Universal Language was written the first time I participated in a 24-Hour Playwriting Contest. It was for the 2009 Toronto Fringe Festival, and participants were given four things that had to be included in the final script: a pas-de-deux, a border dispute, third base, and the phrase “the economy is the secret police of your desires”.

I didn't win the contest - I didn't even place - but I did have fun participating. Still, I thought I'd made a mistake writing a one-act sci-fi comedy, as it seemed like a stretch that anyone would ever be interested in producing it. I left it in the virtual drawer of my hard drive, gathering virtual dust.

Luckily for me the Otherworld Theatre company formed in Chicago three summers later, and three summers after that organized a new play festival looking for short science fiction for the stage. Which means the first 24 Hour Playwriting Contest I ever participated in would, six years later, lead to my first US production.