Flash Theatre: Producing Quick and Dirty Theatre Festivals in Educational Settings

By Zac Curtis and Mindy Curtis

Introduction

We are mere hours from curtain. The show is advertised. Audience members have purchased tickets. Still, we don’t yet have a script, a cast list, blocking, scenery, lighting, sound, or costumes. Thus begins our favorite day of the theatrical calendar.

For over a decade we have been regularly producing “flash theatre” in secondary school, college, and community theatre settings. The requirements for this format of theatre creation are simply that: 1) it is limited by strict creative and time constraints, and 2) it is theatre. Flash theatre, beyond those two basic requirements, is a very flexible form of production creation. Whatever the structure, goals, or final product, we find the experience encourages creativity and fosters artistic growth in our students.

Method: Structure and Process

Drafting a successful structure for a flash theatre festival can be equally as challenging and fun as producing it. While there is no exact science to producing flash theatre, we have found valuable elements of structure and process that can guide artists through planning and producing an outstanding festival: 1) establishing clear artistic challenges or limitations for the artists, 2) having a flexible and approachable audition process, 3) implementing a director-driven rehearsal process, and 4) structuring a successful production schedule.

Artistic Challenges

The magic of flash theatre festivals lies in discovering inspiration through limitation. In the initial hour of the festival we meet with our writers and directors (also choreographers, composers, or other artists if you are incorporating multiple artforms) to determine the artistic challenges they will be given. We do this by presenting artists with specific tasks, limitations, or challenges they must incorporate into their work. This may take the form of incorporating specific props, including particular quotes in the script, or limiting one character to specific interactions with others. Challenges such as these can encourage artists to push themselves to new heights and generate innovative ideas.

Sometimes we implement an overarching festival theme, such as a quote or idiom, as the initial challenge for all artists. This can be beneficial in tying together a night of disparate theatre. We have sometimes selected the theme and challenges alone as producers; other times we involved our community of artists in the process by requesting specific challenges from them beforehand. None of these approaches is better than the others, as long as they inspire creativity and elicit art that is relevant to the immediate time, location, and participants.

Auditions

Once challenges are determined, we open up the theatre for auditions. Actors and other performers arrive prepared with a one-minute audition that showcases their talents and personality. Actors generally audition with a story, joke, song, dance, or any other form of sharing that showcases who they are. Since the plays and other pieces have not been conceived or written yet, we have found this approach more effective than limiting the audition requirements to a prepared monologue. In addition to being a fun audition to watch, this format tends to be inviting to a large pool of performers while also being artistically inspiring to writers and directors. Once auditions are complete, the playwrights and directors then collaborate on casting decisions. After shows are cast, directors contact their new actors welcoming them to their production, the producer posts cast lists and important information, and playwrights head off to write a play.

Timeline

There is a great deal of flexibility concerning the time structure of rehearsals and performance at this point. A commonly produced form of this quick and dirty theatre is often referred to or known as “twenty-four hour theatre.” While we do sometimes use this term as it helps orient people to this form of work, the twenty-four hour timeframe is not a requirement to gain the benefits of the flash theatre creation format.The running length of a festival will directly depend on the age, experience, and ability of the students or artists involved.

A shorter time period gives artists a lot of independence and will likely require writers to stay up all night creating a script. A longer period of time works well with younger students who need to sleep and will allow for more hands-on guidance from the producer or teacher through all stages of the process. However, it is important to keep the time period quick enough that artists are driven by adrenaline and are not able to overthink their process. Artists should create a timeline to meet the needs of their specific participants and situation. As soon as writers or composers electronically send their script or music to the producers, scripts are distributed to the directors for their casts.

Rehearsals

Once we have scripts, the real fun can begin. It is helpful for theatre directors and playwrights to meet and discuss the new plays or other work about an hour before the actors arrive. Once the actors come, the rehearsal process officially begins. Directors guide and determine the rehearsal schedule and how this time will be used. We divide groups into separate designated rehearsal spaces and rotate them into the performance venue for an hour or so throughout the day. When they are in the rehearsal space, they get a short meeting with the stage manager, lighting designer, sound designer, and any other technical crew working the festival. This allows each group to have one specified rehearsal space while also having scheduled time to work in the performance space with the technical crew.

Production

A few hours before the show, we bring all of the performers together for dinner and full dress and technical rehearsal. With the actors serving as stagehands for one another, the stage manager runs the rehearsal while the light and sound designers apply the designs they have been developing during the day. This is the final opportunity to put all the pieces together. Then, after this vital rehearsal concludes, all that is left is to take a breath, open the doors to the audience, and enjoy the show.

Insights: Efficiency, Immediacy, and Inclusion

Schedule Efficiency

One of the greatest values of flash theatre is its succinct and efficient schedule. Between the two of us we have spent over thirty years teaching theatre in almost every imaginable setting. We have experienced first-hand the long rehearsal hours and late nights that turn around quickly into early mornings. We have felt the painful fatigue and burnout for not only ourselves, but also our students, parents, and community. Flash theatre festivals can help to alleviate some of this commitment when it replaces more traditional festivals of student-written and directed work. We have not seen a longer production process directly correlate to higher quality scripts, direction, or performances. In fact, flash theatre festivals can invigorate and excite audiences so they are more likely to overlook the flaws that inevitably appear in student-directed and written theatre festivals.

Artistic Immediacy

When creating flash theatre, the final product must be delivered in the very immediate future. Failure to achieve perfection is essentially a guarantee. The knowledge that perfection is unattainable in this timeframe gives students freedom to take risks they otherwise would be afraid to take. In this failure lies an exhilarating freedom. Novice writers, directors, and actors are pushed to embrace their first responses and to stop second guessing their impulses. It is not panic, which one might imagine could be created by this process. It is rather an immediacy which leads to embracing instinct and natural response. We have seen some of the most honest, clever, and poignant performances our students have created emerge out of this shortened timeline.

Population Inclusion

An important advantage of the flash theatre structure is that it allows for the engagement of a large population from our communities. Whether our community is a department, a school, or a local community, this structure allows for a greater ability for many people to be engaged. The long-term time commitment of theatre production often makes participation impossible for students or community members with jobs or other interests. Participants can give up one weekend or even one Saturday in order to engage in the creative process. Participants often express their gratitude for the way that this process gives them a chance to finally fit theatre into their lives, even for just a moment.

Conclusion

There are many right ways and very few wrong ways to produce a flash theatre festival. We have experimented with many festival structures including changing the period of time, number and age of participants, art forms offered, and structure and challenges in order to create the ideal experience for each unique community of students. We have not yet found the perfect recipe to make a perfect festival, and it is likely that we never will. That is the fun of it. That is what keeps us interested in producing them. This theatrical form has allowed us to encourage and motivate students to take risks, think on their feet, and fully engage in the entirety of the theatrical process. Flash theatre is both a highly educational and entertaining art form that may be perfectly poised to meet the needs of your arts community.

Zac Curtis is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Salt Lake Community College in Utah. Zac has taught, directed, and acted at theatres, schools, and colleges across the country for over fifteen years. He holds an M.A. in Theatre Production from Central Washington University and MFA in Theatre Directing from the University of Idaho.

Mindy Curtis works in the Research and Evaluation department in a large, urban school district in Utah. She has taught and directed theatre in public schools and non-profit theatres for almost 20 years. Mindy is an Adjunct Instructor of Theatre at Salt Lake Community College. She holds an M.A. in Theatre Production from Central Washington University and a Ph.D in Education from the University of Idaho.

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