Early Thursday Night
The Festival
14 plays written, cast, directed, rehearsed,
scored, designed, premiered in 48 hours.
Thursday Night
All the participants meet for the first time in one spot, sometimes the theater and sometimes on in the zoomiverse. They all then get to write down a theme for the Friday plays. We write down our themes by finishing this sentence: “Theater would be a lot more interesting if there were seven ten-minute plays about _____.”
One answer is chosen at random and that becomes the theme for the following evening. Seven terrified, excited, caffeinated writers must submit a brand new 10-minute play based on the theme by 8am Friday morning.
Friday Morning
Once the writers have turned in their world premier 10-minute plays, the directors will pull an envelope at random pairing writer and director for the first time. The directors will then get a chance to read and discuss the play with the playwright.
Then the actors arrive and that's when the directors get to pull their cast at random. And then the day of rehearsals begin!
Friday & Frinight
As the seven separate casts find somewhere to rehearse (in some cases outside or in someone's apartment), the musicians are spending the day learning intro songs, transitions, cues and becoming a band!
As well, the group of designers are searching, building, sewing, and creating costumes, set pieces and props for all seven shows.
Around midday, the shows need to add lights and sound cues. Each show gets only 20 minutes for tech! (For perspective, a standard 4-week show typically gets 3-4 days for tech!)
Then at 8pm, the performers present seven world premier plays right in front of your eyes! At that performance the audience is able to write down their ideas for a theme for the Saturday shows! The writers go home to stay up all night and write AGAIN while the performers present a second late-night show at 10:30 for our night owls!
Saturday & Saturnight
Saturday is the same as Friday, the only difference is everyone is much more tired. Different plays are directed by different directors with different casts.
The band learns new songs and the designers make new things.
The performers again present seven world premier plays at 8pm and then again at 10:30 concluding the wacky ride that is 14/48!