If anyone had told Marg Hammond eight years ago ago that one day she would stand on the stage of Daylesford Theatre as the first winner of an annual playwriting competition and receive her award from Norman Foster, one of Canada's leading comic playwrights, she would have said they were mad.

Granted, the busy wife and mother had always wanted to write, and over the past seven or eight years she had had a few articles published in The Bermudian and Family Circle magazines, but basically her creativity went into tending her home and raising her three children.

Then came the day in 2000 when Ron Lightbourne offered a writing course under the auspices of the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society (BMDS). With her children now grown, Marg was free to pursue her dream, so she signed up and a seed was duly sown. As one of three participants whose work became the subject of a rehearsed reading she was encouraged by her progress, so when the course ended she readily agreed not to lose touch with some of her fellow students who were equally enthused about playwriting. For a year they met regularly to discuss, critique and generally support each other's work, and also fulfil new assignments. Occasionally, Bermuda resident Tom Coash, an experienced playwright workshop conductor, would drop by to help the group, which by now was meeting every fortnight.

“He was always very generous with his time and help, and eventually said we should try to put something on stage, so that was the birth of an idea that eventually received the support of the BMDS Drama Committee,” Mrs. Hammond says.

“Then he gave some workshops, and in September 2001 the BMDS Charitable Trust, with the generous support of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, announced the first annual ‘Famous for 15 Minutes' playwriting competition.”

The Foundation benefits charitable and non-profit activities, and the BMDS Charitable Fund is devoted to promoting and developing theatrical arts in Bermuda.

From an assignment within her group to write a monologue from death row came the germ of an idea for the ‘Last Supper', the play which would sweep Mrs. Hammond to victory.

Set in Texas in 1975 when the electric chair was still in use, it has two characters: a convict who is hours away from his execution, and the guard who brings him his last meal. The former is a man without remorse who, until now, has remained silent, but the guard is a compassionate man who coaxes him to talk because he wants to make the convict's last hours more consoling. The guard succeeds, but gets a lot more than he bargained for.

It emerges that the convict is a serial killer of young teenaged girls whom he picked up on the road and killed for religious reasons - actions which he justifies as nipping evil in the bud.

When the guard realises that the convict is remorseless and feels that he has been serving the Lord by his actions, his compassion turns to revulsion and he feels obliged to take a stand, so he ruins the condemned man's final meal.

The neophyte playwright admits that she has no idea where she got the inspiration for the main character.

“It just came out of my head and seemed to write itself. In fact, I surprised myself,” she says. “I found writing the character very disturbing, and wondered where it had come from. I think now perhaps it was an expression of my deepest fear as a woman and a mother that there are predators like that in the world who commit evil in the name of religion.”

Mrs. Hammond also admits that fitting everything into the allotted time frame wasn't easy.

“Fifteen minutes is a real challenge because you have to jump right into an intense situation, but you also have to get the background story in, be able to build some conflict, have a turning point, and finally a resolution. You can't waste words,” she says. “I had never done it before but I found it a very exciting process.”

In terms of the actors chosen for her play, the winner says she could not have been more delighted.

“I was extremely lucky to have Richard Diamond as the convict. He is a very powerful actor, and I don't know which was scarier - writing the character or having Richard play him. Philip Jones was the guard, and although he had less of a speaking role he had a great deal of acting to do in terms of reacting,” she says. “Tom Coash designed the set, and the cell was delineated by a rectangle of light. The interchange between the two characters was very intense, which the small space in which they had to remain intensified even more.”

Attending rehearsals taught Mrs. Hammond even more about her new-found craft.

“Part of the production process was the director and actors giving their ideas. Sometimes it was a matter of changing words because they were too difficult to wrap the tongue around, or they didn't communicate clearly, and sometimes it was a question of going home and thinking a little more about the motive of the character. The director and actors didn't tell you what to do, but you had to go and think about it more. Experienced directors and actors bring with them a lot of good ideas, which the playwright can choose to accept or reject, but Tom Coash, who directed, and the cast helped me to make a strong play. In fact, Tom was extraordinary, as was his co-producer Kelvin Hastings-Smith.”

Mrs. Hammond was also very pleased with the very professional way in which the competition was organised and run.

“It is very nerve-wracking to put yourself out there like that and risk public humiliation, but everyone worked so hard to make our plays look good, and I am immensely grateful to them,” she says. “From an entertainment viewpoint, people loved to see a smorgasbord of plays. There was great variety, and they really enjoyed that, and they were also very impressed with the talent in Bermuda. I think it was an eye-opener for the community, as a result of which a lot of people are now itching to get their creative juices flowing. I really compliment the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society on the idea, and for bringing it to such a wonderful conclusion. To have your play produced is something that you never dream of, and to have it done in such a first-rate fashion was completely overwhelming. I will never forget it.”

Of course, receiving her award from the pre-eminent Mr. Foster was the icing on the cake, and she admits that, as one of six finalists, she had absolutely no clue that she would be the overall winner, Like victorious Olympians, however, she remembers and savours the winning moment well.

“Mr. Foster attended the plays every night, and on the last night he called the writers down to receive a leather-bound book embossed with ‘Famous for 15 Minutes finalist' and a pen,” Mrs. Hammond recalls.

“Then, while we were standing on stage with the cast behind us, he went over each play briefly and said what he thought its strengths were, and what his favourite lines were. It was really nice to have that feedback, and he was very instructive and positive with everyone. We didn't know what his criteria would be, so he explained that, since it was a playwriting competition and he had been asked to judge the writing, he had made his decision before he even saw the plays, and didn't change his mind based on their performance.”

Then came the moment when Marg Hammond heard her name called and stepped forward to receive The Golden Inkwell, a handsome bronze plaque designed, created and donated by Julie Hastings-Smith, and mounted on cedar. She also received a $250 grant from the BMDS Charitable Trust to assist in her future writing endeavours.

“I was surprised and thrilled,” the winner admits. “I almost didn't submit because I was so intimidated, but I wanted to support the event because it is such a great concept and fundraiser for the BMDS Charitable Trust. In fact, I think we should all get out and support it. Already there is a lot of excitement about writing plays for next year.”