Ever wanted to watch a play in 15 seconds? Now’s your chance. UNC’s LAB! Theatre is producing “30 Plays in 60 Minutes” on Friday in conjunction with the Modern Shakespeare Society.
The production, put on multiple times each semester, is entirely student-run and based on audience interaction. The 30 plays are numbered, and audience members can yell out the number of the play they would like to see.
“That’s the beautiful thing,” said Lydia Shiel, a member of the Modern Shakespeare Society. “It’s random, and the audience can pick, say, play one or play 15 or play 12. Play one might be about something completely absurd. It could be somebody beating a raw chicken with a baseball bat. And then play 12 might be about sexual assault in the entertainment industry. You never know whether you’re going to get something very heavy or very silly.”
Despite what you might guess from the Modern Shakespeare Society’s name, you won’t be watching two-minute adaptations of 16th-century dramas.
“We’re an offshoot this theater style that was developed in the eighties by a group called The Neo-Futurists,” said Adair Tompkins, the Modern Shakespeare Society’s producer. “The whole point of the shows is that none of us are acting and we’re all playing ourselves the whole time, and all of it’s in the moment and true.”
The company members write all of the plays, which range in time from a single second to several minutes.
Junior Kiera Whalen is interested in seeing the production but is a little skeptical.
“I can’t imagine how such short plays could convey meaningful messages,” she said.
Shiel said that the group aims to make statements about and bring awareness to current events.
