For 10 days, two playwrights locked themselves into a room to create a play about local journalism. It would have five acts, two actors and tell the story of one local newsroom.

“And we came to a beautiful conclusion about how important journalism is and how it matters,” said Janielle Kastner.

There was just one thing missing – a big bad moment.

Kastner and Brigham Mosley knew that in act four, something would happen. But in those 10 days, they hadn’t quite figured it out.

The two finished their first draft in a play they created after embedding at The Dallas Morning News.

One month later, that newspaper cut 43 jobs, about half from the newsroom.

“And we had this moment of, well, that’s our big bad; what do we do?’” Kastner said.

They realized that for all they’d learned – what local journalism is, how it works, who performs it, why it matters – the story itself was a lot more complex.

Two and a half years after they started, more than a year after the layoffs, “Playwrights in the Newsroom” is ready for the stage. And the two playwrights who thought they’d be telling the story of one local newsroom discovered there’s actually a much bigger story to tell.

Related: At The Dallas Morning news, becoming truly digital means starting over