Pacific Index

Pacific celebrates its 10th Instant theater production with double the plays and double days 

    This year marked the 10th annual Instant theater festival, held in Pacific University’s Washbourne University Center, a tradition for the past decade for Pacific’s robust theatre program to offer the campus 24 hours of theater fun, but this year had a twist: double the days, double the plays. Seven written from the night of Friday, September 11 to the following morning—and then the entertainment began! 

   “I wrote a sad piece and I had the weird experience of having multiple people coming up to me, sobbing… and they’re like, ‘that was beautiful. Thank you,’ and I’ve been awake for 40 hours,” jokes Jesse Van Hooser. 

   The process is the same for most of the writers: First, receive a prompt; second, copious amounts of caffeine; third, begin scripts. “The writers stay up all night, basically, and turn their scripts in by 8 a.m. and then the directors and the actors work all day,” explains Van Hooser, noting that the actors have much different schedules than the writers. “It’s a devising process. I know directors have a lot of different methods for it, from what I saw most of the time it was like trying a scene seven different ways, seeing what felt best for the actors, seeing what felt best for the people watching, and like revising and redoing it over and over and over.” 

   The end product is worth the effort put in during the day. From 6:30 to 8pm, the actors, writers and directors banded together for the final showcase last week on September the 12. The plays included in this year’s instant theater went as follows: Beav’ Heavin’ created by playwright Hayes Guay and directed by Kaz Jeppeson, Speed Dating by playwright Gray Ashford and directed by Julia Roelof, Somewhere New by playwright Madison Stevens and directed by Alissa Cohen, High Noon by playwright Emily Smith and directed by Julia Peterson, That Old Damn Hill by playwright Jesse Van Hooser and director Quincy Hotchkiss, Good Bones by playwright Ellen Margolis and director Trevor Harter and [REDACTED] by playwright Kat Lewis and director Rachel Kaufman. 

   “People really went crazy for the cowboys, which was High Noon, which was Emily’s play, because it was about two gay cowboys. I think the one that people talk to me the most about was Gray’s, the speed dating one with the scooters,” says Van Hooser. Overall, it is much more about the community it builds and space for creative expression. 

   “It was so great getting to know everyone. All the writers were fantastic. The directors were great, and the actors were lovely, and I hope everyone comes back next year for year 11!” Van Hooser expresses.