Room Escape Artist

“Never forget the classic grammar rule: I before E, except in Gadsby.”

Tommy Wallach, David Spira, and the novel, Gadsby can come to the party, but Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp and Peih-Gee Law aren’t invited. What’s the rule of the party? It’s no E’s, please!

Tommy and Terry are the co-founders of Hatch Escapes in Los Angeles, California. They are creators of the iconic Lab Rat escape room and their incredible new game The Ladder. They also happen to be theater people and musical writers. They’ve got some big thoughts on writing and what qualifies as story, so we though they’d love hearing about today’s topic.

Today’s segment is about the 1939 novel Gadsby, by Ernest Vincent Wright, which was written entirely without the use of the letter E. David takes us on a tour of the lipogram, which is deliberately constrained writing that avoids specific letters.

The game is called Easy E, where players must take a word and add an E to make a new word.

Time Stamps

• 01:25 Game: Easy E
• 07:34 About Escape Rooms & Musical Theater
• 10:53 Topic: Gadsby: The Novel with no “E”
• 23:18 Credits

For more with Tommy and Terry, check out REPOD S7E12 Dreaming & Betting Big: Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp & Tommy Wallach of Hatch Escapes

Guest: Tommy Wallach & Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp

Tommy Wallach is a New York Times bestselling author, musician, screenwriter, and co-founder of Hatch Escapes.

Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp is a musical theater writer, lyricist, and co-founder of Hatch Escapes. Together they created two of LA’s most celebrated escape rooms: Lab Rat and The Ladder.

More Podcasts from Peih-Gee & David

If you enjoy PG’s Playhouse, check out Reality Escape Pod (REPOD), where your hosts David Spira & Peih-Gee Law explore immersive gaming from all angles, alongside guests with incredible experience in this realm.

And by supporting Room Escape Artist on Patreon, you’ll get access to the REPOD Bonus After Show ($5 per month and up) and the Spoilers Club ($15 per month and up) where we chat in depth with creators about iconic escape rooms… spoilers and all!

Production Credits

• Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira
• Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law
• Produced by Theresa Piazza
• Supported by Lisa Spira
• Edited by Peih-Gee Law
• Music by Matt Farthing
• Logo by Theresa Wagner