By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
In March, part-time Cazenovia resident Don Zolidis, wrote “10 Ways to Survive Life in a Quarantine,” a play about life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of May 12, the play has already been produced 200 times and is the fastest selling work of Zolidis’s 15-year career.
The comedy, which centers on students stuck at home during the COVID-19 shutdown, is designed for live performance via videoconference.
“[The play] is very simple, which is why it’s being picked up everywhere,” said Zolidis. “Essentially, two people hosting a Zoom call are showing examples of how to cope with being in a quarantine. The play shifts back and forth from the two hosts to a series of people who are demonstrating different ways to survive these times. The ‘survival methods’ are extremely silly — one of them involves performing a musical with their pets, others involve falling in love with inanimate objects or staging Shakespeare plays with stuffed animals . . . This is my first play that can be done on virtual conferencing media, so that was definitely a challenge and an adjustment. I didn’t want to simply write monologues for the performers, I wanted to create entire scenes with them. That meant I had to think about what a student would likely have in their house, since they probably couldn’t go to a store to get materials for a costume or props.”
Zolidis is a professional playwright and novelist who writes primarily for young adults. He has published 120 plays, which have been produced more than 16,000 times all over the world, including at Chittenango High School and Fabius-Pompey High School.
“I’m the most-produced playwright in American schools, with over 2,000 schools per year producing my work,” Zolidis said.
His latest novel, “WAR AND SPEECH,” was released on Tuesday, May 5.
The writer, who typically splits his time between Cazenovia and Austin, Texas, has been sheltering in place in Caz with his partner Anne Godfrey since March.
Playscripts, Inc. published Zolidis’s quarantine play just as schools were closing and spring shows were being canceled.
“My livelihood depends on live theatre,” Zolidis said. “And having a livelihood dependent on getting large groups of people together in an enclosed space for two hours is a pretty dicey prospect during a pandemic. I wrote the play as a way to help kids continue to perform and have fun while they’re socially distant from each other. I wanted to give theatre groups a chance to have a fun experience, even though their spring shows were likely being canceled . . . I just wanted to bring some joy and laughter to people. I didn’t want to create anything that was going to be too heavy. The world is heavy enough right now, and having something fun and funny to do is a great way to keep yourself afloat. It also builds community with friends. Since people aren’t getting a chance to hang out with their friends, doing it virtually in this way would be a great experience for them.”
Zolidis said he wrote “10 Ways” quickly in order to get the play out to groups in need of material.
According to the playwright, the actual writing took about four days.
“The most challenging part was thinking up the musicals, honestly,” he said. “I normally do a lot of work in the Pewter Spoon, but since I couldn’t work there, I wrote it at home.”
On May 11, Zolidis received new orders for the play from schools in Egypt and Switzerland.
“I’ve been thrilled and stunned at the reaction to this play,” he said. ” . . . It’s going all over the world now. I’m really glad that people have connected with it so much.”
To learn more about Don Zolidis, visit donzolidis.com.
