One day, two 12-hour sessions, and three shows later, the 24-Hour Show, presented by Bowdoin’s student theater group Masque and Gown, was set to perform on stage.
The annual show—which has been a staple of Bowdoin theater for more than 10 years—was performed last Saturday night in front of a packed audience in Memorial Hall. It was developed and performed by new and experienced actors, writers and directors.
Starting at 7 p.m. on Friday night, four students—Nick Funnell ’17, Olivia Atwood ’17, Emma Dickey ’15 and Jacob de Heer Erpelding ’15—stayed up writing original plays until 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. The result was three comedic short plays: “Swag Club,” written by Funnell and Atwood, “OK, Cupid,” written by Dickey and “The Coo in the Night,” written by de Heer Epelding. Then, starting at 7 a.m., actors and directors worked on getting the plays performance-ready by 7 p.m.
The 24-Hour Show creates an opportunity for students with busier schedules to get involved in theater, if only for a day.
 “It’s a really low commitment show,” said Trevor Murray ’16, Junior Representative for Masque and Gown.  
“I think there are a lot of people at Bowdoin who are interested in theater but don’t have the time to put in for a [full-length] show.” 
Although Shannon McCabe, ’17,  has never been in a full-length production, she acted in “Swag Club.”
“I did the 24-Hour Show last year and I was in a really serious [play] and it was fun, but this time all of them were comedies and it was so much fun to be in,” said McCabe.
Funnell and Atwood said co-writing “Swag Club” helped when writer’s block kicked in. It grew more important as the night went on and they became, as Funnell described it, “tired as hell.”
 “We were up in Memorial on the sixth floor—there’s a dance studio there and we would go in and throw a ball around to stay active, to stay awake,” Funnell said.
 In the early morning, the writers finished their jobs and handed their scripts over to the directors and actors.
Axis Fuksman-Kumpa ’17, Vice President of Masque and Gown, directed the show “The Coo in the Night,” which is about a so-called “pigeon man.”
“As a director, what I like to do is just go with what the actors’ intuition is first—just let them walk through it, and then refine it from there,” said Fuksman-Kampa. 
“I make sure we do something that makes sense with the space we have. I like to go with what feels most natural to the human body.”
Since all three plays happened to be comedies, the atmosphere was a light one.
“It was a riot—the other two shows were really funny,” said Logan Jackonis ’17, who directed “OK, Cupid.” “The crowd seemed to get a kick out of the one we did.” 
Even though the 24-Hour Show is only a one-day time commitment, it is still an intense theater experience for all students involved.
“It’s definitely hard because the pressure’s on, and rather than being like ‘I have three weeks, two weeks,’ it’s ‘I have three hours, two hours,’” said McCabe.
“Hour-by-hour we’d be like ‘it’s tech week, it’s dress rehearsal,’ getting down to the wire,” McCabe added. “It was challenging but it was a fun challenge.”
Masque and Gown is currently preparing its more traditional full-length show, “Almost, Maine.” The performances will take place October 23-25 at Pickard Theater in Memorial Hall.
Editor’s Note: Atwood, co-writer of “Swag Club” and Sophomore Representative of Masque and Gown is Page 2 Editor of the Orient.