14/48 Festival The World’s Quickest Ladies 7/22-23 & Gentlemen 7/29-30

After 14 years, hundreds of artists and more than 700 plays, the inspiration for the Summer 2011 14/48 Festival came from where all great ideas originate: a Facebook status update. 14/48 acting and band veteran Alyssa Keene posted that she was thrilled to be in a room with so many talented actresses, but saddened that they were all competing for the same role. 14/48 took that as an opportunity to try the festival in a brand new way. The Summer 2011 14/48 will have all female actors, directors, playwrights and musicians July 22-23 and will feature all male artists the second weekend July 29-30.

"We base the festival on taking risks, camaraderie and community engagement so it's always important to shake things up, while meeting those goals," says 14/48 co-founder Jodi-Paul Wooster. "I think it will be a fun experience for the audience to compare and contrast the feeling and content of the two very different weekends. And I'm personally excited to see who drinks the most beer."

14/48 presents The World's Quickest Ladies on July 22-23 and The World's Quickest Gentlemen on July 29-30 with an All-Male Artist Roster on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. at Theatre Off Jackson, 409 7th Ave South in Seattle's International District. Tickets are $20 online at www.brownpapertickets.com and 1-800-838-3006 or $25 at the door. A limited supply of 14/48 All-Festival Passes are available for $40.

Each weekend will have a New Group of 75 artists with at least 25% of the artists participating in 14/48 for the first time. 14/48 is 14 plays conceived, written, designed, scored, rehearsed and performed in 48 hours. 14/48 involves more than 75 artists per weekend with at least 25% participating for the first time. Artistic participation is by invitation only and is predicated on the most rigorous professional standards.

Here's how 14/48 works:
Early Thursday Night, Before the Festival Begins: After tapping the ceremonial 14/48 Keg, all the participants choose a theme by completing this sentence: "Theatre would be a lot more interesting if there were seven ten-minute plays about _____." One answer is chosen at random and that becomes the theme for the following evening.

Thursday Night: Seven caffeine-filled writers have one night to write a 10-minute play based on the theme.

Friday Morning: Seven directors gather and each randomly draw one play. Thirty minutes later, the directors blindly choose actors' names on slips of paper to cast the show.
That Day: The band shows up to provide music and sound, designers create all technical aspects of each show as the directors and their casts rehearse all day.

Friday at 8pm: The seven plays have their World Premiere. The Friday 8pm audience provides the theme for Saturday's show via a random drawing and the seven writers go home to start the process all over again to culminate with seven brand new scripts for Saturday evening at 8pm, thus creating 14 plays in 48 hours.

To see the confirmed Artists Roster (constantly updated between now and opening night), photos from past 14/48 Festivals and see how Seattle's most adventurous theatre artists have created 14 plays in 48 hours over the years, visit www.1448fest.com, and www.1448fest.blogspot.com.

About 14/48

14/48 is 14 plays conceived, written, designed, scored, rehearsed and performed in 48 hours. 14/48 involves more than 75 artists per weekend with at least 25% participating for the first time. Artistic participation is by invitation only and is predicated on the most rigorous professional standards.

Founded in 1997 by Michael Neff and Jodi-Paul Wooster, the festival has evolved from a one-night one-time only event to a twice-yearly, two-weekend-long theatrical bonanza dedicated to featuring Seattle's most fearless theatre artists with occasional guests from Los Angeles, Vancouver BC and New York. Participation is by invitation only and ranges from experienced fringe theater artists to Seattle's theatre legends. To ensure 14/48 represents the full spectrum of our vibrant community, the Steering Committee strives to comprise the artist pool of at least 25% new participants (a.k.a. "14/48 virgins"). The 14/48 Steering Committee is Megan Ahiers, Shawn Belyea, Jodi-Paul Brown-Wooster, Kerri Brown-Wooster, Erin Fetridge, Tim Hyland, Andy Jensen, Peter Dylan O'Connor, Alex Samuels and Stan Shields.

 

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