BWW Blog: Redeye Theatre Project

The Redeye Theatre Project is something that's popular for anyone involved in performing around my campus. I've had the opportunity to participate for two consecutive years, but I would argue the second year was drastically different from my first. To briefly explain what Redeye is, it's a 24-hour get-together for anyone willing to come where we (the people participating) divide into varying roles such as director, stage crew, and actor and create short plays to be performed the following day at the end of the 24-hour period. For me personally, I would say it's what I look forward to most every school year. Even though there are certain parts of the period where all of us are exhausted, we have our important bonding moments too and it's made it much easier to grow closer to the people on campus who share similar interests to me.

My first experience with Redeye was, I believe, in 2019. At the time, we were working on our production of Young Frankenstein which was everyone's first experience performing a musical on campus. Stakes were high at the time and we had many people interested in coming to see the show. Everyone was a bit on edge leading up to Redeye but we had a large turnout that led to three plays being put on. During this rendition of the project, I took part in a play as one of the lead actors alongside a fellow member of the Ensemble. Being entirely upfront, it was far from one of my best performances but I still look back on the experience with a smile because of how much it helped me and everyone else grow closer.

The beginning was the most laid back portion of the project as it was centric around deciding our roles. After that was decided, the writers went to the second floor of the building and sat in individual classrooms so they could focus. The rest of us stayed in the theater and played games, sang karaoke, ate, and did plenty of other things for several hours until the writers returned. It was past midnight by the time the actors finally received their scripts and we were finally sent off to start reading through and memorizing. We must have been focusing on that until at least 3 A.M. before we went to bed for only about three hours, waking up at around 6 to get our group's time in the theater, setting the stage, and working on lines once again. By noon, we were preparing to perform! The process was undeniably exhausting and stressful with the short amount of time we had to prepare, but I like to think that Redeye helped all of us involved to see our capabilities. The fact that we could put together a short play in the span of 24 hours was incredible and fulfilling by the end.

For 2020's rendition of Redeye, we weren't as successful. Our turnout was too low to allow us to put on a play, but that didn't stop the few of us who came from enjoying ourselves for a few hours before we left and went home. Regardless of its success, we were able to bond as a group and share our love of theater together. I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had with the Redeye Theatre Project for anything and I look forward to attending one last time in 2021 before I graduate.