USAO Theatre Arts Presents: The Festival of One Act Plays
The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma’s Theatre Arts program presents the Festival of One Act Plays on April 23rd – April 26th. This event presents the work of student directors, technicians, and actors in six short plays which will each have an evening and matinee performance. The plays will be presented in the Davis Hall Little Theatre, located on the USAO campus, beginning Thursday evening and concluding Sunday afternoon. The event is free and open to the public.
Starting off at 7:00 p.m. on April 23rd, audiences can watch Final Placement by Ara Watson, The Lady of Larkspur Lotion by Tennessee Williams, and Tender Offer by Wendy Wasserstein. These plays can also be viewed on Saturday, April 25th at 2:00 p.m.
Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Final Placement offers viewers a look inside Oklahoma’s foster care system. “This experience has been eye-opening and required a huge amount of work that I didn’t previously appreciate or understand,” quoted Tylan Hamilton, senior theatre and psychology major and director of Final Placement. “I have learned so much about the influence that theatre and theatre skills can have.”
The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, directed by junior theatre major Avery Sanborn, takes viewers to New Orleans, Louisiana, while Tender Offer, directed by junior theater major Giselle Castillo, is a touching father-daughter story.
The second round of plays, beginning at 7:00 p.m. on April 24th, the bill begins with The Bear (a tragedy), a comedy written by E.J.C. Calvert and directed by junior theatre major Gary Daughtry, followed by The Man Who Couldn’t Dance, a sentimental romantic comedy directed by senior theatre major Abbee Mann.
Closing out the evening will be Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp., written by Caryl Churchill and directed by Sara Baird, USAO alumna and Visiting Instructor of Technical Theatre. Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. contains themes of trauma and violence and is recommended for mature audiences. This second series of plays can also be seen on Sunday, April 26th, at 2:00 p.m.
For more information about the Festival of One Act Plays or about USAO’s theatre program, visit usao.edu/theatre or contact Katie Davis at kdavis@usao.edu.
About the Festival of One Act Plays:
The Festival of One Act Plays is a Capstone project in which students that have successfully completed two terms of study in Directing may participate. Each play features student performers including students from all backgrounds. The Festival of One Act Plays is an interdisciplinary celebration of theatre, collaboration, and experiential learning that demonstrates the hard work behind theatre. USAO offers Oklahoma’s only interdisciplinary program in Theatre Arts, allowing students to combine courses from any program on campus to build a personalized degree.
Contact: Hannah Thompson | 405-574-1362