By Brooke Schmidt
Correspondent
The Education Building was abuzz with excitement on Saturday, Feb. 1, as the 24th hour of WIRED came to a close. Both audience members and participants radiated excitement as they waited for the event to begin.
WIRED is a 24-hour competition where students write, direct, stage manage and act in five plays.
This event was overseen by six Arbiters and their Head Arbiter, who, throughout the night, led the event and informed the audience of several twists given to the writers to incorporate into their plays.
The Arbiters, who were led by Matthew Steuerer, also described the plays before each one began and announced that each act was based off a different nursery rhyme.
The plays were — in order — “3-For-1,” based off The Three Blind Mice; “Invisible,” based off The Black Sheep; “To Fetch a Pail of Water,” based off Jack and Jill; “Do You Know the Muffin Man,” based off the nursery rhyme of the same name and “This Little Piggy Pledged a Sorority,” based off the This Little Piggy nursery rhyme.
Camila Garcia, a freshman open-options major involved in “3-For-1,” talked about what appealed to her about acting in WIRED.
“I was interested in WIRED because, first of all, I love acting and performing, so I was automatically attracted to ACT and TMT,” Garcia said. “When I found out that there was a 24-hour play competition, I had to do it.”
One act was frightening: “Do You Know the Muffin Man,” written by Blaire Deziel and Sam Waxenbaum. But the majority of the acts fixated on humor instead of horror.
As one of the twists throughout the plays, each act had to include 15 seconds of lip-syncing, which was often filled with comedy.
Surprisingly enough, the majority of the plays chose Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” as their song of choice. Most plays also balanced their comedic aspects with heartwarming scenes that had the audience audibly responding.
However, throughout the process of the 24-hour competition, there were some difficult aspects.
“The biggest challenge for me (was) being able to make the director, writers and myself happy with who the character (became),” Garcia said.
Another difficult part for her was the memorization. The actors had to memorize an entire script, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes, in less than a day.
“I really love the whole process,” Garcia said. “From finding out who is in the cast with you, to blocking it in, to being in a room full of the most caring, talented, and amazing people on campus.”
Even though participating and watching the acts was fun in itself, the event in its actuality was a competition, and at the end three judges deliberated in order to give prizes to the winners in several categories.
“To Fetch a Pail of Water” won two awards for best Stage Manager (Brittany Mashel, freshman) and Best Director (Becky Celestina, sophomore). “Invisible” won three awards for Best Actress (Cindy Walker, senior), Best Actor (Jake Burbage, freshman), and Best Writers (Ken Abes and Rachel Fikslin, sophomores).
However, the Best Overall winner was the hilarious “This Little Piggy Pledged a Sorority,” written by seniors Jonathan Dowler and Jim Bloss.
“WIRED 24 hours of complete chaos that somehow turns into five great plays,” Garcia said. “It’s a priceless experience.”
