A lot goes into making a great play: writing, casting, directing, rehearsing and more.
In most cases, a play will take weeks, months or even years of preparation. But the Drama Club at Salt Lake Community College will have just 24 hours to combine the major factors of theatre production into 10-minute plays.
This is the first 24-Hour Theatre Festival at SLCC. After organizing similar festivals at other places for the past seven years, current theatre program director Zachary Curtis decided it was time for SLCC students to branch out and gain more experience.
“This is an opportunity for students to be writers, directors, designers and to do all of the aspects of a production — things they may not normally be able to do,” he says. “And furthermore, it’s a fun opportunity for students to be a team and learn to create a product on a very short timeline.”
It all starts at 7 p.m. the night of Friday, Sept. 16. Directors and writers will gather together and take on challenges to help them with their writing and directing for the festival. Casting will begin and then club members will go home and write their plays throughout the night.
Early the next morning the writers will unveil their scripts to the actors, who will rehearse throughout the day. The 10-minute plays will then be performed on the Black Box Theatre stage Saturday night at 8 p.m.
“This is a really exciting and unique art form that isn’t produced a lot,” Curtis says. “There’s a lot of excitement in watching a play that you know was just created. There’s an excitement in knowing that anything can happen throughout the night.”
Before they begin writing their plays, writers and directors get to meet with the performers so they know how to script the characters. There is no chance of getting a head start, as the theme and topics are given out Friday night.
“It’s amazing what people can do in a really short period of time,” Curtis says.
The 24-Hour Theatre Festival will be held in room 2-128A at the South City Campus. Tickets cost $10 for general admission and $5 for SLCC students with a OneCard. All proceeds will go towards the Drama Club.
While the Drama Club is organizing the festival, any student is welcome to try out for an acting role. Contact Zachary Curtis for more information.
