The February People’s Choice Award goes to…

The people have spoken… The 2026 February People’s Choice Award goes to Dana Hall for her short play, Second City, First Draft, presented as a staged reading live at Theater Wit and Simulcast on February 2nd. Congratulations, Dana!

Courtesy of Dana, we’re pleased to share the first few pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!

Second City, First Draft

 By
Dana Hall

SYNOPSIS:
During rehearsal, a local theater troupe’s well-intentioned effort to create a kid-friendly historical play about Chicago spirals delightfully out of control.

CHARACTERS:
KAT: 20-30s/ Femme. A performer cast as “Mrs. O’Leary’s cow” who refuses to accept historical scapegoating. Kat oscillates between earnest historical truth-teller, righteous feminist symbol, and fully committed cow.
ALEX: Any age/ open gender. The director (or authority figure) desperately trying to keep the production “appropriate,” controlled, and on schedule.
JESS: 20/30s/ any gender. Initially the stage manager, Jess transforms into the literal and metaphorical embodiment of Chicago’s “Windy City” and has a deep connection to Kat.

KAT
(As a cow) Mooo. (A longer beat. They chew then take a deep breath.) I would like the record to show– I did NOT start the fire. (Chews again.) I was minding my business, as cows do.
In a barn. In 1871, on the West side. Which, which no one ever mentions, was already one strong breeze away from disaster.
(They stand abruptly, still fully committed to cow-ness.)
But suddenly? I’m history’s villain! (They pace.)
Do you know what it’s like, to be a woman, a cow woman, and be blamed for a city’s destruction when all you did was exist near a lamp? A lamp. In hay. Who did that? Who looked at dry straw and said, “you know what this needs? Fire vibes.”

ALEX
(Entering upset.) Okay- no. No. We talked about this. We perform what is written!

KAT
Well, I have notes.

ALEX
You’re a cow.

KAT
I’m a symbol. That’s fine mock me. History already has.

ALEX
We were hired by the park district to do a historical play about Chicago history for kids. Not— whatever this is.

KAT
It’s my truth.

ALEX
The cow does not have a point of view.

KAT
Typical. So we’re just gonna do “Mrs. O’Leary’s cow did it?” Are we going to mention how firefighting resources were stretched thin after multiple fires the week before? Or how Chicago was a literal tinderbox built out of wood!?

ALEX
I wasn’t planning on it. It just doesn’t have the same ring to it, you know? Cow, lamp, classic.

KAT
Catherine O’Leary was an Irish immigrant woman. The myth worked because xenophobic and misogyny were already doing overtime.

ALEX
Well, kids need a story they can relate to not…not/

KAT
What. The truth? (Back on all fours Moooo-ing aggressively.)

ALEX
Okay, but Chicago rebuilt. New fire codes. Steel construction. Urban planning.

KAT
Great. So the cow takes the fall and the city gets a hero arc. Cool. Classic Chicago. (Continues moo-ing.)

TO BE CONTINUED….

Join us for our next Monday Night PlayGround: Musical Parody – live and in-person, on Monday, March 16th at 7pm CT at Theater Wit and simulcast! Click here for more info and tickets.