60 Minutes, 60 Plays

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By Claire L. Wong

“It’s a wild, thought-provoking, and fun hour,” says Director of the Young Conservatory Jill MacLean. For the next five nights, the Young Conservatory presents the Student One-Minute Play Festival, featuring 60 one-minute plays written and performed by young artists from around the Bay Area.

After going on an artistic writing retreat and working together as a community to produce the plays, this next generation of theater-makers and change-makers presents work that is reflective of the world they want to see. “There’s an immediacy and a relevance to the content of the plays,” says MacLean. “Because the students are writing the material, they’re invested in it, it’s their own.” 


This is the first time the YC has taken on this creative challenge, but these emerging artists have an excellent guide: Dominic D’Andrea, founder and producing artistic director of the One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF). Additional direction by local directors Karina Fox, Jill MacLean, Nikki Meñez, Ely Sonny Orquiza, and Stephanie Wilborn helps bring these works to life.

“It’s been a great opportunity for participants across our programs to collaborate as playwrights and actors,” says Director of Education & Community Programs Juan Manzo. “They’re covering topics from climate change to selfie obsession to mac ‘n’ cheese to space worms and tolerance.”

The YC’s Student One-Minute Play Festival runs October 22–26 in the Rueff at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater. Get your tickets here!

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