The 24--Hour Theatre Project
On December 17th of 2017, six writers that were hand selected by the artistic directors of Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, were sequestered away overnight in the house of the Laugh Out Loud Theatre, with the challenge of creating a script from only a title that was picked from a sheet of titles. That script would be handed over the next morning to the writer's team comprised of a director whose name was drawn out of a hat by the writer and three cast members who were selected by the director through the same process.
With a bit of information given by the writer regarding overall premise and some key factoring including: set, props or light costuming, etc. the director and the actors had until around 17:00 to memorize, rehearse and polish what should amount to a ten-minute production. While this sounds simple, it is a bit complex, and is an amazing, marathon-type feat, and to experience this was exhilarating.
I was honored to be chosen as a writer. My team was enthusiastic, warm, and wonderful. I was so proud of their commitment to bringing to life the words on the paper in ways I could not have realized. It was nice to see that there can be so many positives to releasing your work to others, as we hear so many horror stories about when this goes wrong and this further reinforced my confidence in what can be accomplished on a larger scale when you have the right team working together.
Many post credit thanks to the team of Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, where my involvement with the company was from 2017-2019, for the opportunity to flex my wings and for the other two opportunities that they offered me as an artist.
I am grateful.
Some memories--included here are the invite for the audience to come and see the spectacle, a FB post featuring yours truly and a blurry picture from my perspective on the floor in the house of the theatre, of other laptops set up around me, as we settled in to compose throughout the late night and early morning hours.
I made it home! I drove down a a very long interstate, with the Sandman's sleep in my eyes, cleaned up and came back to check in with the cast and director to see where they were in the production process. I brought in props, addressed any concerns and was generally being a very happy, little playwright.
The program of the evening! It's a bit heady seeing yourself listed #proud
The rehearsal process!
Listen to all of the teams going in the background! Phew...hard at work!
A small recording of my team's process and progress that morning!....Go team, go!
The finished product...
Based on my obssession with mythos, this time Grecian mythology, I constructed a family "situation" out of Hephaestus, Aphrodite and their coming of age teenager---Eros, who has bit of a mouth and more than a thing or two to say regarding his stepfather. Chaos ensues!