What can you accomplish in 24 hours? You can write, direct and star in a play. Columbia High School Thespian Troupe 289 will present its second annual Play-in-a-Day Fest on Friday, Aug. 19, and Saturday, Aug. 20, at the school, 901 Ironville Pike.

Play-in-a-Day Fest is open to anyone age 12 and over. Creative sessions will be held on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., followed by play performances on Saturday starting at 7 p.m.

"In the first creative session, we'll do some warm-up games, get acquainted and choose our teams," said Janet Wood, troupe director, who noted that all selections, from director to actors, will be chosen randomly.

The theme of each play will also be selected randomly, as well as a prop each team must integrate into the performance. "Each team is also given two sentences. The plays all must start with the same sentence, and the other sentence can be used anywhere in the play," Wood explained. The teams must also use all of their members on stage, perform their own technical support and incorporate one required costume piece. She noted that the finished plays have a sort of "mad libs" quality to them, where you never know what's going to happen.

After the first session, where teams will create a general outline of the play, the participants will return on Saturday to spend the day fine-tuning the show. The Saturday performances will be open to the public, and Wood encourages anyone to come out to see the students' efforts.

"I look at the Play-in-a-Day sort of like preconditioning for football," Wood said. "It's a way to get everybody warmed up, back together, back into the pond and ready for our regular theater season." The Columbia High School theater department will present its fall play, "Still Life With Iris," on Friday, Nov. 18, and Saturday, Nov. 19. Wood noted that the production will also be performed at the state thespian conference in December.

She emphasized, however, that no theater experience is necessary to participate in the Play-in-a-Day Fest. "You do not have to have any specific skills or theater background," she said. "Just come ready to explore and play."

Preregistration is not required for the festival, and anyone who is interested in participating may just show up on Friday evening. Participation in the festival is free, as are the performances. For more information on the event, contact Wood at 717-468-3212 or search for "CHS Play-in-a-Day Fest 2022" on Facebook.