A few years ago, I was invited by Sands Hall to participate in her production of “The 24 Hour Plays” at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center in Nevada City, California. As one of six writers, I had from 10 p.m. May 3 to 6 a.m. May 4 to write an orginal 10-minute play. Next, the actors and directors took the scripts and rehearsed all day. At 7 p.m. May 4, the plays were performed before a sold-out audience of more than 300 people. It was great fun to see how the actors and directors interpreted the scripts. I’m guessing everybody would like a do-over to improve their work, but the point was to see how well we could do within 24 hours. Click on the PDF icon below to see the script of my play “Co-opted,” exactly as submitted. The producer changed the name in the program to “You Can’t Scoopthe Scooper,” which is a better title, but I resisted all temptation to fix mistakes or improve the dialog or plotting in the script. This is exactly what director Mary Baird and actors Susan Mason, John Deaderick and Chase Coney had to work with. Although they had some discretion to interpret the play, they were honor-bound to use the exact dialog I wrote. They did a great job! They took my words on paper and made them come alive.