Pulling all-nighters is nothing new for college students, but imagine writing, directing and performing a complete play within only 24 hours. For many, the idea must seem close to impossible, but IC Greens, Ithaca College’s Green Party organization, was more than willing to take on the challenge.
IC Greens will be putting on its first annual 24 hour–theater festival, titled “With Liberty and Justice for All,” at 8 p.m. on Sept. 13 in the Hill Center, room 104. The title of the show stems from the groups desire to incorporate the arts with political and social issues from around the world.
The process begins at 8 p.m. Sept. 12 with six writers each creating their own one-act play. Besides only having 11 hours to produce a scene, every writer must also incorporate the same five props as well as one specific line in all of their plays. However, the props and the line are kept a secret until that night.
At 7 a.m. on Sept. 13, the directors will arrive to discuss any questions or edits they have for the writers for one hour. Then the remaining 12 hours are for the actors and directors to create their shows for that night.
The idea is a daunting one, but sophomore Joshua Kelly, chairman and founder of IC Greens, said he is a bit nervous about how it will all come together on the day of, but he’s sure the outcome will be a success.
“Having students, especially while they’re students, be able to immerse themselves in something as magical as theater for 24 full hours can be a very changing experience for people,” Kelly said.
The festival presents an opportunity for students of many different majors to work together in order to put on a show.
Despite the show’s different format, Kelly also wanted it to have a strong political message. With theater being a large part of Kelly’s life, he believes that the arts have the power to inform the public about the many issues going on in the world. By putting on plays, he hopes to tell others about organizations that focus on tackling these global problems and hopefully inspire them to join.
“I believe that people value art and that people value the lessons we learn from art,” Kelly said. “There’s no better way to get people involved with politics and political problems that we face in our world than to speak their language.”
Freshman Micah Greenleaf will be writing his own scene for the show and said he is eager to see how everything comes out.
“I think it’s a great way for people to discover friends and possibly explore outside of their comfort zone,” Greenleaf said. “I’m very excited to see how the writing, acting and directing of my peers compares to what I’ve seen before in my hometown.”
For sophomore Paige Washington, being an actor in this type of play is nothing new. She said she has acted for many years and, while nervous about having only 12 hours to put everything together, is excited to see what story she will get to perform.
“I like challenges like this,” Washington said. “This is not the first time I’ve done a quick type of play. I was in a 48-hour play last year, and I really liked the feel of it.”
While there are many goals of the show, Kelly said he hopes that everything will come together in the end. He also expressed how he believes crunching the play process into 24 hours will build community among the group as well as show people the true power of theater.
“You don’t need to go to Broadway to see the power of theater,” Kelly said. “You can do it in 24 hours with 30-some people.”
