Pit & Balcony’s Inaugural DIONYSUS FESTIVAL • A Remarkable Display of Abundant Creativity

Creative courage and a divergent fertility of talent were all on full display at Pit & Balcony’s Inaugural Dionysus Festival the evening of April 1st, setting the stage for what organizers envision as an annual extravaganza designed to exercise and showcase the talents of playwrights, actors, and directors, while also engaging the general public in brimming goblets of brilliantly inspired insanity.

Inspired by the ancient mythological figure Dionysus, Greek god of wine & festivity, during this 24-hour lock-in style event, teams of four gathered at Pit & Balcony on March 31st to write and rehearse completely original 10-minute plays. The plays were then presented to the public on April 1st, where the audience weighted in to select the  winning team.

“Great Dionysia was a 6-day theatre festival celebrated yearly, usually in March, in 5th century Athens,” explains Rhiannon Evans-Hall, Dionysus Fest committee member and dramaturg. “After a huge kickoff feast playwrights would compete by having their newest works celebrated in honor of Dionysus.”

Pit & Balcony decided to emulate this ancient carnival by forming a committee that also consisted of Alexandria Evans-Hall, Amber Hadley, P&B director Amy Spadafore, Linsey Morrell, and Quinn Nichols. After hosting a private kickoff feast on March 31st at which time the festival’s theme was revealed to the participants, teams were  then be invited to utilize all spaces within the theatre and the costume shop over a 24-hour period to write and rehearse their original pieces. Supplies, meals, and sleeping arrangements were all be provided by the theatre, in addition to minimal technical elements for each finalized play.

The results of this existential experiment in deadline enforced time-restricted creativity were a marvel to behold, as each team brought forth 10-minute wonders of dialogue, movement, and meaning that ran the gamut from dislocated desires that drive expectations in relationships, to the cat-and-mouse game of charity telephone solicitation, to podcasts dealing not with conspiracy theories but conspiracy facts.

Each 10-minute vignette was original & remarkable in its own unique way, consisting of the following titles & team members:

Golden Delinquents: Team Members: Nathan Hanley, Nicholas Pellegrine, Rachel Rasette, Isaac Havilan

The Merry Misfits: Team Members: Frank Conrad, Mikola Conrad, Emma Pichan, Olivia Greanias

Jamcat: Team Members: Mary Spadafore, Jeanne Gough, Todd Thomas, Chad William Baker

Life on Mars: Team Members: Annie Gower, Richard Gomez, Spencer Beyerlein, Matthew Howe

Marine Life Bonanza • Team Members: Chole Krueger, Joe Maguire, Audryanna Jeanette Symons, Shirley Simon

Heartstring: Team Members: Amor Marrosa, Lola Sakowski, Barbie Carr, Josh Fick

Bay City’s Only 4-O’Clock News Team • Team Members: David Ryan, Erica Tatum, Harlan Drexel, Brightyn Henika

According to Alexandria Evans-Hall, who came up with the idea for attempting to organize this festival, “I’ve been on a couple of Play Festival Reading Committees, and thought it would be a coll way to open up local talent and see if we can get some original plays performed here at Pit & Balcony. I shared my thoughts with Amy, who said she was interested in doing a 24-hour theatre of 10-minutes plays.  Many of the larger festivals will showcase 2-hour plays, and some festivals will stage 1-minute plays, but we thought this would be a great way to gauge talent and see what we be built.”

“This presents a fun way to put creative pressure on people and see what they come up with in a short piece of time so they can see where it goes and if it can potentially evolve into a full-length play,” adds Amber Hadley. “If someone is dipping their toes into acting, or writing a play, this is a great way to gain some mini-experience and exposure. Many people who didn’t think they could be writers end up becoming playwrights.”

“The long term goal is to get a full production out of at least one of the plays that are showcased,” notes Amy Spadafore. “Actually, Creative 360 in Midland does an Arts Feat Festival that includes 10-minute plays and one full length play an applicants to that can get the play adjudicated and professionally judged, so they are sending a representative to talk with our participants and encourage them to submit their finalized pieces for the festival they have scheduled in June.”

Pit & Balcony did a consummate job welcoming the approximately 100 attendees at this inaugural festival by making Charcuterie Plates and glasses of Sangria available in the lobby; and staging this inaugural festival as a donation-only event, meaning goblets were set up identifying each play and their team members, so patrons could make a $10-dollar minimum donation that was split between each team and the venue.  Additionally, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes were awarded to each team after tabulating votes from each member of the audience.

Pit & Balcony is to be commended for spear-heading this inaugural exercise into originality as opposed to replication. As playwright Tom Stoppard once put it: “We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”