Trustus Theatre Presents Fest24 Homecoming

Trustus Theatre will host FEST24: Homecoming online in October. This virtual experience will provide a new take on the theatre's popular 24-hour theatre event that was last presented in 2018 for a standing-room-only public performance. Six playwrights, six directors, and twenty-four actors will produce six new virtual one-acts over the course of three weekends. Each show will feature two brand new 15-minute plays that will be broadcast live on October 10, 17, and 24 at 7:00pm on Trustus' website: www.trustus.org. All events will be free to watch, but donation to Trustus are encouraged.

Each weekend during FEST24: Homecoming, two playwrights will be sent prompts at 7:00pm on Friday night. These prompts will include a line of dialogue that must be used in the play, 4-person cast information, as well as a virtual setting created by Trustus' technical staff: Sam Hetler and Curtis Smoak. Playwrights will get to work crafting a brand new 15-minute play, and will submit it to the theatre by 7am the following Saturday morning. Directors and cast members will receive the scripts immediately, and directors will communicate sound design needs to Trustus staff by mid-morning. Directors and actors will rehearse their play during the afternoon, followed by a broadcast tech-dress at 5:00pm. At 7:00pm FEST24 will go live online.

FEST24: Homecoming is so called because Trustus is reaching out to artists from all over the country to participate in this three-weekend event - artists that have worked at Trustus at some point in the past thirty-six years. Actors from Trustus' resident company will be acting alongside New York theatre artists from Columbia such as Tony Nominee Jenn Colella (Broadway's Come From Away), Monica Wyche (Law and Order: SVU on NBC, For Life on ABC), Leandra Ellis-Gaston (Broadway's Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), and Jonathan Whitton (MAC Award Winner).

Participating playwrights include former Trustus Literary Manager Jon Tuttle (Boy About Ten | Florence, SC), Trustus Playwrights' Festival Winners Kat Ramsburg (Anatomy of a Hug | NYC) and Stephen Brown (Montgomery | NYC), young adult author Mary Winn Heider (The Mortification of Fovea Munson | Chicago, IL), West Columbia native Lori Minor (The Coping Mechanism | NYC), and WOW Productions CEO Tangie Brickhouse Beaty (Confessions of a Good Man, Columbia, SC).

Columbia directors include Trustus Company Members Terrance Henderson, Patrick Michael Kelly, Elena Martinez-Vidal, former company member Bakari Lebby, Company Emeritus Member Erin Wilson (Charleston, SC), and GLOW Lyric Theatre Artistic Director Jenna Tamisiea Elser (Greenville, SC).

"I always love the pressure cooker atmosphere of a 24-hour play event," said Trustus Producing Artistic Director Chad Henderson. "It's always such a delight to see how different creative approaches can address the same challenge. Our last event in 2018 saw a line around the building before we opened the doors - audiences hungry to see what happened over the course of a day. While the theatre won't be buzzing with people searching for props and costumes, or actors pacing the hallways remembering their lines - everyone will still be preparing to present new work live at show time. There's a palpable electricity in the air with these events, and I believe that will remain intact for this virtual version. Not to mention, we're working with artists in different cities and time zones - anything can happen!"

Trustus Theatre's FEST24: Homecoming will premiere on October 10th at 7:00pm on the theatre's website: www.trustus.org. The following weekends will have completely new shows and teams on October 17th and 24th, and all live broadcasts will be at 7:00pm at trustus.org. The events are free and no tickets or advance registration is required to view the performance. Donations are encouraged, and can be made at www.trustus.org.

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