By Julie Bauer, Contributing Writer
The annual 24-Hour Play Festival will showcase student works at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 29 in Isaacs Auditorium.
The festival will take place for the fourth year as a part of the theatre department’s second stage season.
For the festival, students create short theatrical works over the course of 24 hours.
The festival is being coproduced by juniors Madison Niness and Rowen Mahoney. Niness previously co-produced the festival in 2017.
“I think [a] thing that I always have struggled with and that we have struggled with is getting the scheduling [right],” Niness explained. “Because we’re managing people’s schedules, people’s potential conflicts and trying to get everyone who’s working together paired up with the right people in the space at the time they are called.”
On the day of the production, students have to be careful not to spread themselves too thin between everything they need to do.
“We’re also fielding for any conflicts that come up the day of,” Niness said. “It’s sometimes difficult if we choose to write, direct, or act and then we get a text that says we need to be somewhere to help solve a problem.”
“We’re potentially sacrificing one of our scenes to help the whole thing run more smoothly,” Niness continued.
Despite the stress of putting everything together in 24 hours, Niness and Mahoney both agreed that the end product is worth it.
“I think it’s just incredible to see what caliber of work people can get accomplished in a 24- hour span,” Niness said.
“These shows end up being pretty good,” Niness continued. “You kind of have to take them at face value… It’s not going to be perfect… but some of the stuff that people write is really cool.”
“It’s just cool,” Mahoney said. “It’s just fun. It’s like, ‘Oh my god, we’re gonna do a whole theater production, which usually takes months at a time, in 24 hours.’”
In contrast to past years, this year’s festival has adapted the common reading theme of “Resilience.”
In addition to time constraints, student writers and directors will be faced with the difficulties of using only minimal props and two to three actors per scene.
Each scene will be at most ten minutes long.
Auditions will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 28 in Degenstein Center Theater.
The theatre department premiered its first work of the season, “Doubt: a Parable,” on Sept. 20. The rest of the main stage season includes “Pippin” premiering Oct. 25, “Silent Sky” premiering Feb. 21 and “She Stoops to Conquer” premiering April 25.
The rest of the second stage season includes “Flint” on Nov. 9, the student directing showcase on Dec. 6, “Crumbs from the Table of Joy” on Feb. 28, “Caius and Quid” on March 22, Broadway Cabaret on March 30, “Roadmap” on April 12 and the Shakespeare Club production on May 4.
All main stage shows will take place in Degenstein Center Theater, while all second stage shows with the exception of “Flint,” “Crumbs from the Table of Joy” and the Shakespeare Club production will be held in Isaacs Auditorium.
