Coronado Theatre Strives to Break Performance World Record

Lamb's Players Theatre will attempt to present 100 consecutive hours of play and musical performances beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. through 10 p.m. Monday

After this weekend, a theatre in San Diego’s Coronado community may have one very memorable story to tell. With the help of 100 actors and musicians, the Lamb’s Players Theatre will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest marathon theatrical performance.

Beginning Thursday at 6 p.m., performers will attempt a feat dubbed “100 Hours of Stories,” a group effort to present 100 consecutive hours of play and musical readings while going down in history and raising funds for the non-profit theatre.

The nonstop storytelling marathon will run through 10:30 p.m. Monday.

Currently, according to the Guinness World Records website, the record for the longest theatre performance is 72 hours, held by a team of 12 Loyola College students in Tamil Nadu, India, who performed for four days straight in September 2006.

Over the next four days, Lamb's performers will act and sing their way through more than 50 different plays and musicals, taking only five-minute breaks between each play.

Patrons can stop by the theatre at 1142 Orange Ave. for any portion of the record attempt and are encouraged to donate a minimum of $20 at the door, which will go toward the theatre’s fundraising goals. The ultimate mission is to raise $200,000 for Lamb’s Players Theatre all while breaking the world record.

Additionally, patrons interested in being part of the record attempt can also volunteer to be an official Guinness audience member by donating four hours of their time watching the performances. At least 20 audience members are needed at all times in order for Guinness to count the record.

The event kicks off with a performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” Thursday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The storytelling continues overnight, with “Lettuce and Lovage” scheduled for 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. and “The Glass Menagerie” from 3:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.

The non-stop theatrical action continues all day and night Friday, Saturday and Sunday – all with overnight performances as well – and wraps with a full day of shows Monday, ending with “Mixtape” from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. To check out the fill schedule of “100 Hours” performances, click here.

According to the Lamb’s Player Theatre website, Lamb’s has been around for 41 years and is one of Southern California’s leading non-profit performing arts organizations.

The theatre produces performances at its 350-seat venue in Coronado and at the 250-seat Horton Grand Theatre in the Gaslamp Quarter, presenting an annual five-play season each February through November. That’s followed by a “Festival of Christmas” in December.

The theatre employs a full-time, long-term company of actors, directors, playwrights and designers. The Lamb’s Educational Outreach troupe also performs to tens of thousands of students each year at local schools and beyond, bringing the arts to youth.

The company began as a nonprofit in 1971 at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn., before making its way to San Diego. Over the decades, Lamb’s set up shop in El Cajon and then National City. Producing artistic director Robert Smyth joined the organization in 1976.

In 1994, Lamb’s renovated the old performance space in Coronado’s historic Spreckels Building into a new resident theatre. In 2008, the organization took on the operation of the Horton Grand Theatre in downtown San Diego.

The theatre’s website says the company hires more San Diego-based actors than any other company. Those actors perform for an annual audience of more than 100,000 patrons.

Check out the video below, a theatrical teaser for the theatre’s big attempt this weekend:
 

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