Hubris revisited.

Ah, it is now two days after the event. Did I have the best play? Not by a long shot. Out of eight plays written, cast, rehearsed and staged within 24 hours, mine certainly was in competition for last, or close to last, place. Actually I wrote two plays for this event. I confidently wrote the first one in the hotel by 11 pm and went to bed. But I couldn't sleep knowing how false and pretentious it was. Plus I wasn't sure the three young actors were the right age and temperment. So, I got up at 4 am and wrote a second play, which I liked better. I won't bore you with details of the rehearsals, staging, missing props, difficulties the cast had learning the script. They are all irrelevant to the actual quality. A casual friend of mine from Miami Beach had the best play and a cast of four who were letter perfect and totally believable. Anyway, the point isn't the play or the event: it's hubris. In my arrogance, I assumed the other writers would be less sharp and sophisticated than me and I would outwrite them. I couldn't have been more wrong. But I know I was wrong. This will probably prevent me from making a similar mistake in the future. But that same principle does not work for people like Sarah and all those others infected with severe cases of hubris. If I were she I would think and continue to think that every ten-minute skit I wrote was Death of a Salesman.