The Festival is the single theatrical event on the Department of Theatre, Film & Dance schedule that features only plays written, directed and acted by students. It’s the culmination of a year-long process that involves a faculty panel choosing from scripts that are written as part of playwriting courses.

This year there are six plays that run the gamut from comedy and fantasy to serious drama, or more likely are combinations of each-- in ten minutes.

As usual, student playwrights grapple with profound issues, often in unusual ways. A space between life and death is imagined in two of the plays. In A Life at the End of the Tunnel, two young strangers caught in a timeless zone confront a demonic hustler who sells time. This play is by Mackenzie Cox, directed by Steven Robert King. In Finding the Spoons by Stephanie Rotelli (directed by Richard Renteria) an elderly couple manages the transit to eternity.