Been wanting to see a play but haven't had the time? Why not see 30 plays in one hour?
UNC's Modern Shakespeare Society performs 30 plays in 60 minutes and promises to engage audience members throughout the performance.
The show stems from The Neo-Futurists in Chicago, which is an unconventional style of theater that is interactive with the audience and consists of plays from all genres. The UNC ensemble performs in a similar style with plays ranging anywhere from two seconds to five minutes in length.
In Neo-Futurist style, there are no characters or setting separate from the cast members. The cast performs with the setting being wherever they are performing.
“It’s just this fun idea of doing theater, but you're always yourself and you're always the place you are,” senior Ruthie Allen, cast member of 30 Plays, said. “You’re just telling your truth.”
Modshakes — also known as cast members — pitch performance ideas about a week before the show, and 30 are selected. Performances can range from the more traditional monologues to poems and even multimedia pieces.
Senior Modshake Noni Shemenski said that the plays can be a fusion of personal experiences and creative ideas presented to the audience.
“The word ‘play’ can mean a lot of different things with 30 plays,” Shemenski said. “It can mean a short little game we play with the audience, it can mean a small monologue, it can mean an ensemble play — where each of us is saying a couple lines about things that have happened to us.”
Audience members interact with the Modshakes through the order of the performances. The plays are numbered one through 30 and hung on a clothesline above the stage. As soon as one performance ends, the audience shouts out the next number they want, and the Modshakes perform according to audience input.
