Playwrights to present original one-acts

Northwestern College students will present 16 new plays during the 16th annual World Premiere Festival March 23 and 24. Performances begin at 6:30 each night in the Allen Theatre of the DeWitt Theatre Arts Center. Community members are invited to attend the free event, and to come and go between plays.

The plays, which are between 10 and 20 minutes in length, were written last semester by students in Professor Jeff Taylor’s playwriting class.

A Date to Keep, by Hannah Barker, features three generations of women adjusting to life after a loss. The play will be directed by Ali Sondreal.

Christa Curl will direct Abigail Bierly’s play Explosions of Beautiful Change, about a friendship surviving an identity crisis.

An untitled play set in Israel, written by Dan Cole and directed by Tiemen Godwaldt, concerns a dispute over territory between a Palestinian man and Jewish woman.

Julia Cure wrote Last Call, about back-stabbing step-sisters. Toben Archer will direct.

The Piano Memories is a tense scene between a mother and her son. The play was written by Isaiah Custer; Amalia Vasquez will direct.

Katie Shepard will direct an untitled play by Godwaldt. The drama focuses on a couple in quarantine during an infectious disease outbreak.

The Civil Dead, by Jack Nickolay, is about a ghostly love triangle and will be directed by Alex Wendel.

Kim Nyflot’s The Ever Aging Parents takes place in a pancake house.  A burdened daughter and her absent brother try to decide how to care for their aging parents. The family drama will be directed by Sheric Hull.

Words Unspoken, by Heather Piatt, explores all the things a couple don’t say to each other in the aftermath of a wartime deployment. The play will be directed by Kaleigh Schildhouse.

Tiffany Hach will direct Kyle Rubel’s play The Groom’s Last Dance, about a honeymoon that goes horribly awry.

Sorting the Heart Strings, written by Sondreal and directed by Kristin Trease, is a drama about relationship wreckage and reconciliation.

Andrew Stam wrote Enough For Now, about making adjustments when opposites attract. Kylie Steinbach will direct.

Indian Good-byes are scenes between a mother and daughter who hate saying good-bye. The play was written by Trease; Isaac Gross will direct.

Megan Weidner will direct Father, father by Shelby Vander Molen. The family drama explores the fallout of a daughter defying her father’s wishes.

Ajodha and Shenanigans, by Ericha Walden, is a multi-generational family comedy directed by Stam.

Wendel’s You’re Home Now is about a soldier’s homecoming—to a home he no longer recognizes. The play will be directed by Keely Wright.