The Black Box Theatre at McHenry County College (MCC) recently held its popular 24-Hour Play Competition. The Competition challenged groups of 2-7 people to write, rehearse, and perform a play within 24 hours.
18 students broke into five teams to compete for a prize of $150. They arrived at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22 and wrote, rehearsed, and performed their plays at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 23. Participants were given the theme of "Haunted" and faced three challenges during the night where they had to incorporate a prop, music, and a line.
“We had an audience of over 50 people watch and cheer them on,” said Jay Geller, instructor of theatre and speech at MCC. “Our judges were Kate Midday, an English instructor at MCC, Bill Daniel, an MCC theatre alum, and Jeff and Karen Cook, local directors and writers. A very fun night was had by all.”
The winning play was called “Stage Fright.” It was created and performed by students Alex Koppari (Woodstock), Emma Himley (Crystal Lake), Isabella Aguilar (McHenry), and Nathan Bodecker (McHenry). The competition also had food donated from local businesses including Jersey Mike’s in Woodstock, McAllister’s, and Country Donuts.
The college plans to hold the competition again next year sometime in the Spring semester.
For more information on the competition, contact Jay Geller at jgeller@mchenry.edu or (815) 455-8746.