There they joined three pairs of playwrights and directors who had spent the last 12 hours chugging coffee as they penned three short plays for this Fall term's WiRED -- a theatrical challenge that invites its participants to write, cast, rehearse and perform plays within a 24-hour period once every term.
As usual, the final product, performed at eight o'clock Saturday evening in the Bentley, provided plenty of laughs. And though the plays sometimes suffered from the time constraint, the creativity and energy of the writers, directors and actors impressed the audience.
The process began Friday evening, when the three teams of writers and directors received the "rule," a prompt that none of them had heard until that moment. This term, WiRED writers had to include at least one non-human character in their play.
The rule made silliness a common thread throughout the plays as several gorillas, a few bananas, a pair of talking trees and a goat boy named William (Billy, for short) took the stage.
While the rule does serve a practical purpose -- ensuring that no one uses a play written prior to the start time -- it can also add to the novelty of the plays, encouraging situations that otherwise wouldn't find their way into the script.
"The rules are meant to provide some inspiration," Annabel Seymour '09, WiRED's production manager, said.
"It gets everybody to a starting point, and then you get to see how different people interpret things differently," she said.
The plays certainly did not lack inspiration or creativity. The program began with a play titled "The Audacity of Hope," written and directed by Tammer Raouf '09 and Drew Lerman '10.
"Hope" told the story of Brendan the zookeeper, portrayed by Dylan Kane '09, who cares more for his gorilla, Mrs. Chuckles, than he does for his wife, played by Sidny Ginsberg '12.
Though the play was difficult to follow at times, the mounting befuddlement mostly made it absurd, rather than frustrating. At times, however, the confusion proved too much, as in the unexpected existential interlude delivered by Dylan Hume '09 and Neil Basu '11.
The second play of the night, "Love, Absolutely," written and directed by Brittany Crosby '09 and Bryan Chong '09, also dealt with a troubled marriage, though this time in a slightly (yet not entirely) more realistic manner.
At the center of the play was Michael, played by Rob Hoffman '10, whose estranged wife Jenn (Diana Metobo '09) interrupted his date with a younger woman (Veronica Haakonsen '12).
A birch tree and an elm tree, played by Lelia Taha Burt '11 and Ashley Caval '09 respectively, made comic commentaries on the side, but the audience did not always join in when they followed their own deliberately corny jokes with loud, obnoxious laughs.
While these non-human additions mostly failed to provide comic relief from the awkward central plot, the central love triangle got laughs where the trees faltered. The play's most amusing moments featured Joshua Mirkin '09's character Peter Paul, whose name provided ample opportunities for biblical jokes as well as references to the 1960s folk band Peter, Paul and Mary.
WiRED concluded with a Lifetime movie parody called "Give Me Back My Goat Boat: The Nancy Hernandez-Vanderbilt Story," written and directed by Tyler Quinn '10 and Katie Silberman '09, both members of the Dog Day Players, Dartmouth's premier improvisational comedy troupe. This was, without a doubt, the most polished of the three plays, exceeding expectations for a 24-hour endeavor.
Set in 1987, the play told the story of Nancy Hernandez-Vanderbilt, played by Juliet Coffey '09, a woman who appears to have it all -- the perfect husband, the perfect hair and, as of the opening of the play, the perfect job.
When Nancy begins work creating lipstick shades, however, she discovers her company's troubling secret -- behind an enticing white door lives a half-goat, half-human test subject.
Nancy quickly falls in love with goat boy and, by the end of the short play, faces death by incinerator when her superiors discover her trans-species affair. Luckily, her dear friend Joan Cusack, played by Katherine Peck '12, saves her, and Nancy can live happily ever after with her goat boy.
"Goat Boy" managed to balance a coherent plot with a hilariously absurd twist. Its quick transitions and talented cast made it the most successful play of the night.
Since its inception in 2003, WiRED has allowed students who are interested in theater, but short on time, to get their theater fix for the term.
"I'm not terribly involved in the theater department," Seymour explained. "This is an option for people who don't have time to be in a Mainstage production."
Seymour has participated in WiRED since her freshman year as an actress, writer and director prior to taking the role of production manager this term.
The program is also an easy way to get a taste of the Dartmouth theater scene, especially for first-year students. This term, first-years made up a significant part of the ensemble, with eight '12s participating.
"I saw WiRED as a great way to meet new people," Sidney Ginsberg '12, who acted in "The Audacity of Hope," said. "I met a lot of people that I didn't know existed at Dartmouth who were a lot of fun, and really encouraging."
Her experience Saturday has convinced Ginsberg to continue acting in WiRED in the future and potentially try her hand at the even more demanding role of WiRED writer.
"I think WiRED is a fun, productive outlet for stress," Ginsberg said. "Here at Dartmouth, we deal with stress on a daily basis, but with WiRED, you purposefully put yourself in a stressful situation and get to create something out of that stress."
WiRED is co-sponsored by the Dartmouth theater department and the Displaced Theater company. All students are welcome to participate every term in the 24-hour theater experience.
