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The University of South Carolina Department of Theatre and Dance will showcase the work of student playwrights and directors in the 10 Minute Play Festival, running October 29 – November 1 at Benson Theatre.
Show times are 7:30pm, October 29-31 and 3pm, November 1. Tickets are $12 and available online at sc.universitytickets.com or at the door. Benson Theatre is located on the 2nd floor of the Benson School building at 226 Bull St. (between Bull and Pickens Streets).
Featuring a diverse array of original short plays, the festival offers a fast-moving mix of comedy and drama, all created by USC students. The plays originated last spring in an undergraduate playwriting course taught by theatre professor Lauren Wilson, who continues to mentor the students and help oversee the production. The scripts were developed through writing exercises, readings of other short plays and successive revisions designed to sharpen the students’ dramatic storytelling, a process Wilson says generated “some tears… and a lot of laughter.” Of the eleven works written in the class, six were ultimately chosen for the production.
“There have been several 10-minute play festivals at USC and they were all fun, but it's really special that our students are now also the playwrights. And they’re all good plays— funny, charming, and irreverent,” she says. “These plays go deep into things the students care about, with heart and a great sense of humor."
Writing a complete play that unfolds in just ten minutes presented the young playwrights with a deceptively difficult challenge.
“It's harder in some ways to write a 10-minute play than it is to write a long one,” Wilson says. “In a short time span, the audience needs to sense that by the end, something in the play’s world has fundamentally shifted—a feeling, an understanding, a recognition.”
“I can't think of a better way to teach by experience than this,” says senior theatre major Asher Thompson, who is both a writer (The Bad Canary) and director (It’s Just a Kiss) for the production. “For many undergrads, me included, this is the first time we get to experience original works. These are the first characters we get to eject into the world, and I think it's exactly the way students should be challenged.”
The six plays range widely in topic and tone, from a surreal romance between an insomniac and a dreamer (Dreamers and (Un)Doers by Mark Garvin) to a fraternity rush where a portrait of Stonewall Jackson becomes a weapon (Lamb Play by Emily Lackey) and a foul-smelling planet threatened with destruction by a rival world (Planet Fart by Morgan Passley).
Despite the variety, Wilson says an unexpected connection emerged among the selected plays.
“These are all characters who are on the cusp of big change,” she says. “It’s moving to see how the writers imagined themselves into characters experiencing big change and loss and being tested by circumstances they can't control. The wild situations of the plays are grounded by very human and contemporary challenges.”
The production is serving as a playground for student directors as well, giving five young directors the opportunity to bring the works to vibrant life for audiences.
“Working with the actors and watching them discover nuance and new layers about their characters based on the text is really exciting,” says Adam Martin, a first-year MFA directing student helming the plays The Bad Canary and Dreamers and (Un)Doers. “I think it speaks to the talent pool of the first-time playwrights, students and teachers within USC's theatre program.”
The plays being presented include:
- The Shores of Memory by Meagan AuBuchon (Directed by Emma Griffin)
- Dreamers and (Un)Doers by Mark Garvin (Directed by Adam Martin)
- Lamb Play, written and directed by Emily Lackey
- Planet Fart by Morgan Passley (Directed by Bradley Gittens)
- It’s Just a Kiss by Luke Shelton (Directed by Asher Thompson)
- The Bad Canary by Asher Thompson (Directed by Adam Martin)
It all adds up to an exciting evening filled with fresh voices and unexpected moments that Wilson calls “a fast-paced rollercoaster.”
“What's that saying about 10-minute plays? If you don't like what's happening, just wait 10 minutes and it's going to change.”
For more information about the 10 Minute Play Festival or the theatre program at the University of South Carolina, contact Kevin Bush at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu or 803.777.9353.