24 Hour Plays!

Last weekend, I worked with The New Theatre Project to create 24 plays in 24 hours. We met at 8pm on Friday (incidentally, my birthday) and were soon asked to play a game where each of us described the previous day in as much detail as possible, in 60 seconds. Afterward, we were told that those details had to be the base of our plays, along with the theme "Getting Lucky" and, possibly, the 11/11/11 date. We were also told to use each actor only once.

The writers began working immediately - spending the first hour or so after the meeting together was crucial, as we needed to remind one another on what was said and also get a feel for the project (I actually wrote Infinite Bread as a warmup before I headed back to Ann Arbor). Scripts were due at 7am on the 12th. We met two hours later to begin rehearsal, and, tired and loopy as we were, performed the whole shebang at 8pm.

I ended up writing four plays that night, and got maybe two hours of sleep. I also directed two, including my own You Can't Really Kill Ben For Experience Points, and acted in six. Against my better judgment, I'm posting the results here.

The project, as well as my recent work for 826michigan's Five Bowls of Oatmeal, reminded me how necessary it is sometimes to throw off fears and plans and just make stuff. As a bonus, I got to write roles for a few of my friends, which is something I haven't had the chance to do for quite some time.

These are unedited from the versions I turned in on Saturday morning (though, sadly, I couldn't keep all the Final Draft formatting). I added comments before each one 'cause I wanted to.

Plays after the jump!