The World's Quickest Theatre Fest Has Another Winning Year
14/48: The World's Quickest Theatre Festival, enters the second and last week of its run at ACT Theatre, 700 Union St., this weekend. Performances are Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Tickets $20.
First, the idea is totally insane and gave us anxiety just thinking about it. Fourteen plays, written, directed and performed in front of a live audience in 48 hours. If you're an actor, writer, performer, or have ever been on a stage, you'd certainly understand. Deep breaths. What is certainly a weekend of chaos for all parties involved in the production of the world's quickest theater festival however, composed itself into a relatively well oiled machine come the 8 p.m. curtain.
Louis Broome's Strange Attractors, part of the 14/48 Festival, directed by Brian Faker, featuring Andrew McMasters, Aaron Washington, and Erin Stewart.
Act I began promptly with The Courtyard, a comedy. It involved a couple, a City employee from the department of Land Use, and a plot of concrete land on a contested site. Next we witnessed Turn of the Century, with Annie Lareau pulling off a seriously sheltered woman who never went outside. Aaron Washington was the animated neighbor whose at times flamboyant outbursts finally lured her out of the house. Duelletee: A Play in Reverse, was just that. The audience chuckled while the adept players recited lines and actions from end to beginning. Step Lightly, My Love was a funny ode to young love, in a weird way, with a coach who reminded us of Rex from Napoleon Dynamite.
Ah, intermission. Audience flees, pees, and puts recommendations for the following night's theme, to be chosen after the curtain call, into a plastic ice-cream cone. Our rec was "Black and Trans in America." Not sure where that came from. And our thoughts thus far: this is very well rehearsed, very funny improv, but better!
Act II graced us with the final three plays, starting with Global Risk Management Series, written by Paul Mullin. Apparently this Paul Mullin is pretty famous, and we were the only ones in the room who didn't know about him. Our bad, Paul. The rest of the audience did, though, and ate up all ten minutes of the WaMu satire, where every actor and character was played by Paul Mullin. Not the real Paul Mullin, but the Paul Mullin cast to play Paul Mullin, pretending to be Paul Mullin (I think).
We commend the talented and brave actors, writers and directors of 14/48 for pulling off something pretty amazing in the span of 48 hours. The evening ended with uproarious laughter at the next night's chosen theme: Liquor Is Quicker.
