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Student Writers Debut New Plays at Annual Microburst Theatre Festival

Two student writers discuss their experience developing scripts for Microburst Theatre

The Department of Theatre and Media Arts will debut new work from student playwrights in the annual Microburst Theatre festival, which will run in the Nelke Theatre Oct. 24-26.

The Microburst plays were first conceived and drafted in George Nelson's Playwriting 1 (TMA 251) and were subsequently submitted to dramaturgy professor Shelley Graham for festival consideration. The selected plays then moved into the rehearsal process with a student cast and crew directed by acting professor David Morgan.

"When I got the email letting me know I was selected, my first thought was, 'oh my goodness, I'm a playwright,'" said Amity Wootan, who has two plays — "No Signal" and "Bidet" — in the festival. "I was in a couple writing classes, but I didn't think of myself as a writer; I thought of myself as simply writing. Microburst was the first thing that really solidified for me that this is something I can do and be."

Theatre student Sophia Acedo — who wrote festival play "A Better Brother" — also sees Microburst Theatre as a turning point in her studies. Acedo has always loved to write, but Nelson's course was her first experience with playwriting.

"Seeing my work produced in Microburst is so validating and gives me confidence as a writer," said Acedo. "The more I wrote and the more I learned in TMA 251, the more I came to find that I really love playwriting! I'm still new and still learning, but Professor Nelson always said that the only way to get good is to write every day."

Read the full story and find tickets at byuarts.com.