24 Hour Theater? Sleep Deprived Actors And Much, Much More

Last night, I attended this thing called 24 Hour Theater at the UCSC Barnstorm Theater. The idea behind this 24 Hour Theater is that four actors "conceived, wrote, directed, stages, designed, created, and built" a 3o minute play with only 24 hours. Sounds absolutely horrendous. I mean, think about it and you'll see what I mean. Putting a time limit on creativity? Unheard of! Art knows no limits! Art knows no boundaries! Art knows no time constraints!

So, to put everything into perspective, I have decided to do my own timed creativity spurt. Well, writing this blurb can hardly be called Art, but for what it's worth, I will time myself to allow only 30 minutes to write this article. Starting NOW.

The Barnstorm Theater, located at the base of campus, is one of my favorite spots on-campus. As is made clear by its name, the Barn looks like and is a literal barn. Inside, everything is made of wood and everything smells like wood, which I personally find very appealing. I guess don't go there if you have a deep-seeded fear of splinters.

The play that was performed was something quite intriguing, featuring four Barnstormers, one of whom was Ben Chau-Chiu. Unfortunately, I do not know the names of the other three actors, so help me out if you can! The four actors played a director (Ben), and three of his actors, who constantly bickered with each other, eventually reaching their breaking points and throwing off the whole troupe. The plot was all over the place, breaking the fourth wall several times, and then the fifth wall, and at the very end, the sixth wall, too. The story line jumped around from comedy to a brutal murder mystery, which then transformed into a psychological thriller/horror genre. At the very end, everything was unclear, and yet there still seemed to be a sense of resolution and conclusion to the whole thing. The awesomely convincing acting probably helped. Someone sitting in the row behind me pointed out that every song played before the performance began was of a different genre, a detail I shall now take advantage of and call FORESHADOWING, using italics and caps to emphasize how spooky, mysterious, and funny it is all at the same time.

Anyways, I'm on a time budget, because how else could I feel what these actors felt without recreating an almost identical scenario to their own? Sure, I'm off a couple hours, but the idea is there. I am extremely glad I went out to see this performance, and I look forward to the next Barnstorm performance! Here's an entire sentence dedicated exclusively to the Barn's website link, with all their upcoming performances.