8 scripts
8 directors
20+ actors
Local talent creating 8 plays from “blank page” to “on the stage” in just 24 hours!
Featuring new scripts by
Michael Grais (Poltergeist),
Blake Crouch (Wayward Pines)
and more!
***Due to current Covid restrictions, seating is limited and the DAC will be requiring proof of FDA or WHO-approved vaccination, or negative PCR test results taken within 72hrs of the event***
Actors
Maureen May
Maureen May has been performing in live theater in the Durango area since 1986. Her roles have included Sr. Aloysius in “Doubt”, Polly in “Other Desert Cities”, Evelyn in “Independence” and Madame Arcati in “Blith Spirit”. She will be playing the role of Rose in “The Children” in Merely Players’ upcoming production next March. Maureen is also a visual artist, and you can view her work at maureenmayart.com
Mia Macon
Mia Macon is a sophomore at Animas High School here in Durango. She has been performing since she was 5 years old and is excited to be a part of this 24 hour play fest!
Sadie Hanson
Sadie Hanson is an 8th grader at Mountain Middle School. Acting is her biggest passion. She has been doing shows at the Durango Arts Center for almost 6 years. Her shows include Seussical, Lion King Jr., Oliver, All Shook Up, etc. She is very excited for this production and hopes that you enjoy it!
Zada Lile
Zada Lile has been performing since she was 3 years old and acts, sings, and dances well. She has appeared in over 35 stage productions over the past few years. Even during the Covid shutdown, she was involved in as many virtual productions and as much virtual training as possible. Recently, Zada played Natalie in All Shook Up, Pugsley in The Addams Family and has just been cast as Matilda in Matilda the Musical. In addition to theatrical shows, she has also done commercial work, short films, television and is SAG Eligible. Zada continues to work on her craft by taking voice, piano, acting, and dance classes when not busy with productions.
Tomafa Ticeahkie
Tomafa Ticeahkie is a freshman student at San Juan College pursuing a degree in Film and Television Production. She has always been involved in the performing arts from ensembles such as jazz band to smaller plays “Drama Labs” at her previous high school, Phillips Academy. This is her first role since graduating high school and she looks forward to being more productions.
Erin Allen
Erin Allen has been acting and singing from an early age. Her favorite stage memories include singing with The Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center and opening for Billy Joel. Her most recent performances include a local production of “The Rocky Horror Show” and Durango theater group Merely Players’ production of “Men on Boats”.
Grace Morledge
Grace Morledge 65-year-old retired English teacher, writer, runner and swimmer.
Benjamin Reece
Benjamin Reece has enjoyed acting in his community in both Pagosa and Durango
Adam Dykes
Adam Dykes is an internationally known burlesque and cabaret performer as a man and a woman with extensive experience and training in vocal performance. A self-described character actor, Adam speaks fluent French, German, and Spanish. Adam is also a Registered Nurse providing Mental/Behavioral health and long-term care.
Miranda Maldonado
Miranda Maldonado received her Bachelors in Theatre from Fort Lewis College. Her favorite performances so far include her roles in the musicals Gypsy and Urinetown, and the plays Let’s Talk Sex and I’m Native And… Miranda would like to thank her family and dear friends for their support.
Robert Fleury
I’m Robert Fleury and I’ve lived in Durango for the past 6 years. Love it! Originally from Southern California where I studied acting and had some success in Hollywood. This is the perfect project for me. I’ve still got the acting in me!
Katie Patterson
Katie Patterson: I am a junior at DHS. I have most recently been an ensemble member in the Adams Family, and in The Little Mermaid with Troupe 1096. I have been in other middle school musicals and plays such as Seussical the Musical (as Jojo), and in This Is A Test (as the mother). I also love to sing, have done choir for 6 years, and was a finalist for Durango Voice in 2020.
Todd Macon
Jenny Mason
Jenny is an award-winning children’s author who also produces and performs the Blister and Muck Unsolvable Mystery Podcast. From the high school drama club to community theater, she has played a diverse range of roles (male and female) across myriad genres including Western melodramas and Shakespeare.
Matt Jones
Matt Jones is glad to be involved with the DAC Theatre. He has performed in the 10-minute Play Festival and looks forward to other opportunities to get involved.
Aiden Hurley
James Nash McNichol
Hi! my name is James Nash McNichol but I go by my middle name, Nash. I’m 24 years old living in Durango Colorado. I’ve been in Durango since 2003 and graduated from Durango High School in 2015, go demons! In 2017 I started my own business, Tech-Nichol as an independent repair shop for electronic devices, I’m still fixing phones daily! I’m very excited to be a part of the DAC programs and see where new adventures and opportunities take me!
Katie McCrea
Directors
Charlie Grice
After many years away, Charlie is so excited to be back in the world of theater! This is his second foray into directing (outside of class work, many years ago). His previous directing effort was “Let’s Talk Sex” for this year’s 10-minute Play Festival here at the DAC. Locally Charlie has performed in “Macbeth” and “Much Ado About Nothing”.
Jeff Graves
BA in Theater (Univ. Denver 08). Merely Players company members; founding member of Devise and Conquer Improv; 7 years Denver improv experience.
Wendy Ludgewait
Wendy Ludgewait has been writing, performing, and directing theatre for a really long time. She’s thrilled to be back at DAC working with a great team of people.
Matt Jones
Matt Jones – Theatre enthusiast looking for any opportunity to get involved. Enjoyed being a part of the last two 10 Minute Play Festivals.
