The 24 Hour play showcase

Imagine beginning to write a play one night, well after dark. Imagine again, that by dawn it will be cast and a directing staff will be picked. Imagine then that as night falls again, the recently written play will be performed live on stage.

Sound preposterous?

Not for the students and grad students who worked the fifth annual 24 hour plays. Four grad students and one current theatre major wrote scripts, five directors brought their visions to life and 26 eager actors brought it to life.

The following takes place between 8 p.m., on Friday, April 17, at 8 p.m., on Saturday, April 18.

8 p.m.

They trickled in during the minutes leading up to 8 p.m., men and women of all shapes and sizes, and each carried several odd items in with them. They each took a seat in Max Noah Recital Hall, dividing into groups. Five of the members were writers, and they sat in the front, on the right-hand side. On the left hand front five other students who were going to direct gathered.

The rest of the space was filled with actors, who all had their photos taken to help the writers and directors cast their roles.

At 8 p.m., Stage Manager Rachel Edmunds began the routine. Each of the writers stood and introduced themselves, followed by the directors. Finally, each actor came to the front and introduced themselves, and also revealed the props they had brought.

Each had brought one costume piece and one other prop which could be almost anything. Evan Fields brought Spongebob Squarepants pajamas and a “fully functional lightsaber.” Eric Griffis brought a cream dispenser shaped like a frog and a cape. Matt Riley brought a gigantic tub full of items, which included a corset, an “Apples to Apples” game, a book of ingredients and more.

With these props, and these actors, the writers were now up to bat to get the scripts ready. The others filed out, leaving only the writers and the producers: Dr. David Muschell, professor of English, Amy Pinney, assistant professor of theatre, and Iona Pendergast, a community member with a longtime involvement with the plays.

Their night had only begun.

8:30 p.m.

The only people left were the five script writers and the three producers, looking at the long night ahead of them.

They were Pam Cunneen, Steve Holbert, Phill Maury, Marie Elliot and Jimmy Holder. They were eager and ready to write and hoped to get out at a decent hour so they could go home and get some sleep.

Holbert, Holder and Pendergast were in an even more time-sensitive position. Each had volunteered to both write and act, and sleep would be in a precious shortage for both of them.

“I hope to be out of here by one,” Holder said. “I’ve got a kind of idea of what I want to do.”

As the process of writing began, each writer looked at the list of actors and their photographs and selected which would be written into their respective projects. Every actor was assigned at least one roll. Holbert and Holder were assigned roles, and Edmunds also took a small part in one play.

They relocated from Max Noah to the A&S building, where they each grabbed a computer and started to type for all they were worth. Each hit strides of quick writing and sometimes ran headlong into writer’s block and frequently bounced conversations and ideas off each other. Each also incorporated the name of one of the other writers into their script.

Cunneen put the final touches on her script at only 12:30. Over the course of the evening, the others trickled out one by one. Holder put his script to bed at 2:30. Maury was the last to leave, with his script only being finished at 5 a.m.

It was only then that the producers were able to leave and get some sleep as well. Muschell went home and caught 45 minutes worth of sleep. Pendergast didn’t sleep at all, electing only to take a shower and get some coffee. They would all be back soon enough.

7 a.m.

By the time the five directors and the three producers arrived at 7 a.m., Edmunds had already been there for an hour. She had made copies of all five scripts for each actor and each director. She passed them out and told the directors to read and pick their favorites. They had one hour.

The five directors were Conan Joshua Santamaria, Rose Williams, Nick Thompson, Ryan Smith and Sean Casey. Each read the scripts as quickly as they could, deciding as they went which they liked. As the actors were already assigned to each play, they also chose based on who they could work well with.

Finally, just as 8 a.m. rolled around, the decisions had been made. Santamaria would be directing “The Sweet Smell of a Smoking Gun,” written by Cunneen. Williams would be directing “Make Me Happy,” by Holbert. “Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth,” by Maury would be directed by Thompson. “The Man Gift,” written by Elliot, would be assigned to Smith. And the last show, “Cadillac,” by Holder, would be directed by Casey.

The scripts were selected just in time – the actors were arriving, and with exactly 12 hours until curtain call, there wasn’t a moment to lose.

8 a.m.

For the rest of the day, each group focused on learning their lines, their cues and getting their props together.

Smith’s group grabbed up as many props as they could, including the corset, a feather boa, an old Kroger employee shirt and the bag one member brought their props in. Each group also quickly built their scene around the furniture that would be available.

It quickly became a race against time to get everything done before curtain call.

“We have the most beautiful script ever,” Erin Williams said as she prepared to perform “Cadillac.” “It’s very personal; it’s great how we are trusted with such a personal story.”

