Grimoire to host 24-Hour Theater

By Katie Williams
Collegian Editor
April 18, 2007

If you need something innovative to break you out of the pre-finals blues, then be sure to check out 24-Hour Theater. This production will involve a group of students writing, rehearsing and performing a play within 24 hours. Hosted by the Grimoire, it will begin Friday, April 20 at 8 p.m. in the Grimoire office, in room 304 of the Student Union, and end April 21 at 7 p.m. in Backstage when the students will perform their play. Spotlight! sat down with senior English major Leyla Eraslan, one of the organizers of 24-Hour Theater, to find out more about this event.

Spotlight: How did this idea come about?

Leyla Eraslan: It was Francesca Lo Basso’s idea first. Well, we had heard about events like this before, at different festivals. We knew that people had considered doing something like it at La Salle, but no one ever did, so we thought that we should try it.

S: How will the event be set up?

LE: We’ll start off on Friday writing the play, and then rehearsing it. We were originally going to perform in Backstage at 8 p.m., but that directly conflicts with the final night of the Masque play. Our goal is to unite the arts, not force people to compete, so we bumped our play up an hour.

S: Will there be two groups, or will the writers be performing their own work?

LE: That’s really up to the writers. It’s whatever they want to do. If someone wants to come and only write, that’s fine. If you want to only perform, then that’s fine, too. And, it’s also fine to do both.

S: What do you hope will result from this event?

LE: I don’t think that the arts are widely supported at La Salle, so I hope that this changes that. Unless you’re in one of the handful of art groups on campus, then there aren’t a lot of opportunities to be creative. And if you’re in one of the art groups, then you pretty much just stay with them. There’s no real interaction between the arts. Art should be a collaborative effort. I think everyone should be free to be an artist. Shows don’t need to have a two-week rehearsal; you can put on a show that’s just a bunch of idiots performing something they wrote 10 minutes ago, and that show can be wonderful.

williamsk1@lasalle.edu