Open Forum

 View Only

  • 1.  Extreme Theatre

    Posted 04-30-2015 12:03

    I am interested in trying a 24hour Extreme Theatre experience with my students next year. I heard of this idea a few years ago and it sounds fun.  Basically, student teams have 24 hours to write, cast, rehearse and perform a short production.  Has anyone done something like this?  If so, what are my do's and don'ts?  Any insight on pulling off such an event is greatly appreciated!

    ------------------------------
    Pam Csaky
    Wadsworth High School

    Wadsworth OH
    ------------------------------



  • 2.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-01-2015 07:26
    I love these events, however, as a middle school teacher I don't think I could do it. I don't have suggestions on 24 hr, but, I am actually doing a camp for middle/high students this summer that I have called project broadway. It is a week long camp, but we are going to start from scratch and write a short musical and stage it by Friday for a performance. ------------------------------ Jennifer Simmons Lexington SC ------------------------------
    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-01-2015 09:57

    I've done this as a one week activity. The U of WA calls it "Once Upon A Weekend," but we adapted and called it "Once Upon a Week." I think 24 hours would be too stressful for a during the year activity with all the other demands on the average HS student. (But it might be fine for a summer performance.) We did it over 5 days with our sister school.

    Write me if you're interested, and I'll send you the info we used.

    ------------------------------
    Barb Lachman
    Drama Director (former)
    Shoreline WA
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-01-2015 12:25

    Hey Pam!

    We did this last year as a 12-hour process (7am meet, 7pm perform), which worked wonderfully. I had students sign up before the date of the event with their top three desired positions (actor, director, playwright, technician). Then I organized the teams beforehand, trying my hardest to spread them out so there were students from each grade level represented in each group.

    On the day of the event (Saturday), we met at 7am to group and allow the kids to brainstorm ideas for what their show could be about. Everyone contributed. Then the playwrights and directors met in a computer lab and worked for two hours to write the script. The actors participated in an improv activity during this time, focusing on their characters that had been discussed at the initial meeting. After the two hours was up, the teams regrouped and had a cold read-through of the script. We then broke for an hour to eat lunch (students packed a lunch for the day). Kids came back and rehearsed with the directors, focusing on blocking and memorizing lines for a couple hours. Technicians sat in on these rehearsals, documenting any lighting cues or sound effects that could be added. Then the task turned to invading the costume shop and finding costumes and props. We broke for dinner from 5-6pm (ordered pizza, paid for by the Boosters), then there was an hour for quick tech rehearsals before parents came to watch the performances at 7pm.

     The day was a huge success, and we're doing it again this year! The key is to focus on quick 5-minute plays if possible. This makes it easy for the playwrights, as well as the actors, and doesn't turn it into anything too daunting!

    I'm happy to discuss this further via email! Lucas_Bovenizer@hboe.org

    Best of luck!

    ------------------------------
    Luke Bovenizer
    Theatre Director
    Hilliard OH
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-01-2015 15:51

    Cathy Swain-Abrams started a similar thread awhile ago, it looks like there's some good advice here too:

     24 Hour Theatre Project

    https://www.schooltheatre.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=133&MID=2449&tab=digestviewer

    ------------------------------
    Ginny Butsch
    Community Manager
    Educational Theatre Association
    Alexandria KY
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-01-2015 16:09

    24 Hour Theatre is a tradition at our school which I walked into. My first year was a complete disaster -- at least in my eyes. I like things to be a bit more organized. This year, I added some rules. The students meet at the school at 6pm on a Friday night. They break off into groups and move to host houses. Then they rehearse until 5pm on Saturday when they have to be back at school. We do a run-thru of the entire show with scene changes and lights at 5:30pm. Curtain is a 7pm. I usually charge admission by donation to a charity. This year, the charity was the AIDES/LifeCycle. In one night, we raised almost $500. I think its a bit stressful if they have to write the One-Act as well as perform it in 24 hours. So I have 2 students take charge of the event. They send out a FB event post to see who is interested. They then find One-Acts and break the students up into groups. They also ask for host family volunteers - parents who are willing to host a group or two at their house for the night. I make it very clear that the students should not expect to get fed (they need to bring their own food) and they are not allowed to leave the host family's house unless a parent excuses them. This year was a very successful event. The students had a great time and it was a minimal commitment for myself. The biggest problem I have run into is students dropping out at the last moment, so I have set up consequences for that. If they drop out within 24 hours of the event, they are not allowed to participate in it again. 

