This past weekend I took part in the amazing Trafalgar24 Play Creation Festival put on yearly by Driftwood Theatre.
Trafalgar 24 is Driftwood Theatre’s 24-hour play-creation festival and fundraising gala featuring over 40 artists who write, produce, rehearse and perform ten new short plays in just 24 hours.
As a playwright, I showed up at Trafalgar Castle in Whitby, Ontario at 10pm on Thursday March 11th. I was given a room in which to create my 10 minute play and was told to use the words ‘twelfth’ and ‘night’ in the same sentence anywhere within the dialogue of the play. That was it. The room I was in was the setting for the play. And I had 8 hours to write it.
At the end of the eight hours, a flock of directors and actors converged on the castle, while all the playwrights got to go home to their beds (or their lives). So, 6:00am…changing of the guard! And then on the Friday evening, the audience arrived at the gates of the castle, eager to watch 10 brand spanking new plays!
This was my second year participating. It’s a fantastic event with a two-fold goal: to raise funds for Driftwood Theatre and to be an amazing night of entertainment in itself. As a guest to the plays, I can verify that it’s a fantastic night of entertainment! Each guest sees 6 of the 10 plays…they were all phenomenal! The actors who take part in this event are just incredible. Their talent, and ability to memorize lines in 8 quick hours, amazes me!
I created a play called MAID OF HONOUR…and it was performed by two incredible actresses: Melissa Morris & Caitlin Driscoll. They were flawless!
Don’t miss out in next year’s Trafalgar24 event. It really is something to see. And it’s for such a worthy cause.
Thanks to Jeremy Smith of Driftwood Theatre for allowing me to be a small part of this event again. It’s one of my favourite writing experiences to date!
KEVIN CRAIG 
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