Those Who Really Go to the Crossroads

Crossroads

 

Hello my name is Megan Grassl and I am the writer for a one-act play called Those Who Really Go to the Crossroads.

How it all started:
Actually this is a hard subject to explain because I'm not entirely sure where the idea for the play came from. I know there was an influence from a short sketch that I wrote before this that had to do with ghosts, because it was from that, that I started to think about the idea of someone making a deal with the devil. There was an influence, but I still can't say what the absolute starting point was.

The first draft that I wrote didn't really have a clear direction, but after thinking about why someone would go to such lengths as to give their soul to the devil, I realized what the main character, Jayden, had to lose.

Meet the characters:
Jayden is the protagonist in this ordeal and is kind of your everyman. As the play move along the reason why he is waiting at the crossroads becomes clear through the interactions he has with the people he meets.

Botis is the first person that shares a conversation with Jayden. She is southern, but I didn't specify where exactly, because well truth be told I didn't really want to research different accents, thus a general southern accent is what Botis speaks with. Botis is really the person who forces Jayden to begin to think about what he really wants.

Cerberus is... well he's an ass. I'm actually quite proud of this character, because of how awful he is. He serves a similar purpose as Botis, and pushes Jayden to really defend his own ideals.

Shax is a businesswoman who has done the same job for a very long time and appears to be quite tired of having to deal with people like Jayden and has clearly had past encounters with Botis and Cerberus. She informs Jayden that he has been misguided at some point in his wish to make a deal with the devil.

A bit about the crossroads:
There are many stories about the crossroads, but the one that I used in this play is the one most commonly heard about in the North American South, wherein musicians would go to make a deal to trade their soul for the ability to play amazing music. Now clearly I didn't use the music part of it, but there has always been the idea that one could ask the devil for anything as long as you could pay...

A bit about Greek mythology:
Yup I said it, Greek mythology. Now as everyone knows the Greeks had many different gods and demi-gods and many myths, but thankfully I was far too lazy to try and incorporate all of them into a one-act. Though I left a lot out I did reference Cerberus and Charon, the ferryman to the underworld, because I felt those were two Greek tales that were relevant to the play. I have used a combination of religion and myths to create a new-ish set up. However, the idea of the play is to focus on how Jayden figures out what he wants.

And so, I now look forward to seeing Those Who Really Go to the Crossroads worked on by the director and seeing the actors (whom ever they may be) bring my characters to life.