Reflections of the 24 Hour Theatre Festival

On the first weekend in January, I let myself be drafted into writing for the 24 Hour Theater Festival at the Black Box Arts Center here in Shepherdstown, WV. As many of you know, while the bulk of my business is still on the west coast, I have moved to the east coast. At first, I was not really excited to write a 30-minute show in the middle of the night. Also, this was my first writing project after I finished my novel and I had just taken 3 weeks off for rest and recovery. However, I’m so glad I did it.

Meeting Actors and Writers

The festival begins with auditions. Those who want to take on the challenge of rehearsing and performing a show from memory in a day come in and audition. One of the unique things about this festival is that writers are not allowed to bring in anything pre-written. Ideas and thoughts are alright but the writing should take place during the festival. I had a couple of ideas of things I wanted to do but we immediately ran into a snag: casting. There were very few actors that came to audition and because the festival features 3 shows, the competition for talent was fierce. I worked with my director (and lovely girlfriend) to adapt my idea to the casting options that we had and then I was ready to write. This year the festival had several younger actors that were highschool and college-age and some of the technical staff were in their 20s as well. The youthful energy around the room was high.

A Play in 24 Hours?

Much like those 72-hour film festivals, the premise of this event is that everyone arrives and the entire process of creating theater, which usually takes months, is compressed into one day. As someone who has been on stage in some form since I was 5, it seemed virtually impossible and yet there I was, Freewrite and iPad in hand with my notebook sitting down and turning my idea into dialogue and working on telling a story. I outlined by had at first and then began to write. 6 hours later I had my show ready to go and I sent it off to be printed by the festival organizers.

Rehearsals and Performance

I went to bed late, around 4:30 A.M. and tossed and turned a bit. My mind was filled with all the things I could have done wrong. Did the play flow correctly? Did I tell a good story? Would she like it? I eventually drifted off to sleep and woke up several hours later with my phone filled with texts. I sprang up from bed and went back to the festival to see how rehearsals were going along. After an afternoon of work and explaining some parts of the story and working on pronunciations of names and other words I had used the show started to come together. By 7:00 P.M. it was performance time.

The story I chose to tell was about the financial crisis. Because of the limited casting, I decided to create a television interview where a reporter would be interviewing Hank Paulson right at the height of the financial crisis. The set was simple: bright lights and two chairs with a camera guy. I used the camera to show the everyday struggles of people during the crisis and his interactions with the host of the show and a producer of losing his own American dream to the financial crisis, right in front of one of the men responsible for the crisis in more ways than one. The actor who played Hank Paulson remarked during rehearsal, “There’s a lot of anger in this!” I’m not surprised. I have been (and still am) more than bitter about the financial crisis and how it ruined the lives of everyone born between 1986 and 1990 much less all the people who lost a home, a marriage, or a family member to suicide.

The show was a tremendous success. People laughed, they were engaged and they really enjoyed the show. The actors stayed on book because of the short rehearsal time and they still did a great job. Although most of the dialogue occurred between the host and Hank Paulson, the camera guy and the producer (both young actors) did a great job as well.

The Magic of Theater

It was truly magical to see my words and my story come to life. As a novelist, I don’t get to experience what my readers experience while reading my book. Their experience is their own and it takes place over time. In theater, the audience experiences it at the moment and each performance is a different experience for the audience and actors at the time.

I had a really positive experience with the theater festival and I would do it again. It is so exhausting and there is much to do. Working like this makes you efficient in your words, scenes, and in your execution. That makes for a truly unique experience. Regrettably, I completely failed a social media influencer and did not take any pictures or videos. I was simply too busy! I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year.