
I didn’t grow up doing theater. In elementary school I did musicals, and being as I had no musical training, the biggest role I ever had was Thing One in Seussical - which isn’t saying much given that he has no lines. Still, I always had a passion for art and creating. And, as I became more exposed to theater by some of my good friends my senior year at California Baptist University in 2019, I decided to try my hand at it.
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My first production was a small one, a staged reading of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure in my grandparent’s backyard. It was logistical chaos with numerous friends dropping out last minute so much so that one of our characters was played by two different people since my friend Miles was running late and couldn’t make it till right before the play’s final scene. But as hectic as it was, I had tasted the thrill of the stage and I was hooked.
After I had finished this production, I started reading the American playwright Thornton Wilder and soon had devoured his whole catalogue. And, when Covid hit, I did numerous table reads of Thornton Wilder plays consummating in a staged reading via Zoom of Pullman Car Hiawatha.
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Since then, I have constantly been looking to do a full production. But, as I couldn’t get enough people consistently to produce the play I wanted to (The Long Christmas Dinner), I decided I needed to do something with a small set of artists so it was easier to create buy-in. And, I thought, why not go ahead and write my own play?
The Writing Process
But I knew if I wanted it to be good, I'd need to help to get off the ground. ​So, I posted on the St. Louis Theater Guild’s Facebook play, looking for a Christian male willing to co-write and perform a two-person play. And I got one response: Michael Cox.​​​​
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​Michael is an amazing, creative, talented soul that I am now proud to call one of my best friends. We worked on the script for the Time of My Life for eleven months . Every week, we would assign what scenes each of us would write and edit and then would meet together to discuss all the new material. Though it was my story and thus guided by my vision, we shared equally in the labor from the start which has made this a truly collaborative process. ​What I thought would be a potentially small project has blossomed into a huge endeavor with over ten readers giving feedback, and to which Michael and I each have easily devoted one-hundred-and-fifty hours.
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July 2024 Production
From there, we launched our first full production in July of 2024 at Greenfinch Theater & Dive. We were privileged to have the most wonderful director in David Struckman. He led an amazing cast (Alex Vito Fuegner: Chris, Kaitlin Gant: Actress, and Ryan Dabbs: Actor) in what was quite a successful production. We sold over 160 tickets, almost selling out our opening and our closing shows. We were able to pay our actors, director, and tech crew more than we even originally agreed to and on top of all that, Michael and I split $46 of profit, each keeping $23. We received an incredibly positive reception to the play from our audience who resonated strongly both with the play's message, its characters, and the acting performances from our cast.
Another Production??? Yes, Indeed.
Perhaps the most exciting thing that came from this production was the seed for a new production. South Gate Church has invited us to bring the play to their stage and we will do so the first week of February of 2025 with a new director, new crew, and new cast.​
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After the first production, my desire has been to continue to hone the story and message of the play. When we closed in July, Michael chose to step away from the project. He happily told me that he accomplished his goal of helping me to see my vision realized in a production and now wants me to take it even further and make it more my own. In accordance with his exhortation and the encouragement of others, I have relentlessly revised the script, adding and taking away chunks at a time in an effort to let the best version of this play be what you see this February.