When: Saturday, August 25, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Flex Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
FREE ADMISSION (seats fill fast, so we recommend arriving 15–20 minutes before the doors open at 7:00 p.m.)
On Friday, August 24, students will stay up all night in Cornell’s Schwartz Center to write, design, and rehearse four short plays and a dance that they will perform the following evening.
Now in its tenth year, Festival24 is a biannual, student-produced event in which participants must craft pieces related to a one-word theme. Playwrights begin working Friday evening, and directors arrive the next morning to cast actors. At some point, the organizers will reveal a twist that the students must incorporate into their work.
“You're forced to dive right into the work because of the limited amount of rehearsal time—a blessing and a curse,” said Milo Reynolds-Dominguez '20, who is producing this year’s festivals in August and January. Reynolds-Dominguez co-produced and acted in previous iterations of the festival. “I found that the process pushed me to perform at the top of my game, especially when working with other incredibly talented individuals,” he said.
Festival24 was Reynolds-Dominguez’s introduction to the theatre community on campus, and he hopes that this year will see an increase in the number of freshmen participating in the festival.
“I think Festival24 is so appealing because of the parameters we've set for ourselves—the participants are looking for an acting/directing/writing challenge, while the audience is there to see if we can really pull it off in the short amount of time we have,” said Reynolds-Dominguez. “When it's all over, there's always an incredible feeling of satisfaction when a packed Flex Theatre gives you a standing ovation that makes the stress and chaos worth it.”
Interested students can contact Reynolds-Dominguez at csr92@cornell.edu. Stage managers and people with tech/lighting experience are especially encouraged to get involved.
Festival24 will be held on Saturday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Center’s Flex Theatre. Doors open at 7:00, and audience members are encouraged to arrive 15–20 minutes ahead of that time. The event is free and open to the public. The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts is located at 430 College Avenue in Ithaca.
Julian Robison '20 is a communications assistant for the Department of .
