By Julie Bauer, Staff Writer
Students performed personal works in the fourth annual 24-Hour Play Festival on Sept. 29 in Isaacs Auditorium.
The festival was co-produced by juniors Madison Niness and Rowen Mahoney.
Both Mahoney and Niness praised the results of the festival.
“It [was] absolutely a success,” Mahoney said. “People came, they laughed [and] they felt … It was really awesome to get to be a part of that, even from a producer’s standpoint.”
“And even beyond that, people were able to successfully have a good experience,” Niness added. “We talked to everyone who was a part of this before we went on stage tonight and asked everyone to give a good memory of the past 24 hours.”
“Everyone had something positive to say, which means that it was successful,” Niness said.
In addition to co-producing, Niness both directed and narrated the work “And Then There Were Less Than Before.” Mahoney acted in both “If Only” and One in Twenty Five,” while also directing “If Only.”
The festival had students audition for, write, rehearse and perform 10-minute-long theatrical works over a 24-hour period.
All 11 works used minimal props and actors.
First-year Monet Polny said she enjoyed the performance, especially the political slant that some of the scenes took.
“I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did … What they managed to do with such little time was impressive,” Polny said.
One of Niness’ favorite aspects of the festival was that it gave students a chance to let their voices be heard and for fresh talent to rise to the surface.
“My favorite thing is the opportunity to give people a platform [to] speak about things that are important to them … One of the actors—this was their first performance ever,” Niness said. “Giving people like that the opportunity is really exciting.”
The festival adapted the common reading theme of “Resilience,” which was a first for the event.
“We’re definitely not opposed to doing that next year,” Niness said. “So I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out.”
Another work at the festival was “Bad But Boring,” which juniors Nick Cardillo and Charlie Reisman co-wrote and co-starred in.
Cardillo also wrote “The Importance of Being Freddie” and acted in “The Wishing Hole.” Reisman directed “The Importance of Being Freddie.”
Cardillo and Resiman noted the collaborative aspect of the 24-Hour Play Festival.
“It’s a unique and different environment to writing because you’re actively getting to bounce ideas off of people [and] you’re getting to workshop lines of dialogue and scenes as you go along.” Cardillo said.
Although time constraints posed a challenge for Cardillo and Resiman, they ultimately enjoyed the uniqueness of the festival. “It’s really fun to see so many different approaches to the same challenge,” Cardillo said. “I was really impressed by the diverse takes that everyone took.”
Reisman has performed in 24- hour play festivals since he was in high school and recognized this year’s as the best he’s been in.
“You usually get a mix of people who are trying to be funny and trying to be super serious and that doesn’t always work well together,” Reisman said. “That’s the most fun I’ve had performing something in years. You don’t have time to overthink it, you get one chance and you just have to let it fly.”
