"An Octopus? My God, how did he manage it?" This line proved to be the jumping-off point for Bare Bodkin's "24 Hour Theatre Festival," Saturday, Oct. 14 in the Alumnae Lounge. Participating actors gathered Friday night and were asked to propose a line that would begin all of the festival's plays.
After a line was picked from a hat, three groups of five people each proceeded to create a sitcom-length play (22 minutes) that had to include a musical performance - all within 24 hours. With no sleep requirement, most of the actors worked long into the night planning their shows.
Saturday evening, after a hard day's work, the three teams (Spermaphore, Sexy Chocolate and Miss Tickletail and the Kindergarten Mafia), performed their acts. A large and enthusiastic student audience packed into the performance space to cheer them on. Theatre Manager Joanne Barnett, drama graduate student Ginny Anderson, 3Ps President and senior Brian Smith, 3Ps Vice President of Tech and junior Julie Hanlon and resident stage manager and junior Dan Freeman comprised this year's panel of judges, which ultimately proclaimed Sexy Chocolate's saga of an airport hold-up over a smuggled octopus the winner.
Cheap Sox members Katie Clark and Dave Adler, both seniors, hosted the theater festival dressed in bathrobes and slippers. Seated in armchairs and drinking tea, the hosts invited the audience to join them in their "living room" for entertainment between acts.
The first group to perform was Miss Tickletail and the Kindergarten Mafia, with a play about a stuffy gentleman's club infiltrated by a woman. "We were sitting around throwing out ideas," said actor and Bodkin board member Molly Yarn, a sophomore. "We decided it would be funny to do something about old, crusty British men."
After the first line was recited, one of the group's men responded, "Well, it turns out it was a bagpipe after all." Following their gender-bending theme, Miss Tickletail performed an original song called, "We Are Men," as well as Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!"
Sexy Chocolate came next with a story about an unsuspecting boat insurance salesman who has an airport layover in Big Piney, Wyo. while trying to fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo. The airport is in a state of disarray over an octopus that has somehow made it onto his plane. While waiting for the situation to be resolved, the man encounters a number of crazy characters, including a sexually aggressive female passenger, a Wyomingite with a passion for show tunes, a punk playing with razor blades and a schizophrenic flight attendant.
"Trying to come up with absurd situations involving octopi is a difficult task," said graduate student and participant Anthony DiClaudio. "I took inspiration for my character from Cary Grant in 'Bringing up Baby' (1938), who plays a straight man always in the wrong place at the wrong time." Sexy Chocolate concluded their act with a group sing-along to Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie's "We Are the World."
The last group to perform was Spermaphore, whose sexual content didn't stop at its name. The play followed a womanizer named Pierce as he engaged in an "octopus," a term the actors created for one man bedding eight women at the same time. The actor, played by freshman Mark Alpert, said at one point in the play, "They call me the octopus, because once I get my arms around you, you won't ever need to come up for air."
In the end, Pierce falls in love with a conservative girl named Gretchen. The two longingly sing "Something There" from 1991's "Beauty and the Beast" to each other, but before Pierce has time to win Gretchen, he is stabbed by a detective who has been tracking his illicit activities.
The judges had a difficult time making their decision. "We were pulling each other's hair out trying to come to a consensus," said panelist Anderson. "In the end, though, Sexy Chocolate had a clear story and carried its wit from the beginning through the end."
In addition to the first prize, the hosts also handed out six superlative prizes to the cast, with titles like "Best Sandwich Meat Ever" and "Most Scantily Clad and Sexually Frustrated."
Senior and Bare Bodkin Executive Director Leticia Frazao, also a Daily Arts staff writer, organized the show. "There was a great turnout. We were really happy that so many people came to watch the performance," she said.
According to Frazao, "24 Hour" - which occurs once a semester - is one of Bodkin's best events. "It is a great place for people to be creative and experimental, because they are forced under a time constraint to come up with something that will be judged by a panel and by the audience," said Frazao.
Last Saturday night, the event was, once again, judged to be a success.
