In one whirlwind day, students hurried to write and produce original plays in which the main characters could only speak in movie, song, play and book titles. The resulting works were not class assignments on deadline, but instead made up WiRED, the 24-hour playwriting festival that culminated in a performance on Saturday night in Bentley Theater.
Each term, participating students break into three teams of two to create plays. The event kicks off with a theme that guides the entire project.
As one can imagine, it can be difficult to spend up to 12 consecutive hours working on a play.
"It's hard to get college students to commit to not sleeping," WiRED co-director Diane Chen '14 said.
In previous terms, WiRED had a waiting list full of students eager to squander their sleep for the sake of theater, but this term saw fewer people committ. Chen said that since the show was scheduled earlier in the term than usual, many people had not yet settled into their schedules, and one pair withdrew before the writing began. Despite the setback, the team managed to find substitutes.
By 4 p.m. on Saturday, writers began to finish their work and actors were rehearsing. The theater department's green room was overwhelmed with lethargy. Six members of WiRED were intermittently writing short biographies for the actors, directors and writers, while surfing the Internet and snacking.
The actors rely on the theater department to lend props and costumes for the show.
Although the WiRED crew is able to "raid" the props closet, their shows are "very low-tech," Chen said. "There are no flashy lights or anything like that."
One of the most characteristic hallmarks of the WiRED experience is improvisation. Given the remarkably short amount of time devoted to rehearsal, actors are not expected to memorize their lines. It is canon for performers to go onstage with the script in their hands. While the event can be grueling, participants said they valued the feeling of accomplishment that came with the experience.
"It's a great way for students ranging in theater experience to be able to get a little shot' of it," Chen said. "A fully produced show is a big time commitment, so people who aren't necessarily theater majors or devoting their career to [theater] can come for a weekend, have a lot of fun, and then go back to what they were doing beforehand."
First-time participant Angela Liu '17 said WiRED offered a casual environment in which she could practice the acting styles she is learning in her "Introduction to Acting" course.
The restrictions in WiRED are as casual as the atmosphere, as one might take from the lack of serious censorship in script editing.
"Whatever they write in usually gets put on stage," Chen said.
This kind of free-form, unrestricted project finds itself easily at home in a college setting. The writers are permitted to express themselves as openly as they wish and see their work come to fruition on stage in a matter of hours. The variety of plots, styles, characters and emotions that get put on stage are extremely impressive, WiRED co-director Amber Porter '14 said.
"It's fun to see how different it is every time," Porter said. "It's a lesson in learning how to go with the flow."
