{"id":18303,"date":"2015-05-17T00:19:25","date_gmt":"2015-05-17T07:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=18303"},"modified":"2015-05-18T20:24:21","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T03:24:21","slug":"playwrights-center-of-san-francisco-eight-plays-in-24-hours-try-it-youll-love-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/playwrights-center-of-san-francisco-eight-plays-in-24-hours-try-it-youll-love-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco: Eight Plays in 24 Hours–try it, you’ll LOVE it!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTime is just nature’s way of keeping everything from happening all at once.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In case of the talents producing the 24 Hour Play Festival at the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisc<\/a>o, who needs time anyway? Twenty-four hours is such a small slice of it, here-and-gone before you know it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Picture this: a little over twenty-four hours ago, starting at precisely 8:00 p.m. Friday night, the names of eight of the Center’s gang of playwrights were drawn out of a hat. Literally, out of a silk topper. Those eight were assigned a theme, unknown to any of them before that moment: \u201cThe Devil Made Me Do It!\u201d Now each of the playwrights pulls the name of a director from that hat. Now each director draws the names of actors from. . . .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Deadline for script delivery: 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No matter if the genders, ages, or other physical attributes of the actors drawn matched the requirements of the scripts. The assignments are whatever they are, and the challenge is for everyone involved to pull it off. Rehearsals begin about 9:00 a.m. Saturday. Curtain is 8:00 p.m. Saturday night, the Tides Theater in SF, one of four in the Shelton Theater building on Sutter St.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Tides<\/a> is a black box, so what curtains there are conceal the narrow space backstage. Lights. Showtime!<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, you might think, \u201cHow can any of this be any good, given the ridiculously brief 24 hour between assignment of playwrights and the theme they are to write to?\u201d Do not underestimate the power of theater. Although some of the participants must have day jobs, the level of professionalism on display here is truly astounding.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Eight plays making one hell-of-a-festival, each of them so memorable in its own write that it is a disservice to everyone involved to name even so much as a favorite. Here follows a bullet-point list of names. Everyone deserves a standing ovation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n