BenMeadors.com

I had the pleasure of being able to take pictures for an event at the theatre at my college. I ended up writing an article about it as well for the school paper. Here it is:

How long does it take to create a complete play? How much time does it take to write it, cast it, stage it and rehearse it? Weeks, months, years? Try 7 plays in 24 hours.

Its eleven o’clock on Friday night in the Kleist center lobby. I’ve been walking around harassing people with my camera and annoyingly bright flash since nine. All those people have been here since seven. My current victim is Dylan Dwyer: “I write every day. I hate it and I love it. It has to be funny and it has to be doable. After 24 hours of no sleep, normal things aren’t as funny”. Dylan is one of seven playwrights involved in this year’s 24-Hour Theatre Project. He, along with the rest of the writers, has been charged with the task of writing a one-act play in 12 hours, complete with actors and actresses who each have already chosen a prop and costume for themselves. The writers were provided with 2-4 pictures that showed each actor or actress and their designated prop and costume. This predetermined constraint on the writing can lead to some very interesting creative developments. What would you do if you have 3 characters and one has a teddy bear, another a yoga mat and the last a top hat and cane?

Man Possessed by Teddy Bear is Exorcised by Waffling Magician

Kyle Downing’s play was a tale of a man possessed by a teddy bear who was saved by a somewhat selfish magician and a princess with a bedraggled flying carpet. The ability to write under pressure and constraints is a difficult task.

The writers certainly have a lot of work to do, but do so the actors and actresses. Rewind back to 7 PM. All actors and actresses have their picture taken with their prop/costume and the photos are distributed to the playwrights. After that, workshops begin. Professionals have been brought in from around the local area to educate students on different topics. There are workshops on technical aspects of theatre as well as acting skills. Pete Ferry teaches a class on deconstructing actor habits. The rest of the evening is spent in workshops, developing and honing different skills. By 7:30 am all the scripts have been turned in and the writers meet with their respective directors to hammer out lighting, sound effects, and any adaptations or questions about the play. At 8:30am the theatre faculty cooks breakfast for the entire group. After breakfast, the real task for the actors begins. They all must memorize their lines and work with directors to figure out staging and timing. By noon tech begins for each play, a time to set up light cues and sound effects as well as run through the play. The rest of the afternoon is spent rehearsing and running through the plays. At 7pm, 24 hours after the project was started, the house in the William Allman Theatre is opened and audience members file in. It is a packed house. Each play is met with riotous laughter or appreciative silence (depending on the plot of course), and all are given thunderous applause.

The 24-Hour Theatre Project was started a few years ago by Beth Bryan and, like many things at B-W, it allows students to get a taste of what the real world is like before they actually go out into it. There are producers who help cast the actors, writers and directors. There are stage managers, people in charge of publicity, lighting, sound, costumes, and of course the actors and actresses. There was something for everyone to do at this event, and the products that came from it were amazing given the circumstances by which they were created. That evening there were plays about house robbers, pregnancy woes, motivations to live, a mortal kombat styled relationship, a man possessed by a teddy bear, three friends whose love of war games keeps them together, and the story of a woman who might be carrying the daughter of God. Each play was different, some brought humor and others a sobering quiet. Back in the Kliest Lobby at 11 PM, Dylan gives me his final statement before going back to his laptop to finish his script: “No matter what, there has to be a point to the writing”.

Rest of the Photo Set Here: