THE 24-HOUR PLAY FESTIVAL Returns To The Contemporary Theater Company, January 14

The Contemporary Theater Company is back with its annual theatrical feat, The 24-Hour Play Festival on January 14 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 Fest is one of my favorite days of the year," says CTC Artistic Director Tammy Brown. "We get to remind ourselves that what seems impossible is within reach!"

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.

"Usually shows will rehearse for months, planning every moment of the show, but the festival lets you see everyone's innate artistic instincts." says Maggie Cady who will be directing this year. "I love getting to be an audience member and going in knowing absolutely nothing about what might happen, but knowing I'll laugh a lot and maybe even cry."

The Festival requires a lot of quick decisions from everyone involved in order to get the shows across the finish line by the end of the day.

"Because there's not a ton of time to think or plan, it means we get to have fun making the wildest choices possible," says Brown. "It's a fantastic opportunity to tap into our creativity in all kinds of new and surprising ways."

This is the 18th 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.

"It's the kind of show where during intermission, audiences are all talking about their favorite moments and what surprised them," says Cady. "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 14 at 8 pm at the theater in Downtown Wakefield.

"At the end of the day, the audience gets to see the one and only performance of these plays," says Cady. "All theater is ephemeral, but this is truly a night that you can't miss. This kind of magic only comes once a year."

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