It wasn’t all stressful. Drake Simons and Shaun Manny, playing spies, roamed the hallways with their fake guns from their scene, hunting the other actors in commemoration of National Velociraptor Awareness Day. The other actors were happy to play the role of the dinosaurs if it meant a chance to de-stress throughout the afternoon.

But the day came to a close far too soon. At 7:30 p.m., everyone was in costume and ready to go.

Holbert, dressed entirely in white for his role, was nervous about how the show he wrote would turn out.

“I’m used to doing stand-up and doing this myself, but I’m not sure how much people will like my jokes,” he said.

He had it easier than some, as he played a mime and had no lines.

Several actors were still running their lines even as the lights dimmed. Then their time was up.

It was showtime.

8 p.m.

Muschell took the stage as the lights dimmed.

“Sorry if anything I say sound like gibberish, it makes sense to me,” he said. “I’ve only had 45 minutes of sleep.”

He introduced the show, now in it’s fifth year and introduced the movers and the shakers in charge. He also explained to the audience how difficult the process was and how remarkable it was to see it in process.

“It’s been a blast,” he said. “Everyone’s on the edge, anything can happen – it usually does – and it sometimes goes further. It’s one of the most unique experiences in theatre.”

Muschell left the stage, and the show was on.

Showtime

The first play was “The Sweet Smell of a Smoking Gun.” Two secret agents, who have been hunting one another for years, at the cost of their families and everything that had once been their lives had finally caught up to each other. As they stand off, each daring to pull the trigger first, a third agent arrives to dispatch them both for their shoddy work.

After a tense, though comedic stand off, the third agent is killed, and as the lights dimmed, the two each shot at each other. It is uncertain if either is killed.

In “Make Me Happy,” an unfunny clown is in therapy trying to find his funny side, and he tells of other ways his life is miserable. His girlfriend dumped him because he was not enough like Edward Cullen from “Twilight.” His best friend is an emo who is convinced that her life is truly miserable, and his art teacher doesn’t give him credit for his hard work.

Finally, he snaps and lamblasts each of his offenders in turn, before finally turning to the crowd and telling a joke and monloguing why comedians do what they do.

“I see every part of you,” he said to the crowd. “Your feelings, your insecurities. Your erections!”

The third play, “Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth,” talked of how a white woman (Mrs. Butterworth) was having trouble controlling her two unruly children, who had been raised by their black nanny (Aunt Jemima). Aunt Jemima helped Mrs. Butterworth learn what it would take to make their family whole again – and wouldn’t you know it, pancake and syrup examples abounded.

Throughout the scene, two mimes, one dressed entirely in black and one dressed entirely in white, enacted the struggle between black and white cooperation. At the end of the show, they descended together into the audience and pulled the director’s girlfriend, GCSU alum Jessica Latham, onto the stage. Thompson came onto the stage and proposed to her, and Latham accepted.

Next was “The Man Gift.” A husband and wife are celebrating their third anniversary, and while his gift to her is going to be a night of passion, her gift to him is a Sony Playstation 3. Immediately, he forgets all about their night together and invites a buddy over so they can play immediately. The wife ends up pleasuring herself to some very suspect dialogue that the two men are exchanging as they connect the system. “Jam it in harder,” one man shouts in regard to plugging the system in, and the wife responds kindly.

The final play of the night was “Cadillac,” in which an extremely dysfunctional family is in a group therapy session. The husband is trying to assist his wife, who gets stuck on movie quotes and can’t dislodge herself. The son is trying to help them both out. And the daughter is ignored almost entirely by the whole room, including the therapist.

It eventually comes to light that the family crisis is caused by their beloved family car (“The most important member of this family!”) being in the shop. The daughter ultimately redeems herself by suggesting they go visit the car in the “hospital,” and even the therapist goes along.

The experience

The relief and exhilleration after the show was palpable.

“It’s so much fun – definitely more fun than it is stressful,” said Shirelle Ruddock, who played Aunt Jemima. “It’s completely worth it.”

Casey had enjoyed the experience of directing and was elated with how well his actors did.

“It was great, enlightening, challenging,” he said. “It’s the closest thing to instant satisfaction you can get in the theatre process, because theatre takes so long.

Holbert thought seeing his writing being acted out to be a very positive experience.

“I learned a lot,” he said. “It’s really hard watching your own stuff, and I learned a lot about myself. The (clown) modeled himself after me and used all my mannerisms.”

Mushell was very pleased with how well the performances went.

“We’re exhausted,” he stressed again. “But it was a wonderful experience.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 24 2009. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry