Acorn Productions Presents the 24-Hour Portland Theater Project

The first weekend in 2018 brings Acorn Productions' annual homage to the creative process in which six brand new plays that have not even been written are assembled over the course of one 24-hour period. The event begins on Friday night, January 5th when six playwrights receive their writing prompts: a prop, line of dialogue, and location. They leave to furiously write until the sun comes up and then hand off their plays to six directors who have been assigned actors randomly from a hat. These artists rehearse the plays beginning at 9am, and then perform them that night at 8pm in front of an audience in the Ballroom at Mechanics Hall. As part of Acorn's continuing work to expand live theater performances into local bars and restaurants, the company has added an encore performance for the first time in the 24-Hour Play Project history. This additional performance takes place on Monday, January 8th at 7pm at Portland House of Music. Tickets are $12 for all ages. For more information, audience members are encouraged to visit Acorn's website at www.acorn-productions.org.

For the second year in a row, Megan Tripaldi serves as Artistic Director for the 24-Hour Portland Theater Project. Tripaldi has long been associated with the event, having performed in all but one of Acorn's 24-Hour Theatre festivals. "I love the adrenaline rush and creative energy that comes from putting together live theatre in 24 hours," Tripaldi said about her continued involvement, "As a playwright and actor I feel honored to have a hand in curating this event once again; Portland is full-to-the-brim with very talented writers who are getting recognized all over the continent and I want to take this opportunity to celebrate our writers and really let them show off what they can do, even with such a tight turnaround."

The 24-Hour Portland Theater Project began as an extension to the Maine Playwrights Festival in 2010, and it has been an annual tradition ever since. Each year, almost three dozen artists from various theater companies come together to work on this event, which has provided excellent networking opportunities over the years. Last year the 24-Hour Theatre Festival became its own separate festival and this year moves to Acorn's home at Mechanics Hall.