An Exploration into 24 Hour Theatre

A 24 hour play is, much like the title would suggest, created in 24 hours. But how does this process actually work? Does it create valuable art? And what are the effects on the artists themselves? Prior to the specific 24 hour period we spent time researching 24 hour plays as well as devised theatre techniques, something else we were exploring. Practices like the Viewpoints of physical theatre, body puppetting and manipulation, and improvisation techniques were some key focus points during the research phase. With the development of these skills and specifically working on them together as a team building exercise, the creation of work in a single day became much more feasible. Following this process we worked to create a piece. Starting with the inspiration of Thorton Wilder's Our Town, we created our work Our-er Town in 24 hours. Starting the writing process at 6:30pm on Friday and performing it at 6:30pm on Saturday. The work itself explores the idea of what is wrong with the world and how being a bystander can be just as harmful as participating in these actions themselves. In the creation of the script, we focused on ideas such as social and political justice while centered on a shared theme from the source material: Nothing happens and nothing changes. The result is an exploration of movement, dialogue, and staging in a world of constant change, instability, and resets. In reflecting on the process, we also looked at the ethicality of the process. What are the physical and mental effects of staying up and working for nearly 24 hours? How do these effects influence the integrity of the piece as a whole? Is the piece something that could theoretically have been created under other circumstances, or was this specific style of play creation integral to the art? Overall, how did we change as people? Were we able to recover? Do we think what we did was overall a safe practice? It is also worth noting that we differed from the traditional 24 hour structure, in which there are actually two teams of participants, one to write the work, the other to put it on and perform it. How might the process have differed if we had followed that practice instead? During our panel discussion we will explain our process, answer these questions and show video clips from our completed work, in the hopes of giving others a glimpse into what went on during the course of the project.