Students write, produce and put on 24-hour play
Photo credit: Mi-Ree Zwick
By Mi-Ree Zwick
A group of Concordia students wrote, produced and put on an original play, “The Jewel of my Heart ‘Sometimes, this thing we really need is right in front of us, and we don’t see its value,’” all in 24 hours.
When the Curtain Club initially thought of the idea of the 24-hour play, they sent out a form and everyone interested met to create a game plan.
“Everyone got to sign up for what they wanted to do,” said director Caleb Jalas. “I think I was the only one who signed up for director.” Jalas said it was the first time he had ever directed anything on his own.
Freshman Araceli Regalado, who helped write the script, said the idea was to write a play based on a love square. So they wrote a play within a play, within a play.
Senior Nicole Rodriguez saw the performance and said since it was all done in 24 hours, she was not expecting top quality.
“But for 24-hours, it was really good,” she said, and added that she was impressed with the writing and how many storylines the actors and writers managed to keep straight.
Theater major Claire Horacek participated as a writer. In past plays Horacek would be involved in a different part of the process, whether it was as the director or an actor. She said that it was an interesting experience to “let go of it” and let the director and actors “do their thing” because it was not hers anymore.
The audience had to really pay attention to follow the action.
“We have actors on stage portraying actors in a different stage production, portraying actors in a third smaller play production,” said actor Harley Storie.
The theme was that the actors are in a love square and have to navigate putting on a performance while dealing with their own drama. The secondary versions of those actors are the female lead as a corporate businesswoman who wanted to take over a failing theater, which was the main livelihood of the male lead actor. The failing theater’s performance was about a damsel in distress being saved by a prince.
About two dozen audience members attended the play’s performance.
