For the ninth year in a row, playwrights, actors, directors and tech crews at Madison’s Bartell Theatre take on the task of mounting six new plays – from page to stage – in just 24 hours.

<figure id="attachment_420386" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-420386" style="width: 804px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-420386" class="wp-caption-text">Simone LaPierre, (center, seen from the back) briefs the playwrights at a previous Blitz as they prepare to begin their work. </figcaption></figure>

The Ball Drop Blitz 2024, sponsored by the Mercury Players Theatre and Know Better Productions, starts on December 30, with plays staged for audiences on New Year’s Eve.

<figure id="attachment_420391" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-420391" style="width: 805px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-420391" class="wp-caption-text">Actors perform a play from the 2018 Ball Drop Blitz.</figcaption></figure>

Simone LaPierre, a fifteen-year veteran of the Madison theater community and a long time producer of the Blitz, dropped by WORT studios with four-time Blitz playwright Jon Rowe. Together they told Brian Standing how they manage to pull it off every year.

<figure id="attachment_420390" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-420390" style="width: 759px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-420390" class="wp-caption-text">Another Blitz performance from 2018.</figcaption></figure>

Simone, who steps back from producing this year and will instead take the stage, started the Ball Drop Blitz as an annual fundraiser for the Bartell, and the event is now in its tenth year. If you want to see what creations this New Year’s Eve event serves up, doors open at 6:30 and the performances start at 8:00 .

Jon tells us how it feels to release the play he has carefully crafted to a director and actors when he has no idea how they will interpret his work. Jon has been part of the Madison theater community for two decades, and has been acting and performing since attending Edgewood College.

One Blitz play from 2017 was video recorded and is still on the web. Check out the science fiction comedy, Flight.

<iframe loading="lazy" title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/197734141?h=781f10d061" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

If you think you have what it takes and want to offer your talents, send an email to balldropblitz@gmail.com.

<figure id="attachment_420387" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-420387" style="width: 749px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-420387" class="wp-caption-text">Simone LaPierre (left) and Jon Rowe.</figcaption></figure>

Photos of Simone and Jon courtesy of themselves. Featured image courtesy of the Bartell website. Web posting and all other photos by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton.

The post Plays Written and Rehearsed in 24 Hours Come to Bartell This New Years... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.