What is Play in a Day?

Ten students. 

At school. 

Until Midnight. 

Drinking a lot of coca cola and redbull, eating pizza, and most importantly, writing the most chaotic scripts for the 24-hour performances. 

Play in a Day is an old SHP tradition, where students have 24 hours to write and rehearse two 30 minute plays. This year is the revitalization of play-in-a-day, as the tradition stopped two years ago. Kiana Everett ‘26, the student leader in charge of organizing the activity, said, “this is play in the day’s come back. I’m super excited.” Two teams of writers began writing scripts at 12pm yesterday, and worked for almost twelve hours on their scripts. Today, the actors arrived at 8am to begin memorizing and rehearsing the two scripts. They have 11 hours.

This year’s theme is “caught between the devil and the deep blue sea,”—specific, yet still very open-ended and up for interpretation. Interpretation by the two teams of writers. With Ms. Cristina Fries: Chachi Bosen ‘26, Olivia (Ollie) Ballard ‘26, Bennet Sweeney ‘26, Reika (Rei) Hatoyama ‘27, and Patrick Stamos ‘27. With Dr. Lisa Harper: Thalia Cheung ‘26, Sloane Smith ‘27, Shinae Stamos ‘27, Anna Lee ‘27, and Sabine Cardamone ‘28.

Behind the scenes: the writing process

Ms. Fries’s Group at 3pm:

Energy was high, ideas were scrawled all over the five whiteboards in the room. Everyone was excited. Boesen: “I’m very excited to actually write.” Olivia (Ollie) Ballard ‘26: “I’m excited because it’s always fun to come up with some fun ideas, working with friends and having to collaborate.” Everyone was excited, but not much writing had been done.

They also anticipated the chaos coming their way. Reika (Rei) Hatoyama ‘27: “I just have no idea where it’s going, so I’m waiting for the ride.” Ballard: “I’m just excited for the energy and the adrenaline to hit.”

Dr. Harper’s Group at 3pm:

With only one whiteboard, ideas were written in every corner, covering the entire board. However, the energy was “very chill” according to Sloane Smith ‘27. Smith added that their “group dynamic so far has been working really well.” Shinae Stamos ‘27 agreed, saying, “we all are very open to each other’s ideas and I feel like we’re working very well.” This group was already half way through their first draft.

Ideas-wise, it was “slow at first, but then we got one idea that was like really good,” according to Shinae Stamos. 

Ms. Fries’s group at 7:30pm:

Cardboard pizza boxes and paper plates scattered across the table. Right off the bat, Bennet Sweeney ‘26 says, “we’re tired, but I think we’re… high energy,” and he also added, “it’s got a lot better, now that we’re all actually, like, writing stuff.” As their draft progressed, it took on a defining characteristic: it has a lot of cut scenes. 

Dr. Harper’s group at 7:30pm: 

The vibe is “delulu,” said Shinae Stamos, and affirmed by the group. 

Speaking about their script, Lee added, “we have pop culture references.” The writers have made efforts to give “people roles that are very far out of [their] comfort zones” according to Smith. Lee says they’re “excited to see how that plays out.”

Harper’s group finished at 11pm, and then spent twenty minutes making a celebratory TikTok. Fries’s group finished at 11:40pm. 

Members of the Sacred Heart community can watch the Play in a Day performance at 7pm on Saturday, February 28th.