    ------------------------------
    Andy Ballnik

    Lakeridge High School

    Lake Oswego, OR
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-04-2015 10:57

    I've done these both for theatre and film. The theatre one was Overnight Sensations, which was a joint project of Hollins University, where I was teaching for the summer, and Mill Mountain. We began at 8 PM down at Mill Mountain (in downtown Roanoke), where we got assigned our actors and director and were given various "elements" (for example, a style) to incorporate into our short plays (which were around 10 minutes). I ended up with the celebrity actor in mine, a local FOX News Anchor.

    Before we left, we got to tour the props storage so that we could see what might be on hand (I found a delightful rubber chicken) and could be written into the show. The writers then went back to the Hollins library to write. I think I finished around midnight. We then met with our directors at around 9 the next morning, and the actors came in a few hours later. We rehearsed in the afternoon, and the show went up that night. The play I wrote, Vital Organs, is something that I worked on more later, extending it just a little so that it now runs 15-20 minutes. All in all, it was fun, though now that I've done one, I can't say I'm racing to do another one.

    I do like something like this for students, as it's a bonding experience and a great exercise in learning how to put up a show, especially if you can give them ownership of as much of the project as possible. I'm less sold on it for adults, because it doesn't necessarily yield something that's going to be of much lasting value.

    A brief note on the 24-hour filmmaking, as some folks may cross over. I would do something like that with 48 hours, because the killer is the editing.

    ------------------------------
    Jonathan Dorf
    Playwright/ Co-founder of YouthPLAYS/ Co-chair of The Alliance Of Los Angeles Playwrights
    Los Angeles CA
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-04-2015 19:38

    We're just getting ready for our 13th year of our Instant Theater Festival. We have students sign up, then return signed contracts committing to participating. The student production team makes the actor groups and chooses a student writer (or writing team -- more common), director, and stage manager for each. Personally, I think writing the script with particular actors in mind works better than trying to cast scripts that have already been written.

    We draw a theme Friday morning during assembly, the writers go home Friday after school to write (knowing which actors they are writing for), and turn in their script by Saturday morning. Rehearsals take place at school on Saturday, with the performances that evening. The plays are usually about 10 minutes long; they don't always stick completely to the original script, but that's part of the aesthetic of it.

    It's a crazy, intense day, but the students love it. We have lot of paperwork & a standard system in place that we re-use every year. I'd be happy to share examples of what we do if you think it would be useful.

    ------------------------------
    Cora Turlish
    Metuchen NJ
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Extreme Theatre

    Posted 05-05-2015 09:15

    Another school in our district did something similar for a few years called Play in a Day. It served as a fund raiser for students needing to earn money to attend our State Thespian Festival. I had some students form a team of 4 or 5; 2 writers, 1 director, 2-3 actors. We submitted the students names and email addresses to the sponsoring teacher ahead of time and she coordinated everything.

    The host teacher sent out a prompt to the writers at 6pm on Friday night. The prompt included some specific things that had to be in the script (either spoken or seen) such as 'red lipstick', 'a rope', the phrase 'what's wrong with you?', etc. The script couldn't exceed 10 mins. The students had until 6am on Sat. to complete the script and submit it by email to the host teacher. She then checked it for appropriateness, and emailed it to the director and actors. They had until 6pm to rehearse it.  I usually met with the students at our own school at 12noon to supervise their rehearsal and give them access to the props and costumes we had. The students put it all together. The writers came on Sat. to watch rehearsal and give input too. By 5pm we would leave our school and go to the host school for the performances of everyone's play at 6pm. 

    The students raised money by getting folks to sponsor them, like they would for a marathon. They would tell their family and friends that they were going to write, produce, rehearse, and perform a Play in a Day. Some of my students raised $100 or more toward their hotel expenses at State. I had very little to do with it, other than giving them access to a rehearsal space, props, and costumes, if needed. Some years, the students did all of that on their own. The host school had to provide their auditorium space, simple lighting and sound, and they sold concessions to raise money to cover their own costs. I loved the activity and it provided opportunity for students from different schools to watch each other perform and get to know one another without being in competition.

    ------------------------------
    Gail Bartell
    Altamonte Springs FL
    ------------------------------


    Original Message