Instant theater at Sac City College
There’s something to be said for putting people on the spot to break them out of their creative fallbacks, forcing them to tap into a different muse. At least that seems to be the idea City Theatre and Synergy Stage had with their 29 Hour Playwriting Festival, which hits the stage for its third annual production this Sunday evening.
It works like this: On Saturday, at 1:30 in the afternoon, the eight or nine participating playwrights will get the title of the play they will write. The first year, everyone had to write a play titled Five-and-a-Half Pairs of Shoes and an Accordion That Cannot Come Onstage. Last year, according to City Theatre’s Luther Hanson, they opted for a simpler concept: You Know, You’re Funnier in My Dreams. Then they go home, or back to wherever they’re staying, where they will have eight hours to come up with a 10-minute play; they’ll present a finished script to the pool of directors that night.
The following morning, the directors will huddle with their cast—typically, three players—who will begin learning their lines, figuring out their blocking and business, then moving on to dress rehearsal before wrapping it up by 7 p.m.
At 8 p.m., it’s show time. The theater-in-the-round will be furnished with a stock set, the equivalent of the back line of amps and drums you find at multi-band rock festivals, and the individual directors can augment that with whatever embellishments—from minimalist to rococo—they care to haul from home.
Tickets are $7, on a first-come, first-served basis, at the Art Court Theatre at Sacramento City College, at 3835 Freeport Blvd. Parking is available at Lot J, next to the theatre on 12th Avenue, on the north side of SCC.
If impromptu creativity is on your radar, this is where you need to be on Sunday night.