Story by Luke Cameron
On Dec. 13 professor Claudia Barnett’s English 3665 playwriting students showed off their work with staged readings of excerpts from the students’ original short plays.
The event took place in the Tom Jackson building and was well-attended by students, parents, staff and faculty.
English 3665 students whose work was showcased were Jessica Law, Jon Bradley, Kiersten Harvey, Mary Mann, Tre Pettigrew, Stephanie Hall, Hayley Bishop and Lindsey Landrum.
Barnett, who has been teaching the class for 30 years, says she has been organizing the end-of-semester event for the last 20 years or so.
“It’s a running gag in my department. When people see me walking around with music stands, they know it’s the end of the semester,” Barnett says.
Student-writer Stephanie Hall’s play Something’s Got to Give was inspired by the Shirley Jackson short story “The Lottery.” “Mine was about two scientists who discover that one of them is about to have her organs removed and donated,” Hall says.
Hall thinks the event went smoothly.
“Staged readings are really fun. This is the fourth one that I have been a part of this year, and it’s always a good time for both the playwrights and the actors.”
Student-writer Lindsey Landrum’s play Coup d’Etats and Other Inconveniences was an imagining of what comes after the classic tale of Cinderella.
Says Landrum, “In this world the prince cares only about true love and not the good of his people, which has caused his citizens to stage a coup.” Prince Charming has what she calls “fairy tale brain.”
For the reading of her play Landrum brought in the cream of mid-state acting talent, Alyssa Freeze, and another versatile actor, Kohen West. “It didn’t take too much convincing to recruit them since they both have a love of performing, and they were happy to help me out,” Landrum says.
For the most part, though, the student-writers read and performed in each other’s plays at the presentation. Their skills as performers, not only writers, were not lost on Barnett.
“Actors are funny because they’re always better in front of an audience,” Barnett says. “So while I knew my students were talented, I didn’t realize how talented.”
Barnett believes that playwriting involves and develops important skills. One such skill is the ability to see other people’s perspectives. “You might write a character who sounds like you, but you’re going to have to be able to write someone who’s completely different from you, too. So you have to learn to sympathize, even empathize, with people who are nothing like yourself.”
At the event’s conclusion Barnett was pleased with the proceedings and infused with a goodwill toward her students. “I was proud of them. They gave it their all—not just for their own plays but for each other.”
English 3665 will be back with another public presentation in the spring, possibly at Scholars Week.
As for Hall and Landrum, the writing continues. Hall’s senior thesis will be a full-length play, and Landrum is eyeing a career of writing scripts for video games and interactive experiences.
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