SRU students write, direct, act in ‘Brave New Plays’

Rebecca McGann, a Slippery Rock University music major from Berwick, has written three plays that will be presented April 25-26 during SRU’s “Brave New Plays” program in Sheehy Theatre.

April 12, 2016

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Eleven one-act plays, written, directed and performed by Slippery Rock University students, will be presented April 25-26 during SRU's annual "Brave New Plays" program.

Plays will be presented at 7:30 p.m., in SRU's Sheehy Theatre in the basement of the Maltby Center. "Brave New Plays," presented annually, gives students the opportunity to present their own work.

Students in the "Directing," class taught by Laura Smiley, associate professor of theatre, will direct the plays. The playwrights will not act in their shows, but are consulted about casting by the student directors when they interpret scripts.

The plays vary in length and number of actors. Some are one-person plays. Others feature several different actors.

The playwrights submitted their plays for consideration during the fall semester. Theatre faculty then selected which plays would be presented during spring semester. Students in Smiley's "Directing" have the opportunity to indicate which play they would like to direct.

Many of the plays come from students in the "Playwriting," class taught by David Skeele, professor of theatre.

The student plays being presented are:

• "Always Zero Now," "It's Like a Pizza" and "Here Again Tomorrow," by Rebecca McGann, a music major from Berwick;
• "Chronicle" and "Façade" by Richelle Ayers, a theatre major from Erie;
• "A Conversation that Mattered," by Harmony Kasper, a theatre major from Ellwood City;
• "Herald and Vera," by Garret Besonson, an English major from Wexford;
• "Herge," by Joe Szalinski, an English major from Pittsburgh;
• "The Inner Mind of a Monologue," by Amber Mikec, a secondary education major from Strabane;
• "My Spot," by Kaitlin Cliber, a theatre major from Plum; and
• "Vengeance," by Ashley Treskey, a resort recreation and hospitality management major from Hanover.

Tickets are $5 at the door.

MEDIA CONTACT: Gordon Ovenshine | 724.738.4854 | gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu