The Boston Theater Marathon

The mathematics of the Boston Theater Marathon pretty much tells the story: 50 plays in 10 hours, or 10 minutes per play with a two-minute interlude between productions to prepare for the next playlet. And so the cycle goes, play after play, hour after greasepaint filled hour.

For local theater buffs, sitting through all 10 hours of the BTM has become something of a rite of passage, the cultural equivalent of slogging through the Boston Marathon, only without the shin splints and carbo-loading nonsense. (I earned my stripes at last year’s BTM event and lived to tell.) This year’s installment, the eighth annual, offers the kind of variety for which the event has become known. The plays range from grim realism to slapstick absurdism and are penned by playwrights from throughout New England. Each play is produced by a different local theater company, though some actors may appear in more than one play. For a wide-ranging cross-section of what’s happening in local theater, it’s tough to beat the BTM.

Being the BTM veteran that I am, I have a few suggestions for the strategically oriented as well as those who thrive on self-imposed challenges. The 10-hour, no-breaks theaterthon may be the purest (and toughest) way to experience the event, but it isn’t the only way. Once you have your $30 ticket, you can custom-design your day any way you want. Strategize your coming and going to see the plays whose titles catch your eye. Or let your whim or your attention span be your guide. There are plenty of ways to slice and dice 10 hours.

Go for the comedy: Flouting the adage to not judge a book by its cover, this is one occasion when you’d be well served to scan the 50 titles and, if you’re in the mood for laughter, catch the plays that have grin-inducing titles. Case in point: David Rabinow’s ‘‘Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman’’ (Shadowboxing Theatre Workshop), about a woman whose rage over shady political election results causes her to ‘‘hulk out’’ and wreak havoc. Or ‘‘The Sanzibel Putt-Putt Rally’’ (Queer Soup), Jess Martin’s snapshot of a broken-up lesbian couple who encounter each other at a mini-golf tournament. If those don’t tickle your funny bone, try ‘‘Miss Marple Attends a Matinee’’(QE2 Players Inc.) or ‘‘Rusty Got Sprayed’’ (City Stage Company).

Go for the drama : A lot of profound emotion can be packed into 10 minutes — just ask anyone who’s ever waited for news in a hospital waiting room. This year, authors of some of the weightier dramatic selections have taken their inspiration straight from the headlines. J.K. Walsh’s ‘‘Huma’s Loom’’ (Boston Theatre Works) tackles day-to-day life in Afghanistan. First time BTM playwright Andrea Kennedy also takes her cues from current events in ‘‘Bobby Came Home’’ (Publick Theatre), about a soldier who, upon returning home from Iraq, confronts the flippancy with which Americans view violence. ‘‘Bone China’’ is a snapshot of two sisters dealing with an impending death.

Go for the endurance test: When was the last time you said, ‘‘Those 10 hours really flew?’’ At this marathon — unlike that other time-honored tradition that happens in April and involves thousands of runners and runner-wannabes — it’s not the performers who have to pass the endurance test, it’s the viewers. Just as runners take in the surroundings as they canter down the race course, you can watch the dramatic landscape zoom by as the sequence of performances roll past. And as in the world of athletics, various chemical aids and enhancements can be deployed to help you through the rough patches. Is it any wonder that the word of the day for BTM practitioners is ‘‘caffeine’’?

Go for the legacy: The BTM has been around long enough that it now feels bolstered by its history. The founders have remained its cornerstones as it’s evolved. Kate Snodgrass, the event’s artistic director — she’s artistic director at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre — founded the BTM with Bill Lattanzi, who headed up the Brandeis University playwriting program and now works as a BTM consultant. Plenty of logistical changes have occurred, like an increase in the number of plays (from 45 to 50) and corresponding reduction of the time between works. But a major development that happened last year stands as evidence of the amount of respect the BTM commands in Boston’s cultural community. The BTM called the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre home for its first six years, until the Huntington Theatre Company donated the Calderwood Pavilion’s Virginia Wimberly Theatre for the day, which boosted the capacity for the event from 230 to 360. With the upgrade in comfort and slickness, neophytes can come up with fewer excuses to stay away, or for earning their 10-hour badge of honor.

Go to test your urban ‘‘survival’’ skills: The BTM has no pre-ordained dinner break; there’s a concession stand in the lobby, but you can sneak out to boost your blood sugar any time, and the Calderwood Pavilion is surrounded by a galaxy of tempting eateries that light the South End’s nighttime sky. Your pass gives you all-day access to come and go as you please, though organizers and actors appreciate if you use the hourly break to depart or arrive. If you’re a hard-core viewer, though, you may not want to miss a chunk of 17 plays. No eating is allowed in the theater, but if you pack a Power Bar or an apple, you can certainly replenish calories on the fly.

Go for the plays by warhorse scribes: This year, there were more than 330 plays submitted to the festival. In addition to the open call, Snodgrass solicits scripts from some of New England’s most venerable ink-stained scribes. This year’s honorary contributors include local playwright Ed Bullins, along with Israel Horowitz, whose plays have been produced around the world. Snodgrass says she can always count on Robert Brustein for a play; the founding artistic director of the American Repertory Theatre has had work featured in the BTM every year since the event launched. His piece this year, ‘‘Airport Hell,’’ blends modern-day air travel with the mythological frustration of Euridyce. Ernest Thompson, who wrote the ‘‘On Golden Pond’’ screenplay, makes his BTM debut with ‘‘American Terrorist,’’ performed by Speakeasy Stage Company.

Go for the plays by up-and-coming scribes: With all of this year’s submissions, it might seem that dashing off 10 minutes of theater takes all the skill and concentration of scrambling eggs. Anyone can do it, says Snodgrass, but it takes a certain knack to create 10 minutes of drama, or comedy, that works. The few dozen that work best were chosen by a panel of theater practitioners. ‘‘You start just before the crisis point of the play, it happens, and it’s over. It’s hard to establish character and situation cleanly,’’ Snodgrass explains. That said, keep an eye out for new playwrights making their debut, like Boston College undergrad Megan Green (‘‘Theology Class’’), or Maine playwright Jason Wilkins (‘‘Kickass Librarian’’). Mastering the condensed form could signal big things for full-length efforts.

Go for a study in quick changes: Faster than you can finish your applause, the lights are back up for the start of the next short. It’s an exercise in gear shifting, to be sure, as you could find yourself clutching your side in hysterics at a character’s slapstick antics just moments after you felt a lump form in your throat over the predicament faced by a character in a touching dramatic scene. The time to switch sets between plays is capped at two minutes, but 30 seconds is optimal in order to take an official break at the close of each hour. And if you try keeping time on your watch, just imagine the militant attention to stage managers’ instructions backstage.

Go for a good cause: We all know there’s no want for outlets for charitable donations. You’re inundated with solicitations by mail, radio, television, and the guy outside the convenience store. But how often does a mere $30 bring about hours of engagement? Actors, directors, and designers all volunteer their time so that the entire $30 received for every pass can go to the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund, a nonprofit that provides funds to needy theater practitioners. Last year, funds were given to individuals in crisis as well as to the North Shore Music Theatre after its devastating fire in June.

Go for the acting: Everyone from Equity actors who you’ve seen onstage at the ART and Huntington to regulars on the fringe scene can be spotted at some point during the marathon. You’ll even see some high-demand performers, like Helen McElwain, double-timing it in two shorts.