The theater department typically will put months of work into its shows. However, once a year, Dr. Steve Wood and his students write, direct and put on 12 shows all within 24 hours.
Wood, the coordinator of this event, said that more writers participated this year.
“This year we gathered 12 writers, some years we have 8, some years we have 10, then at 7 PM Saturday evening, there will be 12 original shows that did not exist 24 hours before,” Wood said.
The writers meet at 7 PM on Friday night and begin writing their shows at 10. The directors then read the scripts that the writers came up with and develop the stories further. Then the actors come in, learn their lines, and work with the directors to create a show.
Anyone can play a part in the show, not just theater majors.
Wood has been putting on “The Show” (the name of this event) for eleven years at Indiana Wesleyan University, but for 15 years altogether. He said that he heard the idea while in grad school.
Wood said his favorite past of the show is seeing how everyone reacts afterwards.
“My favorite part of the show is watching people accomplish something in one day that they didn’t think they could, just that feeling that you can see in their faces, that feeling of pride that they did a hard thing and did it together even though they felt like they couldn’t,” Wood said.
Shae Gillespie, an Indiana Wesleyan alumnus, served as a director for “The Show” this year. She said her favorite part of the show is how weird and Zainey everything is.
Gillespie said the shows are very raw and authentic because everyone is doing this sleep-deprived.
Josiah Wollan, a 2023 alumnus, came back for the event this year. Wollan said his favorite part of the event is how fast it is made.
“Normally, theater takes months of preparation, but you now get to see it all happen in literally 24 hours,” Wollan said. “You bond really quickly with your team and just make magic.”
