Think of the 14/48 Festival as an extreme sport for Seattle’s plethora of theatrical talents. It’s traditionally billed by the organizers as “the world’s quickest theater festival.”
Since 1997, local playwrights, directors, and actors have gathered to create fourteen short plays in forty-eight hours.
For the Friday night shows, a theme is selected on Thursday and the playwrights have one night to polish off one ten-minute play.
On Friday morning, the directors randomly draw a script and blindly choose the actors for the show. Between then and the 8 p.m. curtain, a band will join the rehearsals to provide music and sound.
The process is repeated for each day of the festival, with the audiences choosing the themes on Friday night for Saturday’s shows and so on.
This year’s 14/48 Festival will be held ACT Theatre’s Gregory Falls Theatre, 700 Union St, in downtown Seattle on January 6, 7, 13, and 14. A set of short plays begins at 8 p.m. and again at 10:30 pm each night.
Along with many returning artists, the festival organizers recently announced the addition of the following “newbies” to 14/48: actors Renata Friedman (K of D), Paul Mullin, Tracy Leigh, Harry Jameison, Adria LaMorticella, and Bobby Temple; directors Tim Moore and Rob Bergquist; and playwrights Emily Conbere, Daniel Tarker, and Doug Willot.
After several festivals as an actor and band member, Sean Nelson switches hats in January to try his hand at writing.
Tickets range from $20 to $40 for an All-Fest Pass. More information is available at the 14/48 website. But you won’t find the theme of the plays there or who is in them until the day of show. That’s how this festival rolls.
Comments