An Entire Play in a Day

Imagine walking into a theatre with no script, no cast, and no plan — and 24 hours later, producing an original show before a live audience.

That’s exactly what students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) pulled off during Play in a Day, a 24-hour challenge that transformed fall break into a marathon of 10 to 30-minute productions.

STAGE, a newly formed student organization affiliated with UNOTheatre, launched the event to give theatre students more hands-on opportunities to perform their own works. Many are students who are still working to gain roles in theatre productions and want more opportunities to hone their craft. For some, it was their first time writing or directing and wanted a low-risk way of trying something new. While others were simply wanting to have fun and be creative with their peers over fall break.

"Play in a Day gives students the chance to feel more at home in the rehearsal process, get a little more experience acting,” said Cain Ingram, STAGE’s president and a theatre major. “Ideally, they will be noticed by faculty in charge of casting for the department’s productions."

Inside the director’s studio the night before showtime, students gathered to draw their teams. Each writer and director selected three actors at random, which gave them the chance to craft something with specific actors in mind.

The student organization also included two requirements to help students showcase their creativity: one outlandish prop and a required line of dialogue: “Oh, it’s just a stage.” The props ranged from a giant flamingo to a foam dumbbell to a cartoonish burlap sack full of money.

After the cast drawing, the countdown began. Mindful that actors needed time to memorize and rehearse lines; writers realistically had to prepare the script overnight. By morning, directors had scripts in hand and hours to bring each story to life.

“I'm a writer at heart,” said Kadon Webber, one of the writers and a journalism major. “I feel this is one of the few opportunities for students’ creative works to be displayed and performed. It is so satisfying not only to create a script, but to create a script that others believe in, and that others put their heart into your work to make it come to fruition.”

The challenge of writing seemed daunting. Premises had to be simple and coherent, while somehow relatable to the audience. To do this, Webber tapped into his own life to organize a story.

He thought about the relationships of his friends, the way they spoke, the tangents and the playful banter. He built a story around a protagonist who discovered their roommate’s father was a mob boss and the resulting drama about why their rent had not been paid.

Throughout the morning and afternoon, classrooms and studios inside the Weber Fine Arts Building turned into rehearsal spaces. Storylines about roommates bickering over unpaid rent in one room, while another ensemble played out a tale about two witches who were guests on a game show.

With creative freedom as much as time allowed, actors learned their motivations behind their roles and their lines. They went home to grab costumes and props to set the stage. By 7 P.M., members of the campus community filled the Black Box Theatre at Weber Fine Arts Center for the shows, which had a different energy than a typical production. While full of creative energy, students maintained a light-heartedness backstage.

“There are some people who haven't had acting or directing opportunities who absolutely blew expectations out of the water,” Webber said. “I believe that since all of the shows are produced in 24 hours it also gives students the opportunity to try and still fail without being judged as the audience comes in with the expectation that these shows were synthesized just yesterday."

It may not have been the most restful of fall breaks, but STAGE is an example of how student organizations are adding to the campus’ vibrancy.