Leah Perri
Winonan

Students had 24 hours to write, cast, rehearse, build, paint, light, costume and direct three one-act plays on April 12.

Students gathered at 7 p.m. in the Dorothy B. Magnus Black Box Theatre in the Performing Arts Center in honor of this year’s fourth annual 24-Hour Theatre Show.

By 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, the show was ready for the general public and was performed free of charge with donations being collected for Project SUCCESS, a company in Minneapolis that works with underprivileged kids specifically through the art of theatre.

This year’s production was co-produced by seniors Briana Dankers and Molly Daun.

“Our goal is to create professional shows from scratch and use the skills we’ve learned in theatre classes at WSU to achieve them,” Dankers said. “Students are challenged to use everything they’ve learned and culminate it into one night/day of creativity. It makes us think fast and on our feet, while working collaboratively with each other.”

Counting down the seconds until 7 p.m. on Friday night, Dankers gave a “ready, set, go!” to her fellow students, and everyone set off in different directions. There was no time to spare.

Immediately, the writers were ushered off into their own private conference room, complete with plentiful sugary snacks and caffeine, where they were given four hours to write their scripts. This year’s writers included juniors Hannah Jones, Conlan Carter and Lauren Barker.

Meanwhile, the designated play “technicians” determined the stage set up by writing numbers on four different pencils, throwing them at random, and choosing the one that was thrown the farthest. It was determined that the audience would surround the stage on three sides.

The technicians then began sketching the stage layout on a dry erase board. They needed to deliver the layout to the writers and directors as soon as possible so they would have an idea of what they were going to be working with.

Crewmembers began clearing the stage space. The floor needed to be washed and freshly painted, and props needed to be pulled and set up. Lights were cued and secured.

All during this time, hopeful actors and actresses paired up in the hallway to practice script reading for a play that hadn’t even been written yet. Auditions were held in another conference room between 7-9 p.m. Directors made mental notes of each actor’s style in order to cast them for a suitable part later on.

Once the plays had been written, directors and stage managers read them over and casted actors accordingly. Directors Kara Eggers, Molly Daun and Ian Parague were each assigned to one of the three shows.

After that, memorization, blocking, costuming and dress rehearsals went into full effect and took up most of the day on Saturday.

Although beginning to fatigue, the crew remained in high spirits.

“The students who participate in this show are always so excited and proud to show the work we do that no one has ever been brought down by lack of sleep,” Dankers said. “We are all fully charged by the time the show begins for an audience!”

Not to mention fully charged on caffeine, thanks to the generosity of Mugby Junction.

Finally at 6:30 p.m. the house was opened up to the public. With limited seating available, the play was first come, first serve. The lights were dimmed; the spotlight directed toward co-producers Daun and Dankers, who were jokingly taking a nap on one of the prop couches.

“It’s been a long day,” Dankers said, quoting the original WSU alumni producer Ethan Jensen, as the crowd laughed and cheered, and finally quieted down for the performance.

The first play, “A Bedtime Story” written by Jones, was a comedy about a father telling a hilarious fantasy adventure to his young daughter. It was complete with a spritely princess talking rainbow butterfly and evil magic wizard.

Next came “Haunted,” a surrealist drama written by Barker, spookily performed in the dark apart from a select few audience members shining mini flashlights onto the set. Taking a more somber approach, the play was about a young man’s haunting guilt over the death of his friend.

Finally, “Pressure Writing,” a farce written by Carter, closed out the show. The play depicted five college students writing papers after hours in an academic building of some sort who are accidentally locked in by one of the school janitors and are thrown into a hysterical panic.

The 24-Hour Theatre Show had another successful year, with students’ hard work paying off.

“It goes from excitement, to nervousness, to excitement again, then to bone-numbing fatigue and a desire to either sleep or die,” Jones said. “But in the end, it’s such a rewarding, exhausting experience that although you feel utterly run down, you know you’ll do it again next year.”

Contact Leah at [email protected]