ONE DAY ONLY 31 to be Presented at Rover Dramawerks

One Day Only 31, Rover Dramawerks' signature short plays festival from concept to curtain in just one day, will be presented on Saturday, April 12 at 8:00 pm at the Cox Playhouse, 1517 H Avenue in Plano. Ticket prices are $20 for adults and $16 for seniors, students, and teachers and may be purchased online.

The thirty-first installment of this one-time performance of seven new short plays will be the result of 24 hours of work by approximately 60 participants – actors, writers, directors, and technicians. An entire one-act play festival will be written, produced, directed, rehearsed, teched, and performed in a single 24-hour day.

One Day Only was first produced in the Metroplex in May of 2000 by Audacity Productions. Rover Dramawerks teamed up with Audacity for the next three festivals, and Rover went solo to present One Day Only 5 through 30. This kind of exciting festival has also been done with major stars in New York on Broadway and at the Old Vic in London.

Rover's One Day Onlys have become very popular among playwrights, directors, and actors in the area. Would-be participants are warned that all positions fill up fast, and it's all first come, first served. Writer positions for One Day Only 31 were filled less than two minutes of signups opening up. 

The general timeline of a One Day Only: At 9:00 pm on Friday, April 11, this motley group of writers, directors, and actors, as well as some technicians, get together for the first time at Reclamation Church, Rover's rehearsal space. A brief get-to-know you session (affectionately referred to as speed bonding) includes providing ideas for the writers – to be drawn out of a hat – and taking photos of the actors: no headshots and resumes are allowed. Then the writers stay at the rehearsal space and work through the night, each composing a ten-to-fifteen-minute play based on the subject he/she drew from the hat.

At 6:30 am on Saturday, April 11, the directors return. They quickly read the seven plays, decide who directs which play, and cast the plays from the photos taken the night before. The actors show up around 8:00 am and meet with their director and fellow cast members. The writers go home to get some sleep while the plays are blocked, memorized, and rehearsed by the director and actors.

The company moves to the Cox Playhouse around 2:00 pm, with tech rehearsal starting at 2:30. Then curtain is at 8:00 pm, when all the plays are presented for the first time at the Cox Playhouse. Seven world premieres! 

Hundreds of original short plays have been presented in Rover's previous festivals, and many have gone onto additional performances all over the U.S., as well seeing additional performances with Rover Dramawerks. Next Stage Press has published 20 plays in three volumes of “The Best of One Day Only” scripts.

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