Ouachita Stories

The Ouachita Baptist University Department of Theatre Arts will present its Student Directed One Act Play Festival on May 4-5 at 7:30 p.m. in Verser Theatre. The performances are free and open to the public, and they are based on students’ work in a play directing course taught by Dr. Dawn Schluetz, visiting associate professor of theatre arts.

Student directors continuing the bi-annual tradition of the production include:

• Wyatt Ashlock, a senior communications & media/visual media & film and theatre arts double major from Royse City, Texas, will direct “Guns in Dragonland” by Eislinn Gracen. The play follows Lilah Gordon and her best friend/imaginary dragon, Toucan, as they set off on a special adventure to help Lilah earn dragon wings of her own.
• Landon Denman, a senior theatre arts and history double major from Fort Worth, Texas, will direct Edward Albee’s “The Sandbox” by Edward Albee. Written as a piece of absurdist theatre, “The Sandbox” explores ideas about family as main characters Mommy and Daddy bring Grandma to the beach in order to bury her in a sandbox and wait for her to die.
• Tyranni Hubbard, a senior theatre arts major from Little Rock, Ark., will direct “The Proposal,” a comic farce by Anton Chekhov. “The Proposal” questions the purpose of marriage through the story of a young man, Lomov, whose proposal to his neighbor, Natalya, results in a serious of quarrels between the two.
• Hayley Johnson, a senior theatre arts major from Hot Springs, Ark., will direct “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell. “Trifles” is loosely based on a murder trial Glaspell covered as a young journalist for the Des Moines Daily News; the play is about an investigation into the murder of a farmer, John Wright.
• Payton Mixon, a senior musical theatre major from New Caney, Texas, will direct “The Ugly Duckling” by A.A. Milne. In “The Ugly Duckling,” A King and a Queen have trouble marrying their daughter, an ugly princess. They devise a scheme to marry her to a prince from a far away land.

The student directors are taking what they learned about acting, lighting, costuming, design and makeup and applying it to their production for the outcome of an entertaining festival. Each of the five plays is unique and will be performed both nights.

“Something interesting about this group of directors is that our plays cover a wide variety of themes,” Ashlock said. “There are two comedies, two dramas and an absurdist play, so there will be something for everyone. There are some serious topics and some light-hearted topics.”

The plays hold a personal or emotional connection for the directors.

“The one acts are significant to the theatre department because participating in the festival is a requirement for the directing class, which several theatre majors have to take,” Johnson said. “It also gives an opportunity for students to choose stories to share that are interesting or meaningful to them.”

For more information, contact the Ouachita Box Office at (870)-245-5555 on weekdays from 1-5 p.m., or email the office at boxoffice@obu.edu. To learn more about Ouachita’s productions by the School of Fine Arts, visit obu.edu/boxoffice.

Photo by Sarah Dean

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