Hunger Artists Theater Co. - 24 Hour Theater V

24 Hour Theater V
Episode V: The Writers Strike Back

Writers' lockdown 11:00pm - Sept 2nd
Live performance Sept 3rd at 8:00pm

On Saturday, September 2nd, we once again locked five local playwrights into our theater with nothing but caffeine, computers and sweet, sweet inspiration to sustain them for the next seven hours. When dawn broke, we were the proud parents of six new, original works! Yes, six. Because this time (in a surprise twist) there was a phantom sixth playwright writing from an undisclosed location! And no one, not even the director of that piece, knew who the secret playwright was until the performance at 8:00pm on Sunday night!

The writiers drew five script elements from a hat ... a setting, a prop, a character, a line of dialogue, then a sound cue. Once all five elements were drawn, the writers were charged with finding a way to incorporate them into a brand new script. The elements were drawn from a pool of prompts collected anonymously on this website! But this time, in another new twist, each writer was given the option of re-drawing one, and only one, of their prompts. Four writers took that option, though only one decided to go forward with the new prompt, and another decided to use both the old AND the new prompt. The writers had eight hours to complete their original script with all five elements in place.

THE PROMPTS PULLED ON SATURDAY NIGHT ...
Sound Cue: "A Bell Ringing"
Character: "An Ophiologist" (A Snake Expert)
Setting: "A Haberdashery"
Prop: "Naked Juice"
Line of Dialogue: "I'm more of an internet stalker."

ON SUNDAY ...

* At 7:30 our producer, technician, and production assistants
arrived to wake and/or help to revive the writers.
* At 8:00am six directors arrived and were given a staged
reading of the new plays.
* At 9:30am 25 actors arrived to be cast in the plays.

In a final twist, this time the Writers chose their own Directors for their scripts!

Throughout the day technicians, costumers, actors, assistants and directors worked quickly to learn, rehearse, tech, costume, and produce our new little bundles of joy. They scrambled to find costumes and props, furiously create a set, lighting cues, sound cues. Then, for better or worse ...

AT 8:00PM ON SEPTEMBER 3RD WE PRESENTED, LIVE,
THE WORLD-PREMIERE STAGING OF SIX NEW PLAYS!

THE TECHNICIAN ... Joy Bice
THE PRODUCER ... Kimberly K Mitchell
THE PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS ... Jessica Lynch & Natasha Enoch
THE HOUSEMANAGER ... Gene Rogers