The deadline for the 18th annual UCSB Monologue Festival ends tomorrow.

The event is an exclusively student-run production that features monologues written, performed and directed by UCSB students from both inside and outside the Dept. of Theater and Dance. Scheduled to span two evenings in early January, each night will feature a half hour of performances.

According to Natasha Lloyd, a fifth-year theater major who is co-producing the festival, the monologues encourage an anything goes attitude.

“We’ve had nudity [in previous years],” Lloyd said. “It’s free, it’s not written in Shakespeare… audiences are really responsive.”

Each year, somewhere between 100 and 150 student-written monologues are submitted to producers. Only 10 will be chosen for the festival.

This year, all monologues were anonymously submitted to Lloyd and her co-producer Charles Faith, a fourth-year acting major. Only after the 10 final monologues are confirmed will the writers be credited for their work.

According to Lloyd, the monologues tend to lean toward comedy. However, she said there are several serious dramatic acts each year.

Dakota Brown, a fifth-year acting major who authored a monologue that was performed in the festival last year, said the informal atmosphere of the show is unique and creative.

“Last year I wrote one monologue for it… called ‘Dethroned,’ and it dealt with the uncomfortable situation of using the bathroom in an unfamiliar house,” Brown said. “Though that one was obviously very silly, I find that there is a perfect blend of comedy, intensity and sensitivity present in the Monologue Festival. It’s not often that an actor can work so directly with the writer on a piece so fresh. It is an absolute blast.”

Lloyd said the festival nearly always reaches maximum capacity for each of its two half-hour shows. The diverse background of the participating actors serves as a popular incentive for audience members, Lloyd said since the lack of theater formalities seems to usher in actors from all over.

“[One] thing I love is that sometimes we cast people who aren’t even in the Theater Department,” Lloyd said. “It really helps non-majors [become cast].”

In late November, Faith and Lloyd will hold casting calls for actors. Potential directors are required to turn in separate applications, and preferably will come from theater or directing backgrounds. Applications are available at the Theater and Dance Production Office.