14/48 Vashon: the world’s quickest theater festival is back

14/48 Vashon — an annual theater festival that dares to create 14 new plays from scratch in just 48 hours — will return to Vashon for four performances at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1, at Open Space for Arts & Community.

The annual fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants festival features seven writers, seven directors, 26 actors, plus a gaggle of designers, musicians, and technical wizards.

Here’s how it works: One night before Friday’s performances, all the theater-makers involved in the festival meet as a group for the first time, and throw ideas for themes into a hat — with only one to be pulled out with great fanfare.

Beer and wine are typically offered at the event, but playwrights might do well to bring their own hot, strong coffee. That’s because after the theme for the first night of plays is drawn from the hat, those writers must head home to write 10-minute plays overnight.

14/48 writer Susan McCabe called the overnight writing gig “a joyous creative opportunity with chilling challenges, because the success of each play starts with the script.”

It’s a solitary venture, she said — but soon enough, hordes of other theater-makers get involved

Bright and early the next morning, there are two more drawings: first, directors draw the play they will direct, and then, the names of their cast members. Next comes the real whirlwind — all seven plays are rehearsed and designed throughout the day, and then performed twice on Friday night.

Then, it starts all over again — with a new theme drawn after those shows, more overnight writing, and so on. By 10:30 or so p.m. Saturday, 14 new plays have been born, produced and presented in only 48 hours.

It’s a creative process summed up by Catherine MacNeal, who is one of this year’s actors, as “free falling with a safety net.”

Amy Broomhall, another of the actors in this year’s company, compared the 14/48 festival to a roller coaster ride.

“There are highs and lows, unexpected turns and questionable seat belts,” she said. “At times you want to scream in terror or [yell] ‘wooooo’ in excitement.”

The high-wire act extends to the show’s directors, who are tasked with orchestrating a fully realized theatrical experience while simultaneously watching the clock tick down to curtain time.

“Directing for 14/48 is simultaneously a creative challenge and a time management problem,” Sterne said. ‘“What is this play about? What do I absolutely need … from the band and designers in order to tell the story and make the point? How do I work with the creative team so that their juices start flowing and they provide what the play needs in just a few moments of conversation? Then, how do I structure the day so the actors can fully embody their roles, but also can fully learn their lines?”

Summing up the directorial challenge, Sterne called it “a thrill for both lobes of the brain, left and right.”

This year’s list of artists is a who’s who of Vashon talent, plus some accomplished friends and collaborators from across the water. (14/48 Projects, a nonprofit theater organization based in Seattle since 1997, presents and partners with other festivals in Seattle and other cities worldwide.)

This year’s acting ensemble includes Aly Norling; Amy Broomhall; Andy James; Anthony Winkler; Brian Palermo; Cate O’Kane; Catherine MacNeal; Cristy Stone, Dedra Whitt Dakota; David Milke, Ellie Hughes; Jennifer Potter; Juniper Rogneby; Kaycie Alanis; Lisa Viertel; Martha Enson; Maya Krah; Michael Wishkoski; Mik Kuhlman; Philip Gorbachov; Samantha Sherman; Sara Lomize; Shawn Belyea; Sierra Tinhof; Tami Brockway Joyce and Tessa Wood.

Solo writers will be Amy Drayer; Maria Glanz; Susan McCabe; Lisa Peretti and West McLean. Two plays will be written by the writing teams — Jon Kuzma and Elizabeth Shepherd, and S.W. Jones and Mariah Lee Squires.

Directors are Brooke Osment; Chris Boscia; Elizabeth Klob; Jeanne Dougherty; Lena Eivy; Steven Stern and Matt Fontaine.

Band members — tasked with soundtracking each 10-minute play, if needed, and creating a musical through-line for the evenings of new plays — will be Jon Whalen; Stephen Buffington; Caroline Robin; Jesse Whitford and Rory Gannon.

Another long list of fearless folks will design the sets, props and costumes for the plays: Jon Schroder; Elise Ericksen; Janet McAlpin; Jill Labieniec; Linda Wishkoski; Jennifer Dice; Alexis Geers and Christopher Hamilton.

Holding this huge ensemble together will be the production team — Tara Morgan; Tory Hayes; Stefan Freelan; Mark Seely; Nehara Kalev; Michelle Bates and Glenn Easley.

Audience members, of course, will include a wide array of daring theater-goers, cheering on the whole shebang without having a clue as to what they are about to see.

It all adds up to an exhilarating leap into the unknown, said actor Maya Krah.

“When else does an actor get a chance to be tested like this?” she asked. “Will I have five minutes of dialogue to memorize [in one] afternoon? Will it be a musical this year? Will that one glass of wine between shows cause me to forget every line? Only time — and the 14/48 gods — will tell.”

Find out more and get tickets at openspacevashon.com. Night owls can purchase a bundled ticket for both 9 p.m. shows for $20.

Disclosure: Beachcomber reporter Elizabeth Shepherd will co-write a play with Jonathan Kuzma for this year’s 14/48 Festival.