Theatre Students in Playwright’s Performance Launches Virtual Playwrights: A Workshopping Initiative
The Playwright’s Performance, a student-run group that produces student-written, directed and performed pieces on a weekly basis, presented its first Virtual Playwrights: A Workshopping Initiative on Thursday, March 26. With the COVID-19 pandemic preventing students from being on Shenandoah University’s campus, the group’s production team explored a number of ways to keep everyone connected. This project in particular is a virtual means of sharing readings and workshops of students’ pieces on Zoom.
This week’s virtual meeting presented “Newspaper and Peppermint,” a piece written by Elena Doyno ’21 (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre) and performed by Rylie Butzbaugh-Patrick ’20 (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting) and Carlyn Head ’23 (Bachelor of Fine Art in Musical Theatre). The piece is about two sisters struggling with the pressures of perfectionism that their family puts on them.
Nearly one hundred theatre students and faculty participated in the first gathering.
Adjunct Instructor of Theatre Kit Wilder, B.A., served as the faculty director for this week’s event. Typically, Playwright’s Performance is entirely student-run, but the group wanted to use this virtual medium as an opportunity to invite theatre faculty to join as well.
The group plans to continue these throughout the rest of the semester and is exploring digital ways to present its annual awards show at the end of April.
The Playwright’s Performance production team includes one student from each graduating class. This year’s team consists of Nicolette Minella ’20 (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre), Miranda Schnoor ’21 (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting), Spencer Lynn ’22 (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre), and Claire Ballard ’23 (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre).
