By Crystal Harrell |Staff Writer from Palm Desert Campus|
Communication major Martin Sanchez has turned his independent study project into a campus-wide spectacle.
His original screenplay, “The Divine Wager,” will be read and performed in the Indian Wells Theater of the Palm Desert campus on May 31. The reading will begin at 3 p.m. and is free for the public to attend.
“The Divine Wager’s” plot centers on three omnipotent siblings who are essentially the gods of the universe—each one representing the good, bad, and neutral sides of humanity’s moral conscious.
Once it is decided that they will give supernatural powers to a worthy mortal on Earth, conflict arises that skews the lines of what is ethical and forgivable in human nature.
Sanchez has always held a deep fascination for mythology and fantasy, and decided to use this interest as the basis for his screenplay’s mythical elements within a modern setting.
“I drew inspiration from a few sources and different types of media like books, television, and movies, but in general, the entire premise of the story came from me and my own imagination,” explained Sanchez.
“The Divine Wager” is Sanchez’s first completed screenplay. Ever since he was in high school, the PDC senior had been attempting to finish a script, but this was often a difficult challenge due to outside obligations and a lack of inspiration.
Now that he will get the opportunity to share his story with a real audience, Sanchez is both excited and apprehensive about the performance.
“I honestly feel a bit nervous. This will be first time that my work will have an actual audience and will face criticism—constructive or otherwise,” he stated.
Sanchez credits the most difficult part of writing The “Divine Wager” as finding time to actually put his ideas onto paper.
Since he works at the Palm Desert campus and already had a full course load to manage, Sanchez found it challenging to keep his energy levels up.
The fact that he commuted to and from the main campus that same quarter did not help the situation.
Once the audience sees the performance, Sanchez hopes they get a better understanding of altruism, and the lengths people may go to achieve this virtue.
He also wants to emphasize the idea that ethics can be situational, meaning that the same rule cannot be applied for every circumstance because real-life situations are too complex for that.
Sanchez will be graduating in June with a BA in Communication and a concentration in media studies. He hopes to continue writing not only as a passion, but someday as an occupation as well.
“My dream is to become an actual scriptwriter for movies or television, so that I can continue to come up with stories to tell and get paid to do it.
You know how the saying goes: if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” said Sanchez.
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