Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s chapter of Alpha Psi Omega national theatre honor society will present its annual All Night Theatre: Ten-Minute Play Festival March 10 at 7:30 p.m. The festival consists of short, student-written plays. Each play is entirely student-directed and produced. The event will be held in Ouachita’s Verser Theatre and is free and open to the public.

The event has earned it’s “All Night” name because preparations begin only 24 hours before the performances. At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 9, the actors find out what show they are in, and the directors find out what cast and show they are directing. Through the night, the directors and actors begin staging, memorizing and creating their shows until the early morning hours. During the day on Saturday, the members of each show begin designing the technical elements, including lighting and music.

All Night Theatre is an entirely student-led process. The three students leading the event this year are Dylan Blackwood, a junior musical theatre major from Walnut Ridge, Ark.; Michaela Finley, a senior musical theatre major from Cedarville, Ark; and Nadalie Gill, a senior theatre arts and mass communications major from Price, Texas; To be involved in this “triumvirate” of leaders, a student must be a senior, junior or sophomore member of Alpha Psi Omega.

“To be involved in an event that was unique and challenging seemed like so much fun, so I definitely wanted to be a part of it in some way,” Gill explained. “Getting the opportunity to be a leader has been an incredible experience.”

Students from all majors are encouraged to participate in the show by writing a script or auditioning for a role. All Night Theatre offers the unique opportunity to experience in a single 24-hour time period what Ouachita’s theatre arts majors do every day.

“It's a wonderful opportunity to be involved in theatre without the long time commitment,” Gill said. “Usually a production takes about a month to fully put together, but since All Night Theatre takes place over a weekend, it's much easier for non-majors to jump in and participate.”

“The festival is a chance for students to be involved at all levels in a theatre production that doesn’t involve a big time investment like our larger productions,” added Eric Phillips, chair of Ouachita’s Department of Theatre Arts and professor of theatre arts. “Students can run through the process in a couple of days and have a finished product in front of an audience. They also can get to be a part of the creative process of putting on an expressive event with their peers and know that they created it all for their fellow students.”

All Night Theatre: Ten-Minute Play Festival will be held on March 10 in Verser Theatre. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Ouachita’s Box Office at [email protected] or call (870) 245-5555 from 1-5 p.m. on weekdays.

 

By Katie Smith

March 5, 2018