Live-Reviewing 14/48

14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival has always been about making it up as you go along—theater people rehearsing, designing, and performing 14 short plays in 48 hours. It's a lot of theater with the lifespan of a mayfly. This year, they've added a new phase to the life cycle: criticism. I'll be at shows this weekend, live-reviewing the short plays in 14 words or 48 characters and posting them on Slog and the 14/48 blog.

7:23 pm

The final pep talk for everyone before they scuttle into the dressing rooms. The shows that have been made today will only be seen twice—at 8 and 10:30. (The 8 pm show is sold out; there are tickets left for the 10:30.) Someone says from the stage that the 8 pm show has opening-night energy and the 10:30 show has closing-night energy, and there's nothing in between. "If you feel tired," says Peter Dylan O'Connor, "raise the fucking stakes!" Much cheering.

7:34 pm

I'm ensconced in the light booth with a generous shot of theater juice. The band was practicing up until the very minute the house opened and the lighting designers are still sussing out lighting details. Some of our artists this weekend, many of whom are probably quietly losing their shit right now—Kaleb Hagan Kerr, Stephanie Timm, Kate Jaeger, Paul Mullin, Juliet Waller Pruzan, MJ Seiber, Jaime Roberts, Carter Rodriquez, Rhonda J. Soikowski...

The first show is Duck/Penguin: written by Doug Willott; directed by Amy Poisson; starring Kaleb Hagan Kerr, Allison Standley, Matthew Middleton, and Tonya Andrews...