"I think it's the pressure on everyone of 'I just got to get this done. I just gotta do this.'" That's Jim Fletcher speaking and the "this" is a complete theater package in 24 hours, from conception to execution. As producer, Fletcher pulls eight 15-minute plays out of a hat. Literally. Well, actually three hats.
This is Combat Theatre for a New Millennium presenting its sixth area production. Fletcher, together with Laura Nicholas, introduced Milwaukee to the format two years ago and right from the start, they regrettably turned potential spectators away. This weekend's productions will be different: Five times more seats in UWM's Fine Arts main stage auditorium.
"I've seen a lot of 10-minute play festivals," Fletcher says, "and while I enjoyed some of them -- a lot of them, actually -- I've seen some where I don't know how these plays got selected in the first place. In some cases people have spent years writing them." There are no 'years' involved in Combat's offering, just 24 hours of madhouse scrambling for inspired thought on each participant's part.
{INSERT_RELATED}To start off, Fletcher has compiled a list of eight local paywrights -- all of this year's writers, except one, have participated in past productions. At 8 p.m. on Thursday (25), from each of three hats, the writers will select: (1) a subject, (2) the location, and (3) number of characters and their composition (how many males, how many females). Subtracting travel time, each author now has about 12 hours to write a 15-minute play that chance has determined will be about, for example: (1) Martha Stewart in an Army tank with two other females or (2) Captain Kirk in jail with one male and one female or (3) John Wayne in a drag-show dressing room with four males.
Friday (26) morning, at precisely 9:45, chance will again dictate for the assembled eight directors' selection from a hat (1) the playwright's name and (2) the names of his or her actors and actresses. Along the way each playwright and director has the option of one rejection. They may return their original draw for a second choice, but that's it. No going back and no more chances.
"It's all random," Fletcher says. "We have a brief question and answer session and introductions. Sometimes that's the last time you see all these people for the rest of the day" though each cast is permitted a 45-minute rehearsal on stage to explore the space and work out lighting needs.
"They all have to be back by 4:45" (hence, each company has about 6-1/2 hours to memorize and rehearse, plus acquire needed costumes or properties) "at which time," Fletcher says "I tell them what order they're going in for the night. We try to have a full run-through from 5-7. And then at 8 o'clock, curtain goes up."
Aside from the show, the fun in attending Friday evening's performance comes at the conclusion when the audience is permitted to watch the new drawings for Saturday night, the 27th. They hear (1) the subject, (2) the location and (3) size and composition of the cast. Departing playwrights go home to immediately sit down to their pens and yellow pads, typewriters or computers and begin their compositions. Then Friday night's spectators return to witness the creativity that's gone into fashioning the new efforts in the previous 22 hours by the writers, directors and actors.
Frequently, but not always, this brave band of combatants retains status quo. This year, for the second night, there'll be a small shift in personnel for both playwrights and directors (in one instance a Friday night director becomes a Saturday night actress, for example) and even entrepreneur Fletcher himself offers his services as actor the second night -- the first evening being too fraught with producing responsibilities.
Fletcher and Nicholas were graduated from UWM's Professional Theater Training Program (PTTP) with MFA degrees in '95. Neither is quite sure of the origin of this theatrical form but there are variations on the format.
"There's a place down in Atlanta," Fletcher elaborates, "that does something similar. They have a theme like 'Home for the Holidays' and everyone writes a play about home for the holidays. There's a place in New York, everyone writes about whatever they want. They come back the next morning and vote for the play they like best and then they all work on a single play for the whole day. In Los Angeles they have an object to write about and sometimes they pass that object from play to play.
"I like our procedure best and it's not all funny slapstick and sight gags. There're some really thoughtful pieces. We had Ludmilla Bollows's 'Leave it to Beaver' in an old-age home. She wrote about four old people who had imaginary pets" that they showed off to one another. "And there's always a couple that don't quite get there. That's fine, too. That's part of the fun."
Asked to embellish his 'don't quite get there,' Fletcher elaborated: "They don't quite work. The writer got stuck. Or sometimes it's the randomness of the casting. I've had some actors freak out. Once, an actress quite at 5 before an 8 o'clock curtain. Another time the actor quit but showed up to see the show that night!"
Whatever words may be used to describe the offerings of Combat Theatre for a New Millennium, "dull" is not one of them. That's probably due to the pressure Fletcher spoke of earlier. And comes September, for the amusement of alumni attending Homecoming: "The Best of Combat Theatre" will offer re-creations from their past six productions, a slight departure from their usual format but also an indication of their increasing prominence in the Milwaukee theatrical community.
Appearing Friday and Saturday, July 26 and 27, Main Stage of UWM's Fine Arts Building, 2400 E. Kenwood Blvd. at 8 p.m.: "8 Writers, 8 Directors, 30 Actors...1 Costume."
