Telling stories at break-neck speed part of 24-Hour Plays in Merced area

A foothill performance is set this weekend for what organizers describe as “part spectacle, part sporting event and part theatrical experience.”

Project Big Top and the Yosemite Bug Mountain Resort present the 24-hour plays at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, in the resort’s Bodie Room, 6979 Highway 140, Midpines.

In 24-hour plays, six 10-minute plays are written, rehearsed and performed all in the same day, according to organizers.

Twenty-five actors, six directors and six writers gather the night before the performance to begin playwriting, rehearsing and performing. Theater artists from Mariposa, El Portal, Midpines, Merced and Modesto will be collaborating on this event through the night, according to a news release.

The morning of the performance, the directors arrive and are handed the script that was pounded out overnight by the writers. The actors join their teams, organizers said, and spend the day learning lines and working with directors all the way up until the performance.

Tickets are $5 and available at the door, which opens at 7 the night of the show.

Project Big Top is a traveling performance production company that provides an encouraging, collaborative environment for the development of risk-taking literary and performing artists and the production of socially relevant creative works with an aim to develop community engagement and empowerment, according to organizers.

For more, email or call producer Dawn Trook at dtrook@gmail.com or 415-728-2488.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Telling stories at break-neck speed part of 24-Hour Plays in Merced area."