“At some point, everyone going through this is going to hate it,” Tina Fallon admits with a laugh. “They’re going to feel awful, they’re going to hate everyone. But that passes.”
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Two weeks ago Fallon and Susan Stahl, a friend in Chicago who’s coproducing the event, started making calls and sending E-mails in search of 50 people to participate. At 10 PM this Saturday, those who’ve signed on will assemble in the Chopin Theatre. Each is supposed to bring a costume piece and a prop. “We ask people to bring both, but they usually forget one or the other,” Fallon says. After everyone is introduced, briefed, and captured on Polaroid, the lid on the pressure cooker slams shut.
The six writers are sequestered at 11 PM; they each have until 6 AM to come up with a ten-minute play. Fallon urges them to start from ground zero, rather than developing ideas they may have brought with them. “One of the reasons we all come together like this is to blow preconceptions out of our minds,” she explains. “If the writer walks in thinking about a scene between a blond bombshell and a 70-year-old man, and there’s no blond bombshell among the actors, he’s going nowhere.
“The plays are never ready during rehearsal, not during tech either,” Fallon says. “Everything happens at the last minute.
The 24-Hour Plays starts Sunday at 8 at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division. Admission is $10. Call 773-278-1500 for reservations.
