ACT Hosts 30 Days to 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival

14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival returns to ACT for a third year, January 7-8 and 14-15, 2011. Produced as part of the Central Heating Lab at ACT, 14/48 will do the unthinkable: conceive, write, design, score, rehearse, produce and perform 14 plays in 48 hours, all with the help of Seattle's most adventurous theatre artists hailing from around the Sound! Entering its 14th year in Seattle, 14/48 happens twice a year and has produced more than 700 plays with more than 3,000 artists.

This year, more than 50 invited theatre artists will participate each weekend, including the following:14/48
Virgins are:
o Directors: Strawberry Theatre Workshop Artistic Director Greg Carter, Peggy Gannon, Book-It Repertory Theatre's Annie Lareau and R. Hamilton Wright (ACT Theatre's A Christmas Carol, 2009).
o Playwrights: David Drummond, Maria Glanz, Brandon Simmons and Juliet Waller.
o Actors: Alyson Bedford Baldwin, Alyssa Bostwick, Daniel Christensen, Amy Hill, Patrick Lennon, Teru MacDonald, Christin Marie-Brown, Sara Mountjoy-Pepka, Dawson Nichols, Montana Von Fliss and Terri Weagant.
o 14/48 Band: Seattle Opera Chorus member Heather Mullin and classical guitarist Eric Branner.
- Familiar 14/48 Faces include:
o Directors: Sheila Daniels, and Seattle Shakespeare Company's George Mount.
o Playwrights: Scot Augustson (Annex Theatre's "Penguins"), BrenDan Healy, Celene Ramadan and after a long, long, LONG hiatus, Wayne Rawley of Theater Schmeater's "Money and Run."
o Actors: Kate Jaeger, Charles Leggett, Evan Mosher, and Don Daryl Rivera.
o 14/48 Band: Alan Echison, Annie Jantzer, Michael Owcharuck and Dave Pascal.
Full Artist Roster, Press photos and more info: www.1448fest.com

How do these amazing artists work together to pull off 14/48?
Early Thursday Night, Before the Festival Begins: After tapping the ceremonial 14/48 Keg, all the participants choose a theme by completing this sentence: "Theatre would be a lot more interesting if there were seven ten-minute plays about _____." One answer is chosen at random and that becomes the theme for the following evening.
Thursday Night: Seven caffeine-filled writers have one night to write a 10-minute play based on the theme.
The Next morning: Seven directors gather and each randomly draw one play. Thirty minutes later, the directors blindly choose actors and actresses to cast the show.
That Day: The band shows up to provide music and sound as the directors and their casts rehearse all day. Early that evening the groups struggle to squeeze in a tech rehearsal and at 8pm the first show begins!

After the Seven World Premiere Plays Wrap: The audience chooses a new theme and the adrenaline-charged theater-a-thon kicks in again.

14/48 runs for two consecutive weekends January 7 & 8, 14 & 15: Friday and Saturday (8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.) with a New Group of artists each weekend. Tickets are $20 advance, $25 at the door & $50 for an All-Fest Pass. Tickets are available at the ACT Ticket Office, 700 Union Street, Downtown Seattle, (206) 292-7676 or online at www.acttheatre.org. For more information on 14/48 visit www.1448fest.com, and www.1448fest.blogspot.com.
Where: ACT Theatre, 700 Union St, Seattle WA
When: January 7 & 8, 14 & 15, Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00 & 10:30pm
Tickets: $20 online / $25 day of show / $50 All-Fest Pass
(206) 292 - 7676 or www.acttheatre.org

About 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival
Founded in 1997 by Michael Neff and Jodi-Paul Wooster, the festival has evolved from a one-night one-time only event to a twice-yearly, two-weekend-long theatrical bonanza that features Seattle's most fearless theatre artists with occasional guests from Los Angeles, Vancouver BC and New York. Participation is by invitation only and ranges from experienced fringe theater artists to Seattle's performance elite. Each festival, 14/48's Steering Committee strives to comprise the artist pool of at least 25% new participants (a.k.a. "14/48 virgins"). The 14/48 Steering Committee is Megan Ahiers, Shawn Belyea, Jodi-Paul Brown-Wooster, Kerri Brown-Wooster, Deb Fialkow, Tim Hyland, Andy Jensen, Peter Dylan O'Connor, Alex Samuels and Stan Shields.

14/48 is 14 plays conceived, written, designed, scored, rehearsed and performed in 48 hours. The brutal combination of short deadlines, extreme talent, incredible speed, frayed nerves and an overflowing fountain of inspiration serve to strip away creative inhibitions occasionally found in more traditional theater, proving that, contrary to popular opinion -sometimes the first idea is the best. 14/48 involves over 50 artists per weekend with at least 25% participating for the first time. Artistic participation is by invitation only and is predicated on the most rigorous professional standards. Past 14/48 participants include: R. Hamilton Wright (Scrooge in ACT Theatre's A Christmas Carol), Jerry Manning (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Stephanie Shine (Seattle Shakespeare Co.), Rita Giomi (Seattle Children's Theatre), and Seattle audience favorites Charles Leggett, Khanh Doan, Alyson Scadron-Branner, Nick Garrison, Sheila Daniels, Paul Mullin, Amy Thone, Sarah Rudinoff, Kathy Hsieh (Sex in Seattle), and members of the highly-aclaimed theater-music-comedy-art collective "Awesome."

About ACT - A Contemporary Theatre
Located in the heart of downtown Seattle and serving a population of curious, open-minded, and brave audiences, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre is the only local theatre dedicated to producing contemporary work with promising playwrights and local performing artists since 1965. A theatre of new ideas, ACT serves as a cultural engine that makes plays, dance, music, and film that touch us. Because contemporary life demands examination, ACT is driven to inspire and strengthen our diverse community through works that advance our understanding of human life. With more than 100,000 people who attend shows annually, ACT is an interactive community where artists and the public witness, contemplate, and engage in dialogue on today's thought-provoking issues, ideas and art, presented with intelligence, insight, and humor.

ACT also gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Season Sponsors ArtsFund, ACT Foundation, The Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and The Shubert Foundation, along with Producing Partners 4Culture, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, The Boeing Company, Microsoft Corporation, Nesholm Family Foundation, the Peg & Rick Young Foundation, and PONCHO.