Contemporary Theater Company to Present 20th Annual 24-Hour Play Festival This Month

20 years ago, iPhones hadn't been invented, Pluto was still a planet, and the intrepid actors at the newly formed Contemporary Theater Company jumped head first into their first 24-Hour Play Festival. This theatrical feat is back for the 20th annual on January 11 at 8 pm. This celebration of creativity and collaboration is a collection of six short plays written, rehearsed and performed in a single day.

“The 24-Hour Play Festival is one of the highlights of my year,” says General Manager Maggie Cady. “Creating 6 new plays in a day seems impossible even to us, but we pull it off every year with incredible shows at the end of the day. I love getting to see the magic happen!”

The playwrights begin the process at midnight, writing through the night until the actors and directors arrive in the morning to begin casting and rehearsing the plays. The Festival requires a lot of quick decisions from all involved in order to get the shows across the finish line by the end of the day.

“Everyone has to be at the top of their game from the writers to the actors to the tech folks because you have to work quickly and commit fully to everything you do without second guessing,” says Cady.

This is the 20th annual festival; it has been featured in the theater's season every year since 2006. The play festival has been a staple of the company's schedule since the early days, so there are many participants and audience members who remember years of festivals. During the pandemic, the company pulled off a 24-hour livestream for the event with participants collaborating across thousands of miles online. This will be the 20th festival for some participants, and the first for others!

“It's the kind of show where during intermission, audiences are all talking about their favorite moments and what surprised them,” says Cady who will be participating in her 13th Festival this year. “I'm always amazed at the wide variety of shows each year. Usually, you'll have some that are very funny, one or two that are out-of-the-box experiments, and some that really pull on your heartstrings.”

Photos, videos and stories are uploaded to the company's Facebook and Instagram throughout the day, allowing the audience to keep up with the process as it unfolds before watching the performance at the theater in the evening.

The performance is January 11 at 8 pm at the theater in Downtown Wakefield at The Contemporary Theater Company.

“You want to come be in this audience because this is the one and only performance of these shows,” says Cady. “All theater is ephemeral, but this is a truly one-of-a-kind experience. This kind of magic only comes once a year.”

A complete schedule of shows and more information is available at www.contemporarytheatercompany.com or by calling 401-218-0282.

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