By Darian Rahnis, Staff Writer
The 24-Hour Play Festival will give students the opportunity to participate in original productions on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in Isaacs Auditorium.
Auditions for the festival will be held on Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m in the Degenstein Center Theater.
During the festival, students will write, rehearse and perform short theatrical works created within 24 hours.
Some students will also have the opportunity to direct the plays.
According to senior Sydney Curran, a co-producer of the festival, the first 24-Hour Play Festival was held in 2015.
Curran explained that this year the festival will feature approximately 15 plays that were all created within the 24- hour limit.
Curran said that the first festival was held from start to finish in the Degenstein Center Theater, but the final performances were moved to Isaac’s Auditorium last year because the space is smaller and easier to fill.
“This year we have emphasized publicizing the event and hope that will boost the attendance to the performances on Saturday,” Curran said.
This is the first year students of all majors are eligible to participate in the festival. Curran explained that they opened the festival to everyone in order to attract more talent than they have seen in the past.
“By not excluding any majors, we are able to encompass the talents of everyone on campus,” Curran said.
In addition to wanting more talent, Curran said people from the theater department are taking on new roles that they were not comfortable with before, such as writing or directing.
Curran noted that she is taking on a new role by co-producing the event with sophomore Madison Niness.
While Curran has been involved with the festival since its first year, this will be Niness’ first time participating. Both have experience with writing and theater, as Curran and Niness are both studying creative writing and theatre production and design.
According to Curran, festival producers are chosen by the producers from the previous year. Curran was chosen to act as producer this year and she then chose Niness to act as her co-producer because of her writing and theater experiences.
“I was chosen by the sole producer last year, but 24- Hour Play Festival was always meant to be a two-person job,” Curran said.
Curran also explained that she asked Niness to co-produce the festival because she plans on entrusting the festival with her upon graduation.
In the past, the festival has been received well, but Niness and Curran said they want to take it one step further this year.
“We are hoping the audience will have varying reactions since the plays will be so different, but overall, we want people in the audience to enjoy themselves and even be motivated to be involved in next year’s festival,” Curran said.
