People debating the attractiveness of the Olive Garden's Never-Ending Pasta Bowl over ritualistic mass suicide: no, it wasn't a Scientologist convention. Instead, it was one of the many topics covered in this weekend's 24-Hour Theater Festival.
An audience of theater fans and celebrity judges filled Alumnae Lounge on Saturday night to watch the product of 24 hours worth of script writing, rehearsal and costume design from the participants in Bare Bodkin's annual festival.
For this Bare Bodkin staple event, the actors of Club Mammogram, Team Awesome and Team Bombay took their ideas from inception to final bow in less time than it takes Tori Spelling's makeup artist to make her look like a believable human being.
For the actors, the event began exactly one day prior. As per the strictest of Bare Bodkin festival codes, participants arrived in Alumnae Lounge at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and were divided into three groups. Each group was then bound by one rule: the 20-minute piece they would present the next evening had to begin with the line, "One...two...three...four."
Armed with this elliptical-laden opener, the three groups dispersed, only to reconvene at 8:00 p.m. Saturday night with a script, show and choreographed dance number (the latter of which was an optional extra credit feature of this year's festival). Rather than the frenetic lack of composure expected from students with a deadline, participants somehow kept their cool throughout the process.
Surprisingly, said veteran festival participant and Team Bombay member Dave Naden, "We had a lot of free time this year."
At 10:00 p.m., a visit to Club Mammogram's headquarters revealed a relaxed atmosphere, as actors oscillated between fits of brainstorming and watching the Red Sox game.
"We're shooting for four hours of sleep," said Mammogramian senior Alex Sherman.
Indeed, the group had little to fret about - only two hours in, the plot outline, characters and dreams of a giant jellyfish cameo had all been established. These ideas were well-formed enough, in fact, that they remained almost unchanged in the actual performance.
In contrast, Team Bombay mapped out two different ideas and even started writing and running another script before settling Saturday afternoon on a 19th century schoolgirl motif.
The unique nature of the 24-Hour Festival is evident in both the process and the final product. Not surprisingly, each group took the "One...two...three...four" opener in completely different directions.
Saturday's performances began with Club Mammogram's "The Hereafter." In the piece, members of a cult (who accept this designation "for tax purposes only") become increasingly fed up with their most irritating disciple. They decide to "off" him by tricking him into jumping on "three" into what he thinks will be a mass suicide, though plans become somewhat marred when he does actually arrive in the Great Hereafter without them. An impressively complex plotline, skilled comedic acting and the appearance of a giant jellyfish-as-deity were among the highlights of "The Hereafter."
Team Awesome continued the momentum of Mammogram's performance with a play about a series of events that occurred when the improbable became the norm. Tossed quarters landed on their edge 100 percent of time, the winning numbers of the lottery were "1, 2, 3 and 4" (a feat with an improbability trumped only by the number of people who actually chose this sequence), and assassins at point-blank range could no longer kill their targets. Perhaps the most impressive portion of Team Awesome's piece was a parody of last year's Tufts production of "Parade."
In the final performance of the evening, Team Bombay's play opened in a young ladies' school in 19th century Britain. After a freak carriage accident orphans one of the girls, forcing her into prostitution, the other pupils (played entirely by a cast of falsetto males) construct a plan to steal their headmistress' prized, signed, first-edition copy of "The Bible" (a rarity because it is signed by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost). When a sinister stranger steals the book from the schoolgirls, they exact their revenge by revealing that the school they attend is in fact Miss Hennepin's School for Vampire Girls. For the sinister stranger, death-by-fang was inevitable.
After all of the groups finished, a panel of on-campus celebrity judges (sophomore Madeline Schussel as "Acting Expert," TDC board member Sam Stiegler as "Dance Expert," Department of Drama and Dance lecturer Virginia Johnson as "Aesthetic Expert," and junior David Dennis as "Audience Expert") filled out grading rubrics and deliberated.
The final results put Team Bombay in first place, followed by Team Mammogram second and Team Awesome third. Superlatives were also dispensed, including the ongoing Telly Kousakis and Jenn Gerson Memorial Commemorative Award for Best Awkward Sexual Moment (won by Alex Sherman and Laura Willcox) and Best Portrayal of Themselves for Armen Nercessian.
But senior Ashley Berman, Bare Bodkin's executive director, said the festival is "not really a competitive thing." Indeed, she sees it as a way for students to get involved in theater without dedicating a huge amount of time.
"The actors show up and give 24 hours," she said. "It's a good way to get involved for a brief period."
While the festival was at times a bit of an inside joke for those who have been involved in the theater community in the past (with nods to past shows and multiple references to Scientology), by and large it was an impressive display of Tufts talent and a fun night for audience members.
Among the night's lessons learned is a line from Club Mammogram's "The Hereafter:" "The great beyond is sort of like Canada."
