On February 7, 2025, Clark University Players Society (CUPS) embarked on a journey to create two one act plays in just 24 hours. They enlisted the help of two directors, three writers, six actors, one costume designer and one set designer. In the end, they put on a sold-out show with a successful run despite the pressures of such a rushed schedule.
February 7, 9 p.m. (24 Hours)
Before CUPS commenced their kick off meeting, a sense of anticipation wafted through the air. Everyone was nervous. This is new to most of the participants, and 24 hours is a very, very short time. The president of CUPS, Weslee Tyler, then began a breakdown of the tight schedule.
The E-Board and organizers of the event ensured the tone of the evening became hopeful. They affirmed that this was a new experience for many of the team members, and that no one was expecting perfection. Their light-hearted and positive attitude slowly morphed the air of anxiety into comradery and resolve.
Or maybe the shift had something to do with the promise of free pizza?
To keep within the theme of their Fall show “Twelve Angry Jurors” CUPS announced the subject for the writers to base their work on: “Truth and Justice”. Immediately after the kick-off ended, the writers got to work
They had to work quickly, and they had to stay up late. They only had until 6AM the next morning.
Everyone felt excited, even with the clock slowly tick, tick ticking down.
February 8, 6 a.m. (15 Hours)
The writers turned in the scripts, the E-board proof-read them and the directors and actors received them.
9 a.m. (12 Hours)
Auditions: every actors’ feared performance.
The directors sat in front of the stage in the Michelson Theater, and the actors began reading preselected sides. Every actor prepared to their own extent. Some skimmed the scripts multiple times, and others were reading the material for the first time.
Kyle Przystas and Sydney Emerson, two people who flipped through the script during breakfast, felt confident of their performance. Emerson said she was glad she did not have to prepare a monologue, and Przystas said he was less nervous during this audition than usual because at least he is guaranteed a part.
9:30 a.m. (11 Hours and 30 Minutes)
While the actors calmed down in the lobby of the Little Center, the directors collaborated and discussed who would be best in each role. The casting process only lasted 10 minutes, allowing the actors to hear the results soon after.
10 a.m. (10 Hours)
Immediately after hearing which part from which play they received, the actors split up to different theatres to begin rehearsing for the performance in 12 hours.
Vivian Young, director of “So Knock”, started with warmups to get her actors comfortable, then continued with a first read through of the script. She encouraged everyone to think about the hidden details about the characters that could not fit within the short script.
Young asked important questions: What’s the motivation? What purpose does this character serve? Young says “once you have a good idea of who the character is, it helps immensely in the reading of the lines.”
Devin Moss, director of “Brainstorm” started by asking actors to walk in different ways, then how their character would walk. She asked them to then name three facts about the characters that the script did not mention.
The time restraint did not bother Moss, stating, “everyone involved is very supportive and excited about this, and I really think that whatever happens it will be exciting and we will all be proud of what we did.”
Both directors were excited to bring the writers’ work to life.
2 p.m. (Seven Hours)
After a lunch break, rehearsals continued, and the actors were truly embodying their characters. They ran through the show multiple times, trying different deliveries for lines to see what fit.
Moss directed Cole Smith, an actor in “Brainstorm”, to repeat his opening lines five different times, giving him a variety of ways to do so from “extremely drugged up” to like a cartoon. One of the attempts, Smith accidentally missed grabbing a chair to sit on which ended up being a choice brought into the final version of the show.
Grayson Costigan, another actor in “Brainstorm” says their disposition to their character, like many of the other characters they play is “they’re a rat bastard and I hate them”. They say, “I like him, but I see where he’s coming from, but I’m like: ‘you dick’.”
Asher Rosenfeld, an actor in “So Knock” says that since his character is complex and “a figment of a character’s imagination that is also a representation of that real character reacting to real life events” that he does not “feel fully prepared” because of the short time period.
5 p.m. (Four Hours)
The final performance was slowly nearing, and the costumes and set were just about prepared.
