Tar Heels take part in theater festival

The show must go on — and on and on and on.

That’s the idea behind the “10 By 10 in the Triangle” festival, held annually at the ArtsCenter.

Since opening on July 10, the three-weekend festival hosts short plays with the theme of 10: 10 original plays that run 10-minutes long, directed by 10 directors, performed by 10 actors per play who have only rehearsed for 10 hours prior to performance.

In the 14th year of the festival, another 10 can be added to the list: around 10 UNC students and alumni are participating in the festival.

UNC dramatic arts graduate Fred Corlett, now an actor in Raleigh-based Burning Coal Theatre Company, said the UNC camaraderie is present in the festival, connecting actors like himself to other actors and directors alike.

“I have been interacting with people that came along after I did, and it’s really heartwarming when they have the same kind of really good and beneficial experience that I did when they talk about the fun times that they’ve had and the challenges they’ve faced and the teachers they’ve had — it’s a lot of fun reminiscing and that sort of thing,” he said.

Corlett is one of approximately six UNC-related actors in “10 By 10.” Two directors are also affiliated with UNC.

UNC sophomore Leigha Vilen, a dramatic art major and another actor in the festival, said this is due to the prestige of the festival.

“It’s a celebration of writing because there’s hundreds of submissions that they get each year, so I was honored to be able to perform works that were selected as one of 10 out of hundreds of different submissions of plays because these are really good plays,” she said. “It’s really good writing to be able to perform, which is why I was excited about it.”

Vilen has been involved in Lab! Theatre and the Kenan Theatre Company and said the “10 By 10” festival is an opportunity to expand.

“I think there’s a high level of professionalism in both the ArtsCenter and at UNC that I really appreciate, that UNC holds students to that standard and that we rise to that standard,” she said. “There are students involved in it, so I get to work with students in the “10 By 10” and also community actors as well, so you get a mix of people, which is different than in student theater.”

While the mix is comprised of members from Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Durham alike, some overlap occurs.

UNC performance studies Ph.D. graduate Jules James formerly directed Vilen in “Crooked,” a Durham-based Common Ground Theater company performance held last fall. Now they are working together on “The Third Person,” the play James is directing.

“I think that’s the benefit, too, sometimes, that “10 By 10” can draw from a similar crowd,” James said. “Not everyone does it every year, but people go and come back and then participate, and there’s that familiarity with not only the people but the structure of the festival, and I think that makes it a really cool event.”

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story misstated the duration of the plays in the festival. The plays are each 10 minutes long. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

arts@dailytarheel.com