The Student Organization for Undergraduate Playwrights wishes a couple a happy birthday and bids one alumna goodbye with its first show this year.
Instead of baking a cake and buying a present, the Student Organization for Undergraduate Playwrights is wishing a handful of members a happy birthday and giving one alumna a heart-felt farewell with its first show of the academic year.
“The theme is called, ‘It’s everybody’s birthday’ because we have two or three members who have birthdays either this weekend or early next week,” Jessica Walters, co-president of the organization, said. “And one of our alums is also moving out of Athens, so we’re doing a little send off for her as well.”
Similar to Midnight Madness, in which the graduate playwrights produce a 5-minute play weekly, the organization shows center around a theme — this time “birthdays.”
This year, there are seven playwrights participating, creating a seven-page cap on scripts.
“We have a lot more writers this year than we’ve ever had when I’ve been in it,” Adrian Shelton, co-president of the organization, said. “I think we have seven or eight plays that range between five and 10 minutes, so it’s going to be a pretty decent length show.”
Despite the larger than usual size, it only had two weeks put on a show.
“It was a really spur of the moment thing because we had planned on having our first show in October instead of September,” Shelton, a senior studying playwriting, said. “We were going to use September for workshopping and writing exercises and then we learned that Hope (Wondowsky) was going away. We wanted to make sure she had at least one more chance to write something and get things out there and have work produced.”
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Shelton added that many members were “itching” to write and see something produced.
The group allotted one week for writing and workshopping scripts, Walters, a senior studying playwriting, said then the other week for finding actors and rehearsing. The strict deadline didn’t affect many, though.
“Sometimes you just think of things and you keep them in your back pocket,” Walters said. “In this case you just add a birthday and then it fits the theme. You just have stories in your brain and it’s like, ‘OK I have a chance to write this now.’ ”
Nick Englehart, a freshman studying theater, has a play in the show — the first one he has ever had produced.
“It’s kind of fun. It’s short, but it should be really great. I’m excited,” Englehart said. “It’s a two-character play. They get into an argument, shenanigans ensue and then it ends with a splash.”
Shelton is also excited to see the plays in a relaxed, more carefree environment.
“Oftentimes, actors will have script in hand. It won’t be fully memorized and that’s totally OK,” Shelton said. “It’s a lot more casual and not the high stakes of a main stage performance.”
After this impromptu show, Walters and Shelton said they are hoping to put on another show in October.
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“Theater is a wholly collaborative thing,” Shelton said. “No one theater artist makes everything happen. It’s very collaborative between the people who write, the people who design, the people who act, the people who publicize. It’s a very collective art form and that’s something we always try and emphasize.”
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