HCC Theater delights us every semester with their variety of different plays, from classical dramas like “Caucasian Chalk Circle”, performed in 2023, or modern comedies like “This B!tch” in 2025. The program aspires to not only bring entertainment to the public, but also variety to challenge to their students; during the summertime the program pushes its performers further by being part of the international Gi60 (gone in sixty seconds) play festival, the worlds only festival dedicated to one minute plays.

Gi60 was founded by Screaming Media Productions and Steve Ansell in 2003, initially predating YouTube by three months, with a mission to bring ultra-brief storytelling to life. Later, the U.S and U.K allowed writers to submit their one-minute plays every year, not only giving a new challenge to performers, but to also expand their work to new audiences. 

Something unique about the festival is that the plays are new every year. They become a time capsule of what society was experiencing at the time. In just sixty seconds, audience members can get a glimpse of the values, fears, and humor of a specific era. The festival also promotes diversity, meaning anyone from anywhere in the world can submit a play!

This year, HCC has 36 plays from all over the United States and four student performers to tackle all stories in less than an hour. Each student was given the option to direct a play of their choice under the supervision of a professor in order to learn valuable directing skills for the future. I interviewed Professor Elisa Diehl, and this is what she had to say about the program.

“It’s awesome! We have had play-writers come from far away to come see their shows.”

“We are premiering every single one of the plays!”

“We like to honor our locality by giving extra consideration to Texas play-writers when picking the plays.”

The event takes place on July 2 and 3 at 7:30 in the HCC Stafford Fine Arts building. Come watch how many stories can be shown in 60 seconds!