24/7! Look at the bounty of talent taking on the unsung hero role of 24/7, the director! They don’t know the play, the don’t know the roles, they don’t pick the actors — yet somehow they bring the plays from this chaos to the best night you’ll have in the theatre this year! The directors for 24/7 2020 are:
Kelli Shermeyer
Dawn Schimke
Tim Read
Pat Owen
Michelle Marjorin
Chris Kelly
David Domkoski
Some of the bravest, or craziest, actors you’ll ever meet. They sign-up to fully rehearsal a random role that doesn’t exist yet in a play that hasn’t yet been written.
But with the talent on stage, listed below in reverse alphabetical order, it all comes together like a… scuba diver ordered from craigslist, or cupid in firefighter boots and a tutu, or the remembered lover of a WWII vet, or free-range parents, or profane monks, or a dentist selling pot, or back-up singers on a deserted island, or… well, you’ll have to come to see how it all works out. But promise you this: you won’t be disappointed. Feb 29 @ 8 @ Live Arts.
The 2020 24/7 actors are:
Virginia Wawner
Lee Susen
Rasheed Robinson
John Rabasa
Browning Porter
Shannon Montague
Deandra McDonald
Laura Mawyer
Stan Marshall
Alanna Mahon
Chante Mack
Matt Lawless
Meg Hoover
Kristen Gleason
Madison Gildersleeve-Price
Chris Estey
Sarah Edwards
Jen Downey
Geen Donovan
Andy Davis
Allie Bush
Christina Ball
Mick Anderson
(in reverse alphabetical order)
O, we search high, and, well, higher. Each year 24/7 features a diversity of brash, new, young, hungry playwrights and returning veteran writers. We’re super happy with our 2020 talented scribes. It all starts here, writing the plays overnight, for the world’s fastest theatre festival, 24/7. Feb. 29, 2020 @ 8Pm @ Live Arts
Kate Bennis
Austin Bouchard
Nick Heiderstatd
Edwina Herring
Nauder Namaky
Leslie Scott-Jones
Priyanka Shetty
Written overnight. Rehearsed all Day. Performed once for you.
Twenty-Four Seven is a theatre festival created in 24 hours.
New every time, it is the cornerstone of Whole Theatre.
The theatrical artists’ gather on Friday evening. A theme for the next night’s show is randomly selected from all the given suggestions – it’s literally pulled form a hat. Then each of the 7 playwrights pull their cast requirements (i.e. 2 woman, 1 man) from the hat, and they pull their special inspirational word from the hat (i.e. Vancouver). The playwrights write overnight.
Early Saturday morning, the new 10 minute scripts are finished. The 7 directors each pull a script (yes, from the hat); and have a hour to confer with the playwright. All the actors arrive. Casting is done by each director blindly selecting names (you guessed it, literally, pulled from a hat). Then, rehearsals begin. And, the hat is retired.
Saturday day is a full rehearsal process with no time to second guess. There is a first read through, blocking, memorizing lines, etc. Simultaneously, lights are focused, sound is mixed, costumes are pinned together, tech, dress, let the audience in.
Saturday night we present a full show of new works – all fully performed and all freshly premiered. 7 new plays all created in the past 24 hours.
Or just come to a 24/7 and enjoy all the fun:
Each 24/7 is unique and needs, dare I says wins, its own personal thank you. Here is 2018, a thank-you poem (full or in-jokes) to the artists who made it happen:
Last night was a product of your love and your care
I admire your passion and the talent you share
I miss you already, I hate when it ends
Artists I say, make the best friends.
The dating game was just like money in the bank
The contestants unaware, and the winner was Frank
Then a woman alone talked with a fork and knife,
Until scuba-diving Perry brought love to her life
Soccer friends, on Halloween, in costumes were dressed
Till one jumped from a bridge thinking she was possessed
And a date, what a date, in a garden in our venue
With a hipster couple and a trickster-chef”s menu
Proud parents with children, well wouldn’t you know
They fought to the death! Then one baby read Poe.
Yes, Mr. Whiskers felt lonely, but let’s not be stupid
Sometimes we need help from Pat dressed as Cupid
And in Hollywood, three writers who started from zero,
Proved what we all know, every woman’s a hero
Plus a dance break surprise to watch and to listen,
It was West Coast Swing from your stage manager Kristin
Our designers were amazing! So I say, Hey Team,
Thank you for the gift of 24/7 ‘18.
This show rocks. This crew rocks. They need to. Our 24/7 team has 7 plays to “tech” in just a few hours. Even we don’t know how they do it. Maybe it’s because over 75% of our tech crew teammates are women. Men play football and start wars; women create life and make the world a better place. Just an observation. …Back to the theatre! Come see the magic on Jan 20th.
Maybe we’ve gone too far. You tell me. Don’t these actors have too much talent to be in 24/7? But, here they are in 24/7. Well, maybe they’re each a bit crazy; and maybe that’s just about right. Thanks, you grossly talented bunch of stage-worthiness, you!
Tickets on sale now here, act fast, it’s selling out.
Here is all you need to know about the directors for this years 24/7 – our 10th anniversary 24/7 – they are all nuts.
In a good way.
Over the past 10 years, each has been on stage – and few have even been writers — for a previous 24/7. And yet, most have never directed a 24/7 play before.
With that experience – and nuttiness – this year is gonna rock.
Directors:
Wow is the word. And with the list below, “wow” maybe even be the theme. Well, we don’t know yet if “wow” will have anything to do with this year’s 24/7 theme, but we do know it will describe the plays from these amazing writers taking the 24/7 overnight play writing challenge. Wow:
Wow.
Written overnight. Rehearsed all Day. Performed once for you.Twenty-Four Seven is a theatre festival created in 24 hours.
New every time, it is the cornerstone of Whole Theatre.