14/48: THE WORLD'S QUICKEST THEATER FESTIVAL Returns to ACT Now thru 1/12

14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival returns to A Contemporary Theatre (ACT)'s Gregory Falls Theatre (700 Union St, Seattle WA) tonight, January 4-12, performing Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and 10:30pm.

Tickets: $20 online / $25 day of show / $40 All-Fest Pass. And can be purchased by calling: (206) 292 - 7676 or visiting www.acttheatre.org, or www.1448fest.com.

14/48 is fourteen plays conceived, written, designed, scored, rehearsed and performed in 48 hours. That is, seven brand new plays on Friday night then seven brand new plays on Saturday night with more than fifty invited artists. The second weekend will have a whole new roster of artists creating 14 brand new plays. In each weekend, at least 25% of the invited artists will be participating in 14/48 for the first time.

The plays you will see on Friday, January 4 at 8pm won't be written until early that morning so you won't find out the titles until you come to 14/48. We guarantee the work you see on stage will come from Seattle's most adventurous theatre artists who have been on stages around Puget Sound from Seattle Repertory Theatre to Theater Schmeater to 12 Minutes Max at On the Boards.

Seattle's adventurous theatre-goers who have made it to 14/48 in the last year have been lucky enough to see Charles Bronson training his recalcitrant cat, gender-breaking tooth fairies taking on the old-girl establishment and last summer, the first 14/48 Outdoor Festival at Seattle Center.

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.

The Next Morning: Seven directors gather and each randomly draw one play. Thirty minutes later, the directors blindly choose actors and actresses to cast the show.

That Day: The band shows up to provide music and sound as the directors and their casts rehearse all day. Early that evening the groups struggle to squeeze in a tech rehearsal and at 8pm the first show begins!

After the Seven World Premiere Plays Wrap: The audience chooses a new theme and the adrenaline-charged theater-a-thon kicks in again presenting 7 brand new plays on Saturday night.

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 that features 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 performance elite. Each festival, 14/48's 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.

14/48 is 14 plays conceived, written, designed, scored, rehearsed and performed in 48 hours. The brutal combination of short deadlines, extreme talent, incredible speed, frayed nerves and an overflowing fountain of inspiration serve to strip away creative inhibitions occasionally found in more traditional theater, proving that, contrary to popular opinion -sometimes the first idea is the best. 14/48 involves over 50 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. Past 14/48 participants include this year's Gregory Award winners R. Hamilton Wright, Ray Tagavilla, Ryan Higgins and Wayne Rawley. Seattle audience favorites Charles Leggett, Khanh Doan, Alyson Scadron-Branner, Nick Garrison, Sheila Daniels, Paul Mullin, Ray Tagvilla, and Robertson Witmer.

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