MAT sets play lotto for weekend

Montana Actors' Theatre will host a 24-Hour Play Festival Friday night and Saturday in which five groups selected by drawing will develop and later perform their own short plays.

"It's just kind of goofy fun," MAT Artistic Director Jay Pyette said.

The process will start Friday 7 p.m. at Triple Dog Brewing Co., when five teams will be created through a drawing. Each team will consist of a writer, director and small cast of actors.

Pyette said the actors will be evenly divided among the five groups. None of the participants know who they will work with before the drawing.

After the teams are created, each group will randomly draw a national or local headline that will be the theme of their play.

Writers will have from 8 p.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Saturday to write an original 15-minute script, Pyette said. The script will be handed off to the director by 8 a.m. Saturday. The directors working with actors, will then rehearse and put together their shows.

All five plays will then be performed for a public audience 8 p.m Saturday at the Montana State University-Northern Little Theatre.

The festival, Pyette said, is something that has been done many times before by groups in different communities.

Tickets, good for watching the drawing Friday, along with a free beer from Triple Dog, and the performance, will be available at the door that night and in advance from Computer Center, Bear Paw Meats, fivehead's or online at http://www.mtactors.com, and are available Saturday at the door for people who just want to see the plays.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, members of the military and seniors.