Unfortunately, CUPS could not gain access to the woodshop in the Little Center, so instead set designer Alex Donato used a bunch of Amazon boxes stapled together to make a stable rendition of what would normally be made of wood. Donato took furniture from around the Little Center to make the living room used in both plays and a cafe scene including a vase of flowers and a round table accessed from the prop closet.
Fortunately, CUPS could gain access to the Thrift Store for costumes as Weslee Tyler works there. Audrey Roller, the costume designer, chose costumes based on “vibes” of characters and atmosphere of the play. They said they were “surprised at how well their picks went over” and they were “excited to see what the audience thinks because both of the plays are super fascinating.”
8 p.m. (One Hour)
After dinner, the cast and crew gathered in the lobby of the Little Center. People were excitedly chatting and the CUPS Eboard were whispering amongst themselves. They turned around and announced that the performance would change places from the Michaelson Theatre to the upstairs Experimental Theatre, a significantly smaller and dimmer stage.
This change meant alterations to the set and blocking were necessary. Sydney Emerson’s character was sitting upstage on the stairs that are only present in the larger theatre, and she lamented that it really messes up their positioning and preparation.
The CUPS treasurer, Rudy Freso-Umanzor, held a different view point. “I’m a firm believer that when you’re doing a show or a performance, if the last, last rehearsal doesn’t have something go wrong, then the show is gonna go bad. It just reminds me that the show tonight is going to be really good.”
They had time for one final run through on their new stage.
9 p.m. (Show Time!)
“Brainstorm” performed first. The play featured two close college-aged friends intervening on a friend’s worsening drug problem after an unfortunate, undisclosed incident. Ronnie, played by Grayson Costigan, felt anger towards Jessie, played by Cole Smith, for not caring for their own life or their friends. Sam, portrayed by Sydney Emerson, although reluctant to address the problem, ended up getting through to Jessie by apt analogies and displays of friendship after Jessie overheard Sam and Ronnie arguing over their problem.
The show felt so extremely authentic and caring about the topic it discussed. I could truly feel how the actors understood their characters and how the actions, down to their facial expressions, reflected their awareness of their motives. Due to the actors’ depictions, the audience could understand where each character is coming from too.
I loved the writer’s choice to include genuine anger between the friends and an actual argument that seemed to be building beyond the audience’s knowledge. It felt somewhat voyeuristic. As though, we, as the observers, were walking in on something we weren’t meant to see. Like we weren’t supposed to see the struggles and disagreements in the trio’s friendship.
Smith did an impressive job of changing emotions throughout the performance from excited to irate to calm and sympathetic; he showed a remarkable range.
“So Knock” performed next. It followed Benny, played by Nathan Kelley, as he unraveled the character of his estranged grandfather from his family’s different biased viewpoints, all the characters of father, mother and cousin all played by Kyle Przystas. Benny’s image of who his grandfather appeared as a sort of hallucination of a person, played by Asher Rosenfeld.
According to writers Cecelia Bachana and Maddie Siciliano, the play truly focused on generational trauma, and although not explicitly stated in the play, how lack of acceptance for the queer and transgender community can cause rifts between family members. They said that never meeting the real grandfather “spoke to the idea of truth. He’s imagining this version of his grandfather, but we don’t know which version is the real version.”
The play is such a wonderful depiction of generational trauma and the ways in which it affects people who were never involved in the events of the past. Thanks to Kelley’s acting, the audience could truly see the ways Benny felt cheated by the unknown drama that his family went through. The cast and writers made all of the characters, even the grandfather, who we never truly met, feel sympathetic and understandable.
Originally, we did not know if Benny was to knock on his disconnected grandfather’s door. However, as Kelley expressed, something in their family needs to change, for better or for worse, and the only way to do that is to knock.
CUPS created and performed two plays in one day, and both had depth in the acting, set design, and writing. The participants created something wonderful in an impressively short amount of time, and I know everyone who witnessed it can tell how much passion they hold for the craft. I feel grateful I did not miss it and have to wait two more years to see Play-in-a-Day!
Thanks to CUPS and all participants in Play-in-a-Day for your cooperation in writing this article!
