The Festival of New Plays started on Thursday night and showcases a weekend of students\u2019 original works and staged plays from professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n The festival is hosting three performances by students, which are called One Day Plays, only allowing participating students to complete an original play in 24 hours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Within that one day, though, three of the playwrights are only given six hours to write scripts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For Willem Lim, a sophomore journalism major, who originally auditioned to be an actor, ended up with his first playwriting role.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have a basic idea of writing fiction, like stories and stuff\u2026(but) I feel really nervous because I\u2019ve never written a script before,\u201d Lim said. \u201cAnd then not being as efficient with the time that I have, which is very limited.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Brooklyn Mauch, a senior advertising major, is another first-time student playwright, but is not unfamiliar with the territory, as she has been involved with the event her freshman and sophomore year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis year, we\u2019re doing things a little differently, and this is the first time that I\u2019m involved in the staged readings,\u201d Mauch said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be a part of the (readings).\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mauch also said that another new thing the festival is doing is directors are able to cast however they like for the plays.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Along with the student works, there are three guest professional playwrights, who not only are aiding students with their plays, but are giving staged readings of original plays, along with a discussion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor The Festival of New Plays, the same playwrights, we picked new plays that (have) never been produced before to do staged readings for that, and it\u2019s a different show every night.\u201d Mauch said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s really a unique experience that you don\u2019t really get to do unless you\u2019re a professional actor in like, New York or LA, or something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The featured playwrights and plays are: \u201cThis is Crazy!\u201d by Deb Hiett, \u201cThe Care and Feeding of Restless Souls\u201d by Aly Kantor and \u201cI\u2019ll Be Your Villain\u201d by Chelsea Sutton.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to have that kind of thing here because like, when are you going to meet a professional playwright in South Dakota?\u201d Mauch said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jim Wood, associate director of the Performing Arts and artistic director of the SDSU theater and dance program, is also a producer as well as a director for one of the stage readings during the Festival of New Plays. Wood has been part of the event since the beginning, which is now in its fourth run.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been kind of fun just seeing where the trends of playwriting go,\u201d Wood said. \u201cAnd also how our students engage with the professional playwrights that we bring in, and expose them to new works and the processes of creating a play.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With the tight deadline for student playwrights, it can seem stressful to complete a play in 6 hours, but it always seems to fall into place in year\u2019s past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOne year, we had a student who sat down to write and then just went blank,\u201d Wood said. \u201cAnd realized he had two hours to write the play, but then he got it written and he submitted it to a conference and got an award for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Official play performance events started on Thursday at 7 p.m. and will go through 2 <\/span>p.m.<\/span><\/a> on Sunday at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center in the Fishback Studio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Students are welcome to watch the plays from students and from guest playwrights for free.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n