Theater review: One Day Only the 13th at Rover Dramawerks in Plano

by Teresa Gubbins

Mark-Brian Sonna IS the devil.

PLANO — There are artistic endeavors that require months of rehearsal and preparation -- and then there is One Day Only the 13th, a one-night-only festival of one-act plays presented by Rover Dramawerks on Saturday night at the Courtyard Theater in Plano.

The festival contained seven plays, each about 10-15 minutes long, whose themes ran from the challenges of finding love in the modern age to man's need for courage.

What made the event unique was its format: The whole deal was created and executed within 24 hours. It began on Friday night with a giant get-together of all players. Ideas were thrown into a hat, and the writers stayed at the theater all night writing. (Just like this review!) On Saturday morning, the directors and actors began rehearsals. On Saturday night, before an audience of nearly 200 people, the seven plays made their simultaneous debut and grand finale.

Cast from Alex in Wonderland busy tying things up.

For a set, they used a few pieces of furniture to to represent: a singles bar, living room, kitchen, and werewolf cave. Cast and crew numbered about 60. Host/emcee Mark-Brian Sonna added levity at the beginning of each play by appearing in over-the-top costumes whose themes tied in to the play's title or one-line summary.

That meant a devil costume for one, doctor's scrubs for another, a silver garland "tree" for a third. Sonna confessed that he'd been up for 38 hours, calling the resulting feeling a "different kind of high."

Cast of Pick Up Lines performs a sassy closing dance.

Performances were snappy, and the writing was occasionally clever. Something this unrehearsed requires that the players be quick on their toes. Alex in Wonderland or Over the Edge and Through the Looking Glass seemed initially absurd but once its storyline emerged -- it portrayed the floating bits roaming around inside a writer's head, surfacing as characters from various classics or as a nagging bunny reminding the writer "you're late" -- the concept seemed cute. All That Glitters Ain't Goldie featured good casting in its story about the family of a hypocritical preacher.

Even during the pieces that might have lagged, you could draw comfort knowing that nothing on the program lasted longer than 15 minutes, and the next was on its way.

One Day Only started in May 2000 and has been a Rover project since Version 5. Ventures similar to this exist in other fields, such as the annual Dallas 24-Hour Video Race in which participants shoot a video in 24 hours; and "NaNoWriMo," an annual shared contest wherein participants write a novel in 30 days. Anyone who's suffered stage fright or stared at an empty computer screen waiting for words to materialize knows that there are times when the creative process can be labored. An exercise like this reduces some of the heaviness and expectations, freeing the participants to have some fun.

Carol and Jason Rice, artistic director and VP of production for Rover Dramawerks