Playwright William Sikorski, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had already penned his play Cabin Pressure when he Googled comedy festivals and found the 2014 Sixth Street Theatre’s Snowdance 10 minute comedy Festival.
During the day, Sikorski runs a lab for 3M, but in his spare time he writes plays.
Sikorski’s play, the first he had ever written, won top prize against 211 other plays that had been submitted to the comedy festival. Ten of the plays were chosen to be performed at the festival, which is in its 10th year.
Sikorski’s play, a commentary about how cell phones are used today, got a little raunchy as the audience witnesses a rather intimate conversation.
“It’s a critique about our cellphone culture,” Sikorski said. “About how we behave differently when we are on our cellphones. We’ll do things in public on a cellphone that we just wouldn’t do if we were talking to each other in person. And we really just don’t talk to each other anymore.”
Director Rick Smith said they read all of the plays that are submitted and they are the only comedy festival where they audience chooses the winners.
“It’s so much fun to do and I love when something like this happens, that someone who has written for the first time can win,” Smith said.
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