Fayetteville State University (FSU) Theatre announces its fourth 24 Hour Theatre Project on August 24-25, 2012.  The project invites participation from FSU students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the community to the highly caffeinated adventure in which plays are written, rehearsed, designed, and performed in 24 hours.  A trend over the last decade in educational and professional theatres, 24 Hour Theatre is a burgeoning tradition at FSU, which introduces a new Bachelor of Arts curriculum in Theatre this year.

24 Hour Theatre will involve a kickoff event on Friday, August 24th, at 7:30 p.m., followed by an overnight writing session by playwrights.  After finishing their writing by early the next morning, the freshly-minted scripts will be taken up by actors, directors, designers, technicians, and managers who will rehearse the plays throughout the day in time for a 7:30 p.m. performance of the plays on Saturday night.  Students and other interested participants will be able to engage in one of a variety of production areas, from writing to acting to stage management to lighting operation.  Participants can apply to participate in the project here.  Participation is limited; certain production roles, such as writing and directing, are extremely limited, so get your application in as soon as possible.

The goal of 24 Hour Theatre is to produce fully realized scripts, usually of 10-20 minutes in length, and to put participants into active production roles with intense demands.  The result is a mixture of high creativity, artistic impulse, sleep deprivation, temper, improvisation, failure, success, and caffeine.  Participants are forced to make decisions on a deadline – a bit like Survivor for theatre – and learn firsthand the necessities of prioritization, problem-solving, and good humor.  Above all, 24 Hour Theatre usually sees great success at creating bonds between participants and working to create a community of theatre makers in a short period of time.

The 24 Hour Theatre Project performances begin at 7:30 p.m., on Saturday, August 25th, in FSU’s Butler Theater.  The new plays may not be suitable for all audiences. Referenced from FSU