Letter Exchange

The format lasts 7-15 minutes.
A variation of it can be played across an entire half.

The audience decides which two people will be followed in a letter exchange (male, female, etc.).

Two players then sit down in the middle of the stage on two chairs facing the audience.

The remaining players can position themselves visibly behind the players at the back wall (or stay offstage).

Now the two characters are created (name, age, profession). A relationship between the figures is not asked for and is therefore left to the players themselves.

One of the two begins to formulate his letter aloud, the one he is about to send, while speaking out to the audience. As soon as he is finished, the other answers, and so on.

Using short pauses in the conversation, the other players can step to the side of one of the players and bring in a "letter from outside" to round out the character and his current situation, to let secrets slip in that are then not discussed further. As a signal, the player steps to the side of the letter writer he has chosen and places his hand on his shoulder. Then he begins, during the pause, to introduce his "letter from outside" (from the landlord, the mother, the employer, etc.).

The ending is found each time on its own, through one writer ending abruptly, an announced meeting, etc.

VARIATION: After the letter exchange, the chairs are cleared away and the story continues from there; flashbacks can also be played...

At the end, the two chairs are placed back in the middle of the stage and there is a short closing letter exchange (time jumps can be set by the players themselves or fetched from the audience).