By: Rylee McAlexander
On February 6 and 7, the Howard Payne University theatre department hosted its 18th annual 24-Hour Theatre Festival — a fast-paced creative event that challenges students to write, rehearse, and perform an original play all within a single day.
The process began Friday at 7 p.m. with open auditions for HPU students, alumni, and local high school students. After auditions concluded, actors were dismissed for the evening while the directors and playwrights began their overnight work. From 9 p.m. until 8 a.m., writers crafted original scripts from scratch.
Once the script was completed, directors had one hour to review it before actors returned at 9 a.m. Rehearsals then continued throughout the day, with the cast working until 6:30 p.m. to bring the production together. At 7 p.m., less than 24 hours after the creative process began, the performance took the stage.
This year, 24 students participated in the festival, including seven high school students.
Nicholas Ewen, assistant professor of theatre, explained that he first encountered the concept while working on his Ph.D. at Texas Tech University in 2006.
“The idea of the 24-hour theatre festival was something that I came across while I was working on my PhD at Texas Tech University in 2006,” said Ewen. After several years at HPU, students expressed interest in trying the format themselves, and the tradition was born.
This year’s featured production was inspired by Waiting for Godot. Ewen shared that the idea developed during a Fine Arts trip to New York in December.
“The idea for this play came to me this December during our Fine Arts trip to New York, where people were lamenting how difficult it would be to get tickets to see Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in the Broadway performances of the play,” Ewen said.
Despite the excitement, the time constraint presents a significant challenge. Ewen noted that while the writers stay up all night crafting the script, they are able to rest during the day while actors rehearse.
Even with the demanding schedule, Ewen expressed pride in the students’ accomplishments.
“They have made great new friends, they have overcome huge challenges, and then they get rewarded with such a great response from our audiences,” he said.
The festival proved to be another success for the theatre department — an effort that required collaboration and commitment from everyone involved.
“I was very pleased with the performance of the play that I wrote — Dariany and her cast just nailed it, and the audience responded with tons of laughter. I’m so proud of our department and that we had a great group of high school students who got to see and experience what being a part of an HPU theatre event is all about,” Ewen said.
Rylee McAlexander, Junior Staff Writer