Actors, audiences sought for Glacier plays
The Wolfpack Theatre Co. at Glacier High School will join forces with school alumni and current students and teachers to participate in an extreme rite of theater: writing, directing and performing four to six original short plays in just 24 hours.
Billed as “24 Hour Plays,” this creative collaboration will take place Aug.. 23-24 in the Wolfpack Theatre at Glacier High.
“This is a brand new endeavor, which we are extremely excited to try,” said Ivanna Fritz, director of Wolfpack Theatre Co. “It's not a huge time commitment and a great way to connect or reconnect with the Glacier community. Why not make the most out of 24 hours of your life?”
The creative process begins at 4 p.m. Aug. 23, the night before the show, when the group will gather at Wolfpack Theatre. After everyone has been briefed and the actors have worked through improvisations and auditions, the writers will begin to select their casts and get imaginative. Each writer will compose a 10- to 15-minute original play.
At 6:30 the following morning, the directors return, read the plays and battle for the script they want to direct. The casts meet for the first time at 8 a.m., discover their roles and quickly get to work rehearsing.
With less than 12 hours of script time and 20 minutes of technical rehearsals, the entire company will be ready for the audience to descend. The community is invited to come watch the final production of this two-day innovative event at 6:33 p.m. Aug. 24.
Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.
"I first heard about the 24 Hour Play Project several years ago when a couple of our graduates told us about the project in New York and in California. It really sounded dynamic, and I love the creative elements,” said Greg Adkins, a member of the Wolfpack Theatre Co. staff. “The idea of working on a production with a 24-hour deadline is pretty intense.”
Added Fritz: “We've been looking for a project that we can bring the theater students throughout the years. We have a saying at Glacier that ‘tradition never graduates.’ That couldn't be more true for the Wolfpack Theatre Co. Our former students come back and support us by attending shows; now we'd like them to be a part of it.
“Our vision is that this could be an annual show, and we can stay connected for years to come.”
Mounting a play in an extremely short time frame is not a new concept — but the formal structure of the 24 Hour Plays Project is relatively new. In 1995, a group of writers, directors and actors gathered on Manhattan's Lower East Side for what was supposed to be a one-time-only event: writing, directing, producing and performing new plays within the span of 24 hours.
More than a decade and more than 300 plays later, the 24 Hour Plays have been produced on Broadway, in London, Los Angeles, Chicago and across the globe.
More information about the Wolfpack 24 Hour Plays process and the show itself is available on the theater page of the Glacier High School website. Questions may be directed to Fritz at fritzi@sd5.k12.mt.us.