Let the countdown begin to the Northampton 24-Hour Theater Project, a dramatic race against time to bring five short plays to life. The Center for the Arts is proud to continue its role as host for this beloved and highly anticipated event founded in 2002 by playwright Tanyss Rhea Martula. While the premise is simple, the execution is anything but: within 24 hours, five ten-minute plays will be written, rehearsed, directed, produced, and staged. The culmination of this day-long burst of creativity are two public performances, often standing-room-only, showcasing local writers, actors, and directors. The time-limited and adrenaline-filled process begins on Friday evening, when five playwrights meet to draw cards with unnamed actors' descriptions out of a hat. Once they have their cast information, the playwrights have 12 hours to create a ten-minute play. In the morning, they hand off their scripts to five directors who then read the script for the first time, gather their actors, and spend the next 10 hours rehearsing, while others father props, costumes, and set pieces. While there are always many returning favorites among the writers, directors, and actors, the committee continues to make it a priority to seek out some fresh new voices for each year's event. "The Northampton 24-Hour Theater Project is not just about the plays that come and go," noted Apgar, "it's about building the Valley's theater community by growing our relationships with one another, and with our audience." The committee is delighted to again partner with the Northampton Center for the Arts for this year's Project. Veteran Northampton 24-Hour Theater Project playwrights Susanna Apgar, Siobhan McManamon, and Tomàs Roche will be joined by Peter Shelburne, who returns to the project after five years, and acclaimed playwright Liz Duffy Adams, whose play Or led her to off-Broadway success. The Northampton 24-Hour Theater Project directors feature Ezekiel Baskin, Mark Gaudet, Tatiana Godfrey, Caitlin Guzman-Bailey, and Gina Kaufmann. This year's actors include Judge Bean, Kyle Boatwright, Scott Braidman, Nichole Calero, Michael Charland-Tait, Deveir Cockett, Bill Dwight, Judith Fine, Melenie Flynn, Tosh Foerster, Michael Garcia, Becca Greene-Van Horn, Matt O'Reilly, Linda Putnam, Myka Plunkett, Jay Sefton, Sarah Marcus, Woody Mcloyd, Miriam Sirota, and Brianna Sloane.