WKU Theatre & Dance students banded together to produce original performances for the New Works Festival, a four-day event that features student-created short plays.
The original plays will be performed Thursday through Sunday in the Gordon Wilson Lab Theatre. The works are split up into two “slates,” which will alternate on performance days, according to the department’s website. Slate A will perform on Thursday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Slate B will perform on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are free for all audience members.
Programs and QR codes containing content warnings will be available at the door. The WKU Theatre & Dance Department advised audience members that multiple plays include mature content and language.
Plays are limited to 20 minutes. Each show night will include six to seven performances.
“It goes from comedy to horror to love to angst,” said Salem Livingston, a sophomore theatre major. “It has something for everyone.”
Titles of the original works being featured include “True Confessions of the Third Best Quiz Bowl Team of Lemon County,” “Primary Function,” “Appalachian Archive,” “Multiverse of the Heart,” “Past Your Prime,” “A Good Death” and “The Toy Box” in slate A. Slate B comprises “Ghosts Love Theatre,” “Seven,” “It’s All Been Arranged,” “Sweet Encounters: Prom,” “A Dialogue Between Daughter and Father” and “Where Words Don’t Go.”
There will be an additional immersive work called “Lost in the Now” set outside of the theatre.
The entire festival has been planned and run by students.
“The playwrights are students, the directors are students, producers are students. Set, cast, dramaturge, everything is student-ran,” Livingston said.
Applications for playwrights and crew members opened during winter break. Auditions for actors began at the beginning of the spring semester, and rehearsals have been ongoing since February.
Students are limited to participating in plays since theatre majors and minors receive extra credit for their involvement.
Livingston serves as a dramaturge for the play “Primary Function” and will be acting for the play “A Good Death.”
The festival serves as an opportunity for student playwrights to gain experience.
“If you have an idea and maybe you want to run more with it later, you can use this to see how it goes,” Livingston said.
Seats are limited within the theatre, and no advanced reservations are available. Each play will be performed twice across the show dates, so audience members may have another opportunity to see a particular work.
“You can see the play twice… if you’re gunning for one and you miss one day,” Livingston said.
The department advertised the festival as an event where “Connection, Collaboration, and Creative Chaos reign!”
“It’s artistic freedom. You get to see into the playwright’s ideas and the director’s ideas,” Livingston said. “It’s all art, and it’s all revolving.”
