From 10 p.m. last Friday night to 7:15 p.m. last Saturday night, six writers and directors, twenty-two actors and many more students from the PA community were locked in a room with numerous props, as their blood pressures sky-rocketed due to stress and caffeine-overdose. To be exact, the amount of time from when the eager students first assembled on Friday night, to the moment when Steinbach Theatre first opened its curtains timed 21 hours and 15 minutes, not quite 24 hours. Even though Phillips Academy’s “24-Hour Plays” didn’t literally live up to its name, the productions were the result of an effort arguably even more strenuous than that of some professional actors, who at least have weeks to learn their lines. “The 24-Hour Plays” works on a straightforward timetable. Writers work all night until sunrise, and actors, directors and producers work all day until the performance. The groups are expected to produce six plays, all memorized and performed in the span of one day. “It was hectic and fun, but extremely tiring,” said Kevin Song ’10, one of the technical crew members. The night opened with “Pressure Gauge,” written by John Grunbeck ’09, a short production in which Randall, played by Eric Sirakian ’10, attempts his first carjacking on a family of three unique members. Mide Babatunde ’09, who plays Russ, the father, clearly senses that Randall is an amateur. Rather than being scared away by a gun-pointing Randall, Russ attempts to talk it out with him. Babatunde’s cool demeanor and spot-on body language added drama to lines that could otherwise have seemed repetitive. Jane, the mother, played by Rachel Coleman ’10, is the overly-philanthropic, submissive wife who believes that Randall deserves a second chance. Jess, the daughter, played by Eliana Kwartler ’12, is the only member of the family who has enough sense to call the police. At the end, Alice, Russ and Randall befriend one another, as tensions rise between Jess and her parents. Kwartler’s spoiled teen routine makes her at once unsympathetic and a little grating – exactly the desired effect. “Consolation,” written by Julianna Meagher ’11, was another humorous act of the night. Two spouses in the play go to an eccentric counselor to discuss their marital issues. Afterwards, Will, the bisexual counselor, played by Aleksander Huzar ’11, comes to the conclusion that Jeff, the husband, played by Adam Tohn ’10, is a homosexual. The hilarity lies in the fact that Jeff is clearly straight. Shockingly, Huzar later shows a naked picture of himself to Tohn, asking if he is ‘interested.’ The couple both leave, terrified. Some of the audience seemed to share their awkward reactions, but only due to Huzar’s wonderfully creepy mannerisms. Another highlight of the night was “Jesus Makes Everything Alright,” written by Lynx Mitchell ’10. To the surprise of the audience, the scene begins with a sudden kiss between Isabel and Lizzy, played by Kate Chaviano ’12 and Carolyn Whittingham ’11, respectively. Both surprised, yet thrilled, they become immediate lovers. Archie, played by Sam Oriach ’11, is an exotic Jesus-figure seller, a character that could only have been dreamed up at 2 a.m. Jamie, played by Thor Shannon ’09, is the chronically depressed, ex-lover of Isabel, who cuts himself on the knees rather than his wrists. Oriach could have done more to make his character a laughingstock, but Shannon’s body language (his legs seemed to stretch to super-human length, with a noticeable limp) made the play’s sometimes-confusing plot irrelevant; his character had the crowd in stitches. His voice shrieked and dipped with a fervor only found in the insane – and the most enthusiastic, if exhausted, actors. Whittingham ’11 later humorously said, “I kissed a girl, and I liked it.” “Think Tank Piranha,” written by Laura Wu ’10, presents a set of characters who attempt to write a novel for an upcoming competition. Claire, played by Julie Xie ’10, tries to create a twist in the plot of her novel, but continuously faces writer’s block. In an attempt to help her, her three friends offer their crazily creative ideas. These ideas range from adding a giant squid that eats everyone, to adding murderous zombie-elves. The four characters perform ridiculous mini-skits to help sell their ideas. Though the plot is a bit haphazard, the liveliness of the actors and the nonsensical, yet hilarious, scenes had the audience laughing nonstop. Michael Scognamiglio ’10 in particular broke out princely charm. Laura Wu ’10 comments, “Honestly, I had such bad writer’s block that day. I went through two different ideas until I arrived at the one I wrote about, and I kind of just ended up writing about my own writer’s block and expressing it comically through the characters. The earliness of the hour really helped me come up with random stuff to put in the play, though, which I don’t think I would’ve been able to do if I was in a normal state of mind.” The night closed with two more successful acts, “Coffee Conference,” written by Rei Konolige ’10, and “She Makes Like a Tree-House and Leaves”, written by Alec Weiss ’10. Despite the short time period in which the students were given, everyone recited their lines fluently, and Weiss’s script had the plot and character development of a carefully planned scene. At the performances, some of the contributors were seen with dense, purple bags under their eyes, but all seemed extremely content with their performances. As Joanna Wang ’11 said, “It was totally worth the five cups of coffee.”
