The State Theatre Company’s Write Thru the Nite is coming to downtown Johnson City, Tennessee Sept. 29-30 at the Blue Moon Dinner Theatre.
Write Thru the Nite is a 24-hour play festival. It’s an event created by the Kingsport-based non-profit, the State Theatre Company. This is their third 24-hour play festival but their first outside of Kingsport.
“We are really excited to give the Johnson City community the access to this writing challenge,” said Cameron Hite, the artistic director at the State Theatre Company. “It’s really a lot of fun as an artist to take part in.”
Teams of up to five people will come together on Friday night at 7 p.m. to a kick-off party at the Blue Moon Dinner Theatre at 215 East Main Street. Prompts from the audience will be collected that night and teams will go on stage to pick prompts at random to include in their plays.
At 8 p.m. the 24-hour time limit begins. Teams will get to work writing, producing and preparing their 10 to 15-minute play.
“Teams are welcome to stay at the theater the whole 24 hours to work on their plays or they can go to work wherever, whenever,” Hite said.
On Saturday at 8 p.m. teams will gather once again at the Blue Moon to perform their finished plays in front of an audience and a panel of judges – which will be three select professors from East Tennessee State University.
The best play will be chosen by audience applause and will receive bragging rights and a $200 prize.
“You don’t have to have an extensive theatre background to participate. Actually, the first team that ever won didn’t have a theatre background,” said Hite. “And of course, we’ll be there as a company to help with whatever a team might need.”
While the show must always go on, the teams still need an audience to choose their winner. Admission for Saturday night will be $10 per person, but those who attend the free kick-off night on Friday will receive half-off Saturday’s admission.
Those wishing to form a team and participate by writing a play in 24 hours can still register. It is $30 for each team to participate.
