Nine teams of University of Idaho students will embark on a demanding, yet fun journey to write, produce and perform a short play in 24 hours.
Kylee Teal, a UI theater arts performance major, said in this annual Insomniacs Theatre Festival, said each team, which initially consists of a director and writer, will create a short play of about 10 minutes, cast it, rehearse it and present it as a full, running production.
“Insomniacs Theatre Festival is a 24-hour event for anyone and everyone who wants to be a part of wacky, quick, exciting theater making,” Teal said.
The event will begin with auditions at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Forge Theater, and performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, also at the Forge Theater. Tickets are $3 for both students and general public. Money collected from ticket sales will be used to fund the Theatre Department’s end-of-the-year party for graduating students.
The Insomniacs Play Festival is organized by the Cornerstone Theatre Troupe, to which Teal serves as a co-chair. The Cornerstone Theatre Troupe is a student-run nonprofit organization within the UI Theatre Arts Department that produces student work and organizes theater festivals.
Aidan Transtrum, a UI business major and theatre minor, said casting is done right after the audition and writers and directors will receive a set of challenges and parameters for their respective teams afterward.
Transtrum said writers will then have until 6 a.m. Sunday to write and submit their finalized script for the short 10-minute play. Once they have the script, the directors will begin rehearsing with their actors from 7 a.m. until show time.
Transtrum said he will take on the challenge of being a writer this year, after participating as an actor last year. This will be Transtrum’s first time writing a play that will be performed in front of an audience.
Sophomore Kymber Dodd, who participated as an actor in last year’s event said she plans on auditioning for another acting role this year. Dodd said anyone, including non-theater majors, can audition and can do anything for their audition. Everyone who auditions will get cast, but won’t know their roles until the script has been written.
“The audition process is kind of funny. I went in, took a rhubarb pie and just ate it in front of them,” Dodd said.
Teal said names of everyone who auditioned will be placed on the floor and teams will race to grab as many people as they feel they need to create their play. Teams will also be given one prop and one situation that must be written into the play.
Transtrum said last year, his team had the challenge of having a giant inflatable doll as a prop, and the situation was that the story must be told in reverse chronology. In another play, someone had to be jump roping throughout the duration of the play.
Teal said some of this year’s required props include a red balloon, a brain, confetti and more complex, imaginative things like a forest and a pool. Some situations include a character having to eat popcorn for the entire play, a character having to cartwheel every time they enter the stage and a character who can only turn left.
An additional challenge presented to the participants is the role shrouded in mystery – “The Wanderer.”
Teal said The Wanderer is an actor who will act in all nine plays. Directors, writers and actors do not know the identity of The Wanderer, and he or she is kept in the dark about the plays they will have to act in. Writers will have to include one role in their play for The Wanderer and directors and actors will have to rehearse without The Wanderer.
“So 15 minutes before curtain, The Wanderer is given all nine scripts with his or her lines highlighted and is thrust into every performance with only a small idea of what the play is about,” Teal said.
Transtrum said this is a really good way for theater students to have fun and gain valuable experience in the field, as they’re working under a time crunch. This also gives non-theater students an opportunity to participate in theater and enjoy themselves. Additionally, Teal said it provides a platform to display the work and talents of UI students.
“Its goal is to make people go ‘Wow, look what theater can do.’ It can bring together all these people who have created these awesome shows within an exhausting 24 hours,” Teal said.
May Ng can be reached at [email protected]