24 HOUR THEATRE ILLAWARRA

24 Hour Theatre is the ultimate theatre challenge for writers and actors. Writers are faced with the harshest of deadlines, a completed script is written in the middle of the night which MUST be completed by the morning.

Our teams of actors will start rehearsals in the morning and will have only that day to learn their lines, interpret the vision of the writer, block their play and perform that same evening in front of a live audience.

Black Box Theatre launched its first 24 Hour Theatre at the Tap Gallery in Sydney and since has performed annually in the Illawarra since 2014. Since then it has produced over forty brand new works, all involving over a hundred Illawarra and Sydney actors.

Continuing Black Box Theatre’s mission to bridge the Illawarra theatre community with Sydney – five plays from previous years have gone on to receive critical acclaim at Sydney’s Short+Sweet festival, the first was Tom Peach’s black comedy Doctors Orders. Since then, adapted versions of the 24 Hour Plays Time Squad (Alexander Cuff) and The Quality of Life (Sevgi Murphy), both directed by Luke Berman, won their weeks as best production and went on to perform in the Sydney Gala Finals (2017/2018).

Black Box also selected two plays to join the Wildcard strand of the festival, with Tom Peach’s Badda Bing Badda Bang advancing to the Wildcard Finals. Alexander Cuff’s The Human Trap also featured strongly in judge and audience voting for the Wildcard.