A group of alumni from a local theatre company won first prize at Ignition: Play In A Day, which was hosted at E.A. Rawlinson Centre on Saturday.
The event was hosted by Spark Theatre, something new they wanted to try in June but had to reschedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spark Theatre spokesperson, Cara Stelmaschuk said the group will want to put on a show again every year after a successful inaugural event.
The theatre group challenged five different acting groups to come up with a play based on a specific theme over 24 hours.
Alumni from Broadway North Theatre Company produced a musical based on the theme ‘full moon, dark night’. The musical presented a dilemma about two understudy actors who don’t expect they’ll have to step in for lead actors, but disaster strikes and the lead actors are unable to make it to the show.
“They wrote original songs for it, they played up the piano live on stage, totally original songs and they sang in harmony,” said Stelmaschuk who said her own team was impressed by the performance.
Playwright, director and dramaturg, Yvette Nolan, judged the performance.
“She gave the best points of each performance, so when she was introducing the shows and doing almost a recap for everybody she had something really nice to say about each show – what really stood out, what made that show good,” Stelmaschuk said.
Stelmaschuk is also impressed that 63 people attended the show given the unique idea behind it.
Stelmaschuk said her team wasn’t sure at first how many teams would be interested in the joining competition, but after seeing how this year’s event went they would like to see more acting groups join the challenge for the next show.
