TIGER’S HEART PLAYERS PREMIER SIX LINES CONTEST

Facebook page

Deadline: November 23, 2025, Midnight

SEND SUBMISSIONS (two max, please) TO: Tigersheartplayers@gmail.com
Don’t forget title page with your contact info

MINI CASH PRIZES

$25 1st Prize
$15 2nd Prize
$10 3rd Prize
Honorable Mentions—cup o’ joe ($5)

What IS “Six Lines?”

Any 6 exchanges between any number of performers.

No more, no less.

Please consider a “Prompt,” title your Six Lines as such, and have fun!

We have listed a number of previously used prompts below—from which you’re free to choose—or otherwise create your own.

For those unfamiliar with “Six Lines,” you may also want to check out the sample following the list of previous prompts.

• Whack a Ground Hog
• These aren’t my pants
• The Bunny Ranch
• The Gold Toilet
• Teenage Vomit
• The Brief Return of Wally & The Beaver
• Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water
• Not my cup of tea
• Killing the Chicken to Scare the Money
• what if poetry isn’t enuf?
• I’m terrible at this
• Living like a Maggot in Bacon

Also included is a very recent Six Liner based on an actual quote from Rupert Lowe, a British Parliamentarian

“GO AWAY, YOU DISCOURTEOUS MAN”

British Reporter: Oh hello, gentlemen, would you mind answering a few questions on the genocide in Palestine? Aided and abetted by the British government.

Parliamentarian : Go away you discourteous man. We’re about to dine and you’ll spoil our appetites.

Reporter: But to the point, sir, Palestinians are being starved—to death I might add--while you enjoy champagne and foie gras.

Parliamentarian: I’m afraid you’re mistaken, young man, I saw no foie gras on the menu.

Reporter: That’s not quite the point, is it sir? Palestinians are being starved while you gorge yourselves here this evening.

Parliamentarian: My good young man, if you continue to disrupt my progress I shall never make it to the dining table. And to suggest that any of us here would “gorge” themselves is entirely misrepresentative if not slanderous. Now, again, please withdraw your…tool and be off, you contumelious fellow. 

end

I found the Parliamentarian’s remark so inappropriately and stereotypically British, that I felt it would suit Six Lines well. Because this “form” is so restricted, one must also restrict action to those that are decisive. Most Six Liners will rely on language almost entirely. (Too much/many Stage Directions and they cease to be Six-Liners). As the absurdity of this adjective in the Parliamentarian’s opening sentence is what I felt fueled its genre, I felt the climax needed to be in the language, that is, even more ridiculously absurd. Obviously, the piece is contrasted with the devastating genocide in Gaza—so I created the dinner to which the Parliamentarian is focused on to contrast with the starvation in Gaza, obviously. There are fundamental elements of a “play” here, although it’s entirely unnecessary. (For an Inciting Incident—we could go back to the war itself, but for our purposes, I believe the dinner is the Inciting Incident—which brings the Reporter and Parliamentarian together. (Point of attack). The Parliamentarian tries to make the Reporter leave—to “go away…”--the Reporter persists, the Palestinian “theme/condition” rises, more pressure is applied to persuade the Parliamentarian, but he is dedicated to the dining table. The Parliamentarian charges The Reporter with “misrepresentation”—the language elevates to more absurd description/adjective and the confrontation is concluded. (Through language—or so I see it).

Anyhow, Six Lines is for fun, so please have some!

(The origin of “Six Lines” is unknown to me, and somewhat disputed, but I came to learn of it through playwright and author, Jeffrey Sweet)

Thank you to all who participate and/or invite others! And do drop by our Lab Sessions taking place every Sunday at 2p ET on Zoom. It’s FREE and includes playwrights, actors, directors & others from around the world working in both Stage & Screen. 

The link is at our Facebook page.

Sincerely,

Tiger’s Heart Players

Wayne Paul Mattingly
Artistic Director
Aliona Garcia
Executive Director