Rover Dramawerks Presents ONE DAY ONLY, THE 13TH 8/29 At The Courtyard Theatre

By: Aug. 20, 2009
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One Day Only the 13th, Rover Dramawerks' signature short plays festival from concept to curtain just one day, will be presented on August 29 at 8:00 p.m. at the Courtyard Theater, 1509 H Avenue in Plano. Ticket prices are $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors, and STAGE members. Tickets may be purchased online at Rover Dramawerks' website at www.roverdramawerks.com or at the door with cash, check, or credit card.

The lucky thirteenth installment of this one-time performance of seven 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.

Rover Dramawerks is pleased to announce that BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse will once again serve as one of the show sponsors for One Day Only the 13th. Through their generosity, all the participants will be fed throughout the event.

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 12. This kind of exciting festival has also been done in New York on Broadway with major stars such as Billy Cruddup and Christina Ricci, and at the Old Vic in London, spearheaded by Kevin Spacey.

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. Director positions for One Day Only the 13th were filled within seven minutes of sign-ups beginning. The seven directors for include Teresa Andrion, Donny Avery, Debbie Cheng, Robin Coulonge, Chris Messersmith, John Daniel Pszyk, and Carol M. Rice.

The seven writers include Janet Behning, Matthew J. Edwards, Aaron McDavis, Libby Mitchell, Crystal Pierce, R. Bradford Smith, and Christopher Stephen Soden.

More than forty actors are signed up, and Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions will once again act as Master of Ceremonies for the event.

The general timeline of a One Day Only: At about 9:00 p.m. on Friday, August 28, this motley group of writers, directors, and actors, as well as some technicians, get together for the first time. A brief get-to-know you session includes providing ideas for the writers (to be drawn out of a hat) and taking pictures of the actors (no headshots and resumes are allowed). Then the writers stay at the theatre and work through the night, each composing a ten to fifteen minute play based on the subject he/she drew.

At 6:30 a.m., the directors return. They quickly read the seven plays, decide who directs which play, and cast the plays from the pictures taken the night before. The actors show up around 8:00 a.m. 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.

Tech rehearsal begins around 3:00 p.m. Then curtain is at 8:00 p.m., when all of the plays are presented for the first time at the Courtyard Theater. Seven world premieres!

Participants of previous festivals have come from as far north as Durant, OK; as far east as Shreveport, LA; and as far south as Austin, and an actor for this festival will be coming from the Corpus Christie area.

Eighty-nine original short plays have been presented in previous festivals, and many have seen additional performances with such organizations as Flower Mound Performing Arts Theatre, Lakehill Preparatory School, Punch Drunk Comedy, and the Out of the Loop Festival in Addison, as well additional performances with Rover Dramawerks. "Two Bubbles" by Greg Romero from One (More) Day Only, was named "Best of the Fest" at the 2004 FronteraFest in Austin and was a finalist for the 2004 Heideman Award (the annual award that Actors Theatre of Louisville gives to the best 10-minute play in America) and has recently been published with Playscripts, Inc.

Rover Dramawerks is a resident theatre at the Cox Building Playhouse in Plano, producing a full season of six mainstage shows in addition to two One Day Onlys per season at the Courtyard Theater and also offering year-round classes for children and adults. Tickets are also available for the final show of this season, My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra running September 10 - October 3. Tenth Anniversary Season tickets are also on sale.

For more information about One Day Only the 13th, please call Rover Dramawerks at 972-849-0358 or visit www.roverdramawerks.com.

 



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