Art in 24 Hours
By Danielle Sonnenberg
During the course of a single twenty-four hours period, six new plays are written, rehearsed, directed and performed –no matter what. "There’s not a moment that the show is not going to happen. Once you start, you can’t stop," said Kurt Gardner a producer of the show since’96.
"The 24-Hour Plays" have been produced all over the world, including New York, London, Los Angeles, Germany and Chicago. The most recent performance was Monday, September 12, at the American Airlines Theatre and included such notable actors as Christina Ricci, Mums, Rosie Perez, Anna Paquin, and Amanda Peet. The proceeds went to Working Playground, an organization that brings arts into New York City classrooms.
"The 24-Hour Plays" is about getting back to what art is about. Creating art in this fashion liberates artists from the politics of art. People let go and break boundaries because there’s a high level of trust among the cast. The actors trust the writers not to write a role that would cause them humiliation.
Tina Fallon created "The 24-Hour Plays" in ‘95 after she was inspired by Scott McCloud’s, 24 hour comics. The intended-one-time-only event was performed on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When the performers would try to stop or pause, the audience kept pushing for more and more.
The process began Sunday night at ten. Every actor donated a prop and a costume. Then, everyone except the writers went home. The writers spent the night composing a ten minute play. The actors and the directors arrived in the morning and rehearsals began at 9. At five rehearsals stopped. There were many limitations. Time on stage was limited to one hour. Technical time was limited to twenty minutes. Actors had only five hours to memorize their lines.
Tina commented on how the "The 24-Hour Plays" is one of those few times that the audience is very aware of the amount of effort that goes into getting a play on stage. Actors are performing these plays often after getting no sleep, having technical problems and flight delays.
There’s a purity to the whole process of creating art in such constrained time limits. "It liberates people from their own psychology. There is no time to second guess your work or your coworker’s work," Tina Fallon said. People must commit to each other and move forward in that spirit. Actors learn to trust their instincts which are almost always right. Anything that doesn’t serve the show must be disregarded. When asked what drama arises in creating a show in such time constraints, Tina replied, "There is little drama other then the drama inherent in the creative process." The time constraints actually help the actors. "As a result of being in the ‘24-hour Plays’ memorization has no longer been a problem," said Mums, who has been performing in the celebrity version for four years.
The process is a great equalizer. The process defines the quality of the show. The celebrities are celebrities second and great actors first. There’s no time for ego or attitude. The actors not only bring a their finely honed craft but also a lot of natural talent.
Most actors in film and television don’t have time for theatre. "The 24-Hour Plays" remind artists what attracted them to acting in the first place. It not only gives them the opportunity to act but also the opportunity to play all different types of roles. Mums, an actor on the HBO series Oz, is usually typecast as a thug in television but in the "The 24-Hour Plays" was given the opportunity to play a gay internet user. Mums said enthusiastically, "It’s like a heroine shot in the sense that it gets me excited about acting again. It allows me to explore these various characters that I never knew I had in me." Rosie Perez is another example of an actor who has been typecast as a young Puerto Rican girl from New York, yet in the "24-Hour Plays" has gotten to play all different types of roles.
Every person involved once has always wanted to return. In many instances, it changes their lives by showing people that they are capable of creating a work of art they never thought was possible. They realize that this can extend to other areas of their lives. "It makes people believe that more is possible than they had ever thought before," said Tina. The successful formula is being worked into a licensing program for amateur and student groups.
For more information, go to www.24hourplays.com.
