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Write On! 24-Hour Play Festival


  • Ellyn Bye Studio, Portland Center Stage 128 Northwest 11th Avenue Portland, OR, 97209 United States (map)

To celebrate our 20th year, we produced a 24-hour play festival, Write On! in Portland Center Stage’s Ellyn Bye Studio.

In one 12-hour span (7 pm Friday night to 7 am Saturday morning), writers drew for genre, number of actors, one required prop, one required line, then went home to write a short play. In the next 8 hours (8 am to 4 pm), directors drew for which play they’d direct, with which actors; rehearsed the play, blocked the action; and performed a tech rehearsal. And then, at 7:30—showtime!

Poison Waters in the Ellen Bye Studio

Program Director Victor Mack welcomed all, then emcee extraordinaire Poison Waters (Grand Marshal of the Portland Rose Festival's 2023 Starlight Parade) flipped the switch on the high-energy evening and kept it going through banter with the audience and the judges (Beth Harper, Artistic Director Emerita of The Actors Conservatory; David Koff, Artistic Director of Change Through Play Improv & Acting studio; Nik Whitcomb, Artistic Director of Bag&Baggage Productions).

Left to right: Beth Harper, David Koff, Nik Whitcomb

 The results:

(Show photography by Jamie Bosworth)

Magnolia Brown, Zero Feeney, and Saren Nofs Snyder

Judges' Choice:The Horror by Jenna Cady. Directed by Jane Unger, starring Magnolia Brown, Zero Feeney, and Saren Nofs Snyder.

  • Genre: Adaptation

  • Prop: a Rolodex

  • Line: "I'm going to feed the chickens. The chickens don't care about my legal problems."

Sanjana Venkat and Sean Arlo

  • Best Use of Prop: Hellscape by Mishelle Apalategui. Directed by Jeffrey Puukka, starring Sanjana Venkat and Sean Arlo.

    • Genre: Drama

    • Prop: Laser temperature gun

    • Line: "Well, when you're fastidious and obsessed with perfection, things tend to turn out well."

Barbara Passolt and Mele Satsuma

Best Use of Line: Housecat by Brian Kettler. Directed by Tom Cocklin, starring Barbara Passolt and Mele Satsuma.

    • Genre: Absurd

    • Prop: Seedling pots

    • Line: "It's not that I'm crazy. It's just that what I perceive and what others perceive is often a wide gulf."

La'Tevin Alexander and Anthony Green Caloca

Audience Choice: A Good Life by Valerie Asbell, Directed by Ashley Olson, starring: La'Tevin Alexander and Anthony Green Caloca.

  • Genre: Writer's Choice (they chose Dramedy)

  • Prop: A dragon puzzle box

  • Line: "Did you give the pig her enrichment box?"

 The other plays included:

Marcella Laasch, Jesse Nobile, and Darrett Sanders

Broken From Hoboken by Nancy Campbell. Directed by Julie Schuerger, starring Marcella Laasch, Jesse Nobile, and Darrett Sanders.

    • Genre: Tragedy

    • Prop: A vintage blender

    • Line: “I am not dragging that cedar tusk all the way back to Hoboken.”

Diane Slamp, Debbie Gerber, Dan Sweet., and Murren Kennedy

The Wedding Grift by Kate Herrell. Directed by Sean Kirkpatrick, starring: Debbie Gerber, Murren Kennedy, Diane Slamp, and Dan Sweet.

    • Genre: Comedy

    • Prop: An acrylic paperweight thingy

    • Line: “It’s not paste until you eat it.”

. Piper Supplee, Naomi Bowers, and Rachel Fishman

Tea for Three by Dawn Sellers. Directed by Pamela Sterling, starring Naomi Bowers, Rachel Fishman, and Piper Supplee.

    • Genre: Suspense

    • Prop: An ancient cassette tape

    • Line: “No! No puns. Every time you use a pun an angel loses its wings”

Cortney Grant, Jonathan Wexler. and Lucy Paschall

Striptease by Doug Sellers. Directed by: Lennon B. Smith, starring Cortney Grant, Lucy Paschall, and Jonathan Wexler.

    • Genre: Farce

    • Prop: a ball of twine

    • Line: “And free microwaves always smell like burnt popcorn and arugula.”

THANKS to all the playwrights, directors and actors who wanted to work with us. THANKS to everyone who came to see the show. THANKS to everyone who supported us from afar.

 Thanks to Portland Center Stage staff who smoothed our way, poured the wine, ran the sound and lights (and found our lost phones). And—everyone else who made the dream of this wild event come true—and more than fulfilled our hopes and expectations.

Stay tuned, we’re gonna do it again in 2024!