The Theatre Department presents PlayFest!

The Theatre Department presents “PlayFest” in two weeks! The 5 One-Act plays that will be
performed were written in last year’s Playwriting class and were selected to be produced on
stage. The performances will be on April 11th and 12th at 7:30 pm. On the 11th, there will be
two plays, and on the 12th, there will be three! This means that there is only one opportunity to
see each play, so be sure not to miss the performances! The full PlayFest schedule, including
the writers and directors, will soon be shared on the McMurry Theatre Instagram, so keep an
eye out!

I am acting in two of the plays, one of them being “Do Mockingbirds Sing at Night?”, written by
Lauren Scott and directed by Aby Brown. Last semester, Lauren was recognized for winning
Best Overall Play at the TxETA Playfest Competition. I was a part of the live reading of the
script when we attended the convention in Galveston, and it was such a great experience! I was
able to learn so much about the play itself and what inspired Lauren to make certain writing and
character choices. Having the opportunity to act in this play is very special to me because it is
written and directed by two of my closest friends, and I also get to act along with some of my
favorite people!

I asked Lauren why she is excited to see the play she wrote being produced and she said,
“There’s a little piece of me up there, a little piece of my family. To see the experience of my
loved ones captured in art is really exciting and I hope to make my family proud. I’m also very
excited to see what the actors do with the characters! Even though the show is based on a very
personal narrative and the characters somewhat resemble my family members, the characters
are separate people existing in a world simply inspired by my story. I am so excited to see what
the actors bring from their own lives into their performance. I’m so grateful to the cast, the
director (my best friend Aby) for taking care of my show. And to McMurry Theatre and Charlie
Hukill for introducing me to the wonderful world of Playwriting! I hope you enjoy the show!”

The second play I am a part of is “The Words of a Junebug,” written by Aby Brown and directed
by Professor Charlie Hukill. This play is super fun to be a part of, partly because of the cast and
the script, but also because I get to play the iconic writer Jane Austen. Getting to play a
character with a British accent is always enjoyable!

Aby is experiencing PlayFest in a very different way than most; not only is she acting in a play,
but she is also directing a play, and her play is being produced. I asked her about her
takeaways from writing and directing, and she said, “I think being both a writer and a director in
PlayFest has allowed me to grow as both in terms of how I can write for a director and how I can
direct to make the writer’s vision come true. I can see how much detail needs to be in the script
to make a scene come to life. And as a director I can see who the characters are and how to
show that through actions and staging”.

PlayFest in two weeks is something that you will not want to miss! The writers, directors, and
cast have put in so much hard work and we are excited to have an audience! More information
and Tickets can be found on the Theatre Instagram.