Tess Wisher
Tess Wisher is the Theatre Managing Director for the Durango Arts Center. Directing credits include “Sh*t Happens: A Night of Monologues”, “Hamlet”, and “Anger Management”. Stage Managing credits include “Rocky Horror Show”, “Art”, “The Crucible”, and “Fame”. She graduated with a B.A. in Theatre Arts and Business from Illinois Wesleyan University.
Liz Gray
Liz Gray is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of Arts (Stella Adler Studio/Excellence in Acting award recipient), The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (London, certificate holder), and The Upright Citizens Brigade (NYC). Liz has collaborated as a performer, adjudicator, coach, director, and teaching artist in theaters, competitions, and schools across the country (CTE License). Currently, she works with the local theatre company Merely Players as the company manager, communications director, and a company member. She is also a professor of theatre at Fort Lewis College and a member of the long-form improv troupe Devise and Conquer. www.liz-gray.com
Playwrights
Suzanne Tyrpak
Suzanne Tyrpak has written and published poetry, short stories, novels, and hundreds of radio ads. Currently, she’s an editor for Clark Strand’s online Haiku monthly newsletter, “17: Haiku in English.”
Originally from New York, Suzanne worked as an actor at Theater for the New City, The Riverside Theater, and Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company. In Durango, she was a longtime member of The Company, participated in the Purgatory Playwriting Competition, and performed at The Denver Center for Performing Arts.
Connect with her via Facebook, Twitter, and her blog, When Haiku Rains: http://suzannetyrpak.blogspot.com/
Evanthia Bromiley
Evie Bromiley is a graduate of Warren Wilson M.F.A. Program for Writers, and fortunate to be the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, Lisel Mueller, Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. Her work can be found in AGNI, Prairie Schooner, Five Points, LEON Literary Review, and elsewhere. This is her first play.
Cornelius Hurley
Cornelius Hurley has lived all over the country from small-town Iowa farms to downtown Philadelphia skyscrapers to mountain ski towns in Utah and Colorado before settling in his lifelong dream town of Durango. Cornelius is a film producer and screenwriter as well as the programming director for the Durango Independent Film Festival. He is excited to write for the stage and for the challenge of the 24-hour theater. He enjoys mountain biking, skiing, scuba diving, and spending time with his family.
Amiah Hanson
Amiah Hanson is a junior at DHS and is thrilled to be a playwright for the 24 Hour Playfest. You can find her animatedly discussing fantasy books, putting girls into Half-Nelsons on the wrestling mat, or creating random art projects out of clay and pipe-cleaners while singing songs from Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton. Amiah loves participating in theater and writing stories, so it is only natural she would combine them at some point. She is indebted to all the friends and family that have contributed to her theatre journey.
Blake Crouch
Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. His novels include Recursion, Dark Matter, and the Wayward Pines trilogy, which was adapted into a television series for FOX. Crouch also co-created the TNT show Good Behavior, based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He lives in Colorado.
Steven Konkoly
Steven Konkoly is the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas. His canon of THRILLERS includes:
—DEEP SLEEP (to be released February 1, 2022): Stopping the most dangerous conspiracy to ever threaten America means believing the unthinkable. A modern-day conspiracy thriller filled with twists and turns.
—THE RYAN DECKER BOOKS (4 books): a heart-pumping thriller of betrayal, revenge, and conspiracy for fans of Tom Clancy and Lee Child.
—THE BLACK FLAGGED SERIES (5 books and 2 novellas): a gritty, no-holds barred covert operations and espionage saga.
—THE ALEX FLETCHER BOOKS (5 books): a tense, thriller epic, chronicling the aftermath of an inconceivable attack on the United States.
—THE FRACTURED STATE trilogy: a “24-style,” near future conspiracy series set in the southwest United States.
—THE ZULU VIRUS CHRONICLES (3 books): a modern thriller series based on the events surrounding a bioweapons attack against the United States.
Matthew Iden
Matthew Iden is the author of eight books in the Marty Singer mystery series and several acclaimed standalone novels, including the dark psychological thrillers THE WINTER OVER, set at the South Pole, and BIRTHDAY GIRL, featuring a homeless forensic psychologist. Before turning to writing he held jobs with the US Postal Service and an international non-profit, logged a short stint with the Forest Service in Sitka, Alaska, and spent 100 days circumnavigating the globe with the Semester at Sea program…where he once fixed Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s email.
Jacquelyn Ben-Zekry
Jacquelyn Ben-Zekry is a Freelance Developmental Editor and owner of Modify Editorial. She has worked on New York Times, Wallstreet Journal, and Amazon bestsellers. Novels she has edited have gone on the be nominated for The Silver Dagger, The Edgar, The Pen-Falkner, The ITW Thriller, and The Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction. Jacquelyn has edited over 100 Novels and written numerous scripts for television (nothing you have heard of, yet). When she is not editing or writing, she enjoys hiking, traveling, or having a big glass of red wine with friends. She lives in Colorado, USA with her husband, three step-kids, two dogs, and a cat.
Michael Grais
Michael Grais has written/ produced movies of international acclaim including Poltergeist 1 & 2, Cool World, Marked For Death, Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers, Great Balls of Fire, and more. He has also been a showrunner in tv series, having begun his career on Baretta, Starsky and Hutch and Kojak. He has two films being produced in 2022 and in talks about 2 series to start in 22-23.
Lindsey Kirchoff
Lindsey Kirchoff is a Durango local and recently won 2021’s Durango PlayFest, where her full-length play “Golden Gate” was performed as a reading.