The 24 Hours

Three plays

Two massive sacks of bagels

21 actors

Two coffee makers

Three playwrights

One embalming table

One pound of Metropolis coffee

No internet

Three directors

Four meals

One stage

These are just a few of the ingredients that went into our 24-hour intensive experiment in new play development. We entered the building Sunday at three in the afternoon, and the last of us departed at three the next day, pillows and bedding and bags of empty water bottles for the recycling bin in tow, sleepy but excited about the pieces we're working on.

Each play received roughly 10-14 hours of intensive work, broken up by meals, social time and a few hours of well-earned sleep. The three plays rotated between the main performance space (a 99-seat theater), the lobby and the dressing room (a converted mortuary and home to the aforementioned embalming table, which one of our brave actors spent the night on) over the course of the 24 hours.

There's still a lot to do before we invite the public in to join our process on Friday and Saturday. There are scripts to print, and revisions still to come, and then more scripts to print; there are risks to take, questions to ask and ever more pots of coffee to brew and drink before we open up the doors of The Charnel House and invite you in to see what we've been working on.

Look for more stuff to pop up here in the next few days, including photos, more detailed summaries of our three plays, and possibly some video footage. Keep checking back with us, and if you're in town on Friday and Saturday, stop by the readings, tell us what you think, and get involved in the process with us.

-Erica Hohn

Executive Producer