The quintessential lifecycle of a play production has months of deliberation over the choice text, proper casting, the composition of incidental music and rigorous rehearsal. AU Players hopes to reinvent that old time tradition with a 24-hour play festival.
The theater club will host their first “24 Hour Play Festival” from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 in which competitors will write, produce and cast their own original shows. The final shows will be staged on the evening of Feb. 1.
Rebecca Day, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, and CAS sophomore Matt Meyers came up with the idea on different occasions when AU Players President Allie Glickman, a CAS senior, paired them together on a concept fit for a reality show.
“We both did it in our own high schools and within two days of each other, [and] last spring semester, we came to Allie Glickman with the idea separately, and so she paired us together and we’ve been working on it ever since,” Meyers said.
A series of short plays will be conceived and cast in the 24-hour period. Each competitor will be given a series of tasks as an actor, writer or director when they walk in the door of Katzen Arts Center, where they’ll work through the night to prepare the show for the stage.
“We’re going to play producer-stage manager type roles, but I think I’m really excited to see the whole process,” Day said. “I’ve heard it described as ‘theater on speed.’”
A 24-hour play festival has never been attempted at AU. However, the producers Meyers and Day expect a delightful bout of organized chaos to ensue throughout the night.
“Up until this point I haven’t seen very much original work,” Meyers said. “My hope is that the ‘24 Hour Play Festival’ will foster a greater drive to make more original works and maybe open the door to having full length original shows by players, or at least these shorts brought back for the 10 minute play festival AU Players does at the end of every semester.”
Day and Meyers said they expect the efforts presented in the competition will be a rich blend of organic plays to be on display the night of theatre production.
“Personally, I would like each play to be an individual, unique expression of just the four to seven people working on it for the 24 hours,” Meyers said.
“The 24 Hour Play Festival” will begin on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. and the plays will be staged on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. in Katzen 112. No tickets are required. There is a suggested donation fee of $5.
dkahen-kashi@theeagleonline.com: dkahen-kashi@theeagleonline.com
