At first glance, a play written, directed, and performed all within 24 hours seems impossible. But Maya Jamner, a junior theater major, directed this semester’s 24-hour theater event, which brings together a group of around 15 enthusiastic and talented young students.
Maya attracted directors, writers, actors, and a tech crew for the show with posters, a Facebook group, and by word of mouth.
“Some people stay up all night and stay in the theater the entire time,” said Jamner of the varying levels of participation. “Some people just come and go, and sometimes we have to track down actors at the last minute. We end up collecting people as the night and day go on.”
Students are able to do as many jobs as they like; some even do a little bit of each one. The flexibility of the various positions is one of the aspects that participants love.
This year’s 24-hour theater depicted “Moonprance,” a fictional, low-budget film festival intended to poke fun at Sundance Festival.
“Something sort of magical happens when all of the things that weren’t working suddenly come together,” said Jamner. “According to the rules, you really can’t come in with material.” This lack of preparation creates an interesting dynamic between writers.
“I really like the mad rush of everything,” said Jamner. “I think that the biggest challenge is that it’s truly a collaborative process, so there has to be a balance of control and letting go.”
Jamner described the struggle to ensure that everything gets done and is executed properly, while also letting the creative process happen as naturally and serendipitously as possible.
“It’s a mashing together of different personalities, different talents, different creative abilities,” Jamner explained.” It makes it really hard, but I think that’s also what makes it really great.” The spontaneous nature of this particular event is hard to replicate under different circumstances.
The previous 24-hour theater, run by current sophomore Eviva Kahne, was what inspired Maya to become the head of this year’s performance. It featured a similar structure of multiple individual skits, all brought together into one cohesive play.
“I think that there’s something really fun and hilarious about continuing jokes over the course of the entire show, and finding ways to weave together parts that don’t originally go together,” said Jamner.
Next year, however, she thinks that it could be fun to just participate and let someone else run it, just like she did. She’s excited about the prospect of 24-hour theater becoming a regular event here at CC, and hopes that other theater enthusiasts will carry it on.
24-hour theater is just one of CC’s many student-run performing arts events, showing that there are countless ways to get involved with theater, dance, music, and other disciplines. For information on the next 24-hour theater, keep your eye out for posters and other signs posted around campus.