A northern Illinois theater will put on pressure for upcoming productions.
The Black Box Theatre at McHenry County College is once again looking for participants for its 12-hour play competition. Contestants will have 12 hours to write, rehearse and perform a 10-minute play. Jay Geller is the chair and instructor of theater, speech and journalism at the college. He said those who normally compete have different levels of experience.
“And sometimes you see that in the results where some of the plays are, you know, they're meaningful,” he said. “And they're very cause and effect, and what happens in one moment connects to the next, and other plays where it's trying to find their way.”
The time frame was 24 hours, but this changed last year. Geller said he found that some people fell asleep.
“And we were the only ones up, so we're like, ‘Okay, so let's, let's try 12 hours.’ And it worked really well,” he said. “So, everybody gets here at 7:00[a.m.], and then we perform them at 7:00[p.m.], so they have 12 hours to do the whole process. And it worked just as well.”
Geller says the participants break up into groups and are sent to different rooms. They are given a theme.
“And then we start throwing different challenges at them,” he said, “where we help tell them they have to add a line to their play, a prop to their play, a song to their play. So, it goes in different directions over the course of the day.”
Each group will consist of two to six people.
Geller said the theme hasn’t been determined yet. The deadline to sign up is April 27.
The fifth annual competition begins at 7 a.m. May 3. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served. Performances will take place at 7 p.m. at the theater.
