CHICAGO — Courtney McCormack says writing 30 sketches in 30 days might be the most challenging thing she’s attempted as a comedienne.
The 34-year-old Ukrainian Village resident is part of a group of Chicagoans taking on the writing challenge in September, dubbed National Sketch Writing Month, with encouragement and support from Under the Gun Theater, 956 W. Newport Ave. The challenge is similar to National Novel Writing Month, where participants are tasked with writing a 50,000-word novel in November.
Angie McMahon, Under the Gun Theater executive director, said National Sketch Writing Month is "huge" in New York City, where the theater's artistic director, Kevin Mullaney, lived and worked for many years. Mullaney and McMahon wanted to bring that passion for the event to Chicago, which McMahon said has a strong comedic background thanks to Second City and Chicago Sketchfest.
"It just seems logical that if we have all of this sketch comedy here that we would want to celebrate an entire month of 30 sketches in 30 days," McMahon said.
McCormack, who is a copy writer, said she already anticipates writer's block as her greatest challenge during the month-long venture — once she gets home from work, the last thing she wants to do is write more. But she said she'll wake up early, set goals and force herself to write.
"Just sit in front of the computer or the sketchpad or whatever you're doing and just do it," McCormack said. "That's the only way to do it."
At the end of the challenge, McCormack said she hopes she'll have met "some new people who are also interested in sketch writing and get some really good sketches out of it."
Each sketch should be about five pages long, and participants will be able to show their finished work during a marathon in early October, McMahon said.
McCormack said she would "love" to see her National Sketch Writing Month work performed during the marathon, and she also hopes some of her sketches will be good enough to be performed by her five-man sketch group, Whiskey Rye Productions, in the future.
"Chicago is a comedy city, so even if I don't use it for my group, ... there's going to be a festival or something that some iteration of what I write could work for," McCormack said.
More than 60 people have joined a Facebook group McMahon set up so participants can talk, get advice and learn more about the challenge. She said information about the post-challenge marathon will be available at the page, and joining the group is not required, nor is attending weekly $5 meetups where writers will get feedback on their work and talk about their challenges.
How to survive 30 sketches in 30 days:
• Look ahead: At the end of National Sketch Writing Month, participants will be able to showcase the sketches they wrote during a weekend marathon, McMahon said. Writers don't have to participate or submit a sketch, but McCormack said "it would be awesome to see something that I write during National Sketch Writing Month be actually put up and produced somewhere."
• Don't judge your work: When McMahon assigns sketches to students in her Second City classes, she gives them a week for one sketch. So, how can National Sketch Writing Month participants do one a day? Don't judge your work, McMahon said. "Just get it out there," she said. McCormack suggested participants force themselves to write.
• Get advice at meetups: National Sketch Writing Month participants can pay $5 to attend meetups that will be held 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at Under the Gun Theater. There, writers will "share each other's challenges and support each other," McMahon said. Writers will be able to read their sketches, give and receive feedback and connect "with a lot of different people who have similar interests in writing," McMahon said. Attending the meetups is not required for participation in the challenge.
• Look everywhere for inspiration: Sometimes McCormack will "write down a bunch of words and throw them in a hat and then pick two out and see if that inspires anything." Other times, she'll be struck by something in the news or a conversation and will write a sketch based on what she hears. Inspiration "can strike anywhere," she said.
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