I wrote "The Double Negative" with a very specific goal in mind. I set out to write a three to four hour experience for the theater. I wouldn't really recommend to fellow playwrights this approach - time as the dictate, letting structure override story. However, with this particular plotline and set of characters, I knew I could really explore longer tracts and not lose the overall impact. The worst thing would be to write a long play that felt needlessly long. Hopefully, I've achieved some sort of balance and interest that won't disappoint. If you're going to be at a theater for 3+ hours, you really want to have a good payoff, right? With my prior 6 stage plays, none clock-in at over 2 hours. 2 hours or more is pretty much the norm here in Chicago, but I was trying to be different, more succinct, with faster pacing and dynamic plotting. "The Double Negative" has a shape and depth more like a novel. I'm sure it will land on someone's desk and they'll say, "Who does this guy think he is? Eugene O'Neill?"

Okay, enough about page count - what's the play about? An 8-character 3-act play, "The Double Negative" tells the story of two very different brothers running a tailor shop in post-war Europe. Martin Hartzog left the town before the house-to-house fighting began; Pendleton Hartzog stayed back and is known for saving the town from invasion. Pen also married Martin's girlfriend during the fighting. Now, several years later, thugs are threatening the town using violence to control rents. Martin tries to save the town, while his brother fears rupturing their minimal peace.

If you've read "All The King's Men" or other "human scale" political dramas, you'll probably really dig this. Once again, the dialog and general approach are very exact and stylized, which may not strike people as 100% real, but that's okay. I wasn't going for 100% real. There's a lot to chew on and, as I've stated, plenty of time to chew. It may never get produced because of the epic length, but… well, I accomplished my mission.