Student-authored play to be performed

Parcel, by Northwestern College senior Brady Greer Huffman, St. Joseph, Mo., has been selected by award-winning playwright Jeffrey Sweet for performance during Northwestern’s 14th annual World Premiere Festival.

The full-length play will be performed in the Allen Theatre March 27 and 28 at 7:30 p.m. The show is free; seating is first-come, first-served.

Students’ plays written during the fall semester were read by Sweet, a Tony Awards voter whose play Flyovers is playing off-Broadway this spring. Sweet said Huffman’s play will be “a great deal of fun to play,” adding “what is most engaging about it is what is not said and how [the audience] is invited to fill in gaps.”

Senior Kelly Holtom, Philadelphia, is directing the drama in which characters give, receive and seek meaning as parcels are exchanged. She describes Parcel as more metaphor than plot—more emotion than action. “I hesitate to say too much about what the play means,” she says. “The premise of the play is the unknown. I want audience members to arrive at their own interpretation.”

Parcel staging and costumes will be abstract and minimalist. The show’s cast includes seniors Ben Bees, Yucca City, Calif., and Josh Doorenbos, Boyden, Iowa; junior Nick Rohlf, Oldebolt, Iowa; sophomore Daniel Cole, Dove Creek, Colo.; and Madison Kuiken, age 10, a student at Orange City Elementary School.