For twenty-four hours, beginning at 8PM tonight, six actors with Brat Productions will perform Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. Yep, you read that right. Twenty-four hours. A few days ago, Phillyist exchanged emails with the play's director, Madi Distefano, about the upcoming feat of theatrical and physical endurance. Here are her answers.

Ionesco is a huge challenge for actors. Why him?
Why not him? In fact, he came first. This concept of running a show twenty-four times in a never-ending loop only came about because of the script, because of the end, where the play begins again with the couples switching roles. Ionesco's bleak depiction of suburban banality lends itself to the painful repetition and monotony.

Which came first: the play choice or the concept?
See above. I think it would be silly to do just any play for twenty-four hours for the gimmick of it. Our Irish Bar Tales were performed at Fergie's Pub, but we wouldn't do them for twenty-four hours, and we wouldn't do The Bald Soprano at Fergie's Pub.

How long have you been in rehearsal? What's the longest that the cast has rehearsed for in preparation for the marathon performance?
Three and a half weeks of rehearsal. We have been doing 'quadruples' with the cast switching roles, so they did each version twice.

The production is being advertised as a twenty-four-hour non-stop production. How will the cast be handling things like bathroom and water breaks? There must be SOME room for cheating?
There is no cheating. Characters do leave the stage. There are six actors, but some scenes have only two or four characters. Every character has at least ten minutes off stage every hour.

Now that you've done this once, do you think you'd ever be brave enough to do a 24-hour marathon performance again?
This is our fourth time, really. We did the show in 1998 in three cities. It was a different cast, but same concept. Like I said above, I wouldn't just do any show twenty-four times. If the idea is born out of the script, then sure. It's not a question of bravery; it's a question of artistic choice. It's cool to push the limits of theatre, and of the performers. We have some very strong actors. By strong, I mean that they have a variety of backgrounds including physical theater, competitive improvisation, and regional theatre, which is very challenging all by itself.

A 24-Hour The Bald Soprano
The Wilma Theater (Broad and Spruce Streets)
Starts tonight at 8PM
Tickets $15-20, available online.