On Saturday, Sept. 20, the Calvin Theatre Company (CTC) hosted its annual “24-hour theatre.” As the name suggests, participants in the production have 24 hours to write, direct and put on a series of skits surrounding a common theme. This year’s theme was “famous last words.”

Chimes had the opportunity to speak with producers Ashley Vredevoogd, a senior civil and environmental engineering major, and Sage Altman, a sophomore film and media major, about their experience with 24-hour theatre. 

Process

According to Vredevoogd, 24-hour theatre is directed by the CTC student board, of which she is a member. Several weeks before the show, emails go out with the sign-up form for people to indicate if they’re interested in “directing one of the shows, acting in the show, running lights or sound or being backstage and moving props to switch between the different shows,” according to Altman.

This year, 24-hour theatre officially kicked off on the evening of Sept. 19. “At 7:30 [p.m.], everybody congregates in the theatre… At that opening ceremony, we assign the order of the shows, we assign who is going to be the director of each of the shows, and we figure out who the actors are in each of the shows. And it’s a fun little process, and we get to pick names out of hats,” Altman said. “Everything is random, from who’s in what show to what order we do the shows in,” Vredevoogd added.

Writers have until 6 a.m. the next day to finish their script, and directors meet to review the scripts at 7:30 a.m., according to Altman. “The actors are called at 8 a.m. Saturday morning to come and start working on their shows,” Vredevoogd said. Saturday is then filled with a series of rotations, where the different groups practice on stage; figure out light and sound; and work on costumes, sets and props.

After a break for dinner, Vredvoogd says that all the groups run a tech rehearsal. “Then we put on the show 24 hours after kickoff,” Vredvoogd explained.

Joys and challenges

Vredevoogd noted that one of the best parts of participating in 24-hour theatre is the lively chaos of the whole event: “There’s so much chaos happening, and everyone’s just having a great time because we all signed up for this.” “We all love theater, and who even knows how much sleep everyone’s running on… It’s a bonding moment for everyone.” 

Altman noted that one of the most challenging — but most rewarding — parts of the experience is working as a team to create a project every member is proud of. “I think that’s both a huge joy of it and then also a little bit of a stressor… We all have to depend on each other to make something that we like,” Altman explained. Vredevoogd agreed, saying, “Sometimes, you know, when people spend too much time together, there’s sometimes [going] to be butting heads and some of that stuff.” Vredevoogd noted that “managing some of that” is crucial to creating a final product they all enjoy.

Participants

According to Altman, 24-hour theatre has been growing in popularity in recent years. “Last year also was one of the first years that we had all of the spots filled… This year, we’ve also reached capacity again, with a wait list. [There’s] 40 participants. So five writers, five directors, 25 actors, three stagehands, two tech.”

Chimes had the opportunity to talk to several of this year’s actors — Hayden Vander Veen, Micah Wakefield, and Fiona Feeny — about their experience with 24-hour theatre. 

Vander Veen, a sophomore computer science and business major who acted in 24-hour theatre last year, said he was most excited to experience the final product. “When everything comes together and we have an audience here to witness it, it’s a really fun time,” Vander Veen said. “I think the show itself is equally the most exciting and the most terrifying thing at the same time.”

Wakefield, a junior computer science and music major, noted that his favorite part was the process, saying, “It’s very fun to just try to figure out what your writer was trying to give to you in their 12 hours that they wrote, and then the scary part is trying to memorize what they’ve frantically written you.” Feeny, a sophomore special education major, agreed, saying, “I like the during the day preparation part of it the best… We’re exhausted, but it’s the playing around with it and figuring out how we’re going to interpret these words, and how we’re going to play each of these characters — the rehearsing and figuring it out part is my favorite.”

When asked how they handled the challenges of portraying a character in such a short amount of time, Wakefield noted that “you can bounce ideas off with the director that you’re working with, which is always very nice… With the aspect of it being written in the 12 hours before you’re coming in, … your interpretation of the character might be very different from the author, so that’s always fun to figure out.”

Vander Veen noted that the time constraint adds an extra layer of interest to the performance. “Theater essentially is what it is in the moment,” Vander Veen said, adding that theater, as a performance art, is temporary. “We take that ephemeralness and we just condense it down even more, and we just put more time constraints on it, and honestly I think the constraints are what makes this so interesting.”

Feeny said that the time constraints limit their ability to create extensive and complex costumes, so most of the time is spent on the characters. “I think it leaves a lot more room to play with your own character in a way that’s really fun, that you don’t usually get to.” 

Takeaways

When asked what audience members should take away from the show, Altman said, “Art and creation should be a fun experience. You should find joy in the things that you’re making and you don’t necessarily need to take it seriously. A lot of the time, it’s so much better to just focus on the fun [and] focus on the community that you get to have because of your creation process.”

Vredevoogd echoed this, saying that audience members should “come and enjoy yourself. Ignore anything else and just come have fun at the theater.”