Here’s how One Day Only works. At about 9:00 PM on Friday, August 29, a group of writers, directors, actors, and technicians will get together for the first time. A brief get-to-know you session will include providing ideas for the writers (to be drawn out of a hat) and taking pictures of the actors (no headshots and resumes are allowed). Then the writers stay at the theatre and work through the night, composing a ten to fifteen minute play based on the subject he/she drew.

At 6:30 AM (yes, THAT early!), the directors return. They will quickly read the plays, decide who directs which play, and cast the plays from the pictures taken the night before. The actors show up around 8:00 AM and meet with their director and fellow cast members. The writers go home to get some sleep while the plays are blocked, memorized, and rehearsed by the director and actors.

Tech rehearsal begins around 4:00 PM. Then the curtain rises at 8:00 PM, when all of the plays are presented for the first time at the Courtyard Theater of Plano. That’s right – seven world premieres!

If you’re interested in participating as a writer, director, or actor, please click here for more information about the festival, and how to submit your name. (It’s strictly “first come, first served” … really!) Come and be a part of the most dangerously democratic art project in North Texas!