By Mitch Holt, Staff Writer

Students from the Theatre Department will perform short, student-directed plays this week in Culp Theatre for the first time in the history of the department.

The four showings of these 10-minute plays will be at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday. The show will cost $10, which can be charged to students’ ACU accounts.

“These short plays are a great opportunity for theatre,” said Chris Peck, senior theatre major from Albuquerque, N.M., and director of one of the short plays. “In a full two- and-a-half-hour play, you have to sit through the whole thing, even if you don’t like it; however, with these short plays, if you don’t like one of them, just wait 10 minutes, and another play will come on.”

Seating is configured to host 150 guests, said Adam Hester, chair of the Theatre Department.

“At this point, Friday and Saturday nights are sold out,” he said. “Remaining are tickets for Thursday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.”

Peck said organizers in the Theatre Department have taken several short plays that might not normally flow together and put them into a festival setting.

“There is a flow and rhythm that brings the festival together into a pleasant time of shows,” he said. “We’re really trying to create an effective tempo for the night.”

This event began as an effort to give more student directors in the department an opportunity to direct and make their work known, said Jay Reese, theatre major from Abilene and actor in Red Coat, one of the short plays.

“The department used to have only one student-directed show per year, so there were a lot of student directors who didn’t get a chance to direct,” Reese said. “This event will provide them with an opportunity to put on a small-scale production and have their work seen by the public.”

Each play flows well with the next because of the transitions, said Ryan Fonville, senior theatre major from Montgomery, Ala., and director of Out West, one of the festival’s plays.

“At the end of each play, soothing music plays while the set is change, and a bell rings to set off the next play,” he said.

“We are in a part of the semester that is stressful with school and exams,” Fonville said. “These plays will allow the audience to kick back and watch some exceptional and unconventional theatre.”