UNM's Words Afire play festival showcases student work in all capacities.
Student writers, directors, actors and stage managers from UNM's Department of Theatre and Dance have come together to bring audiences the fourth annual Words Afire production.
Original works in a variety of flavors will grace the stage. The festival will showcase 20 new plays written by students in the Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing program, as well as undergraduate students. The works will be performed in three local venues over the next three weeks running through Nov. 21.
Professors Jim Linnell and Digby Wolfe, who teach in the Dramatic Writing program, created the festival in 2000 after the program was approved and a wider range of classes became available for students.
Linnell said the festival offers unique opportunities for students.
"We realized early on that having a festival of this size would be a key element to the writing program," Linnell said. "Writing, rewriting, working with actors and directors and seeing a play produced in front of an audience can create a better version. It's part of the way we teach writing and the way one learns to write for the theater."
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Lou Clark, a student in the MFA in Dramatic Writing program, is the assistant producer of the festival. She said the festival is valuable to students who are interested in pursuing a career in professional theater and helps teach students "marketable skills."
"I think the festival bridges the gap between classroom and professional theater," Clark said. "It gives new voices a chance to be heard."
Clark recently moved to New Mexico from Seattle, where she was involved in the professional theater circuit.
"A play is written to be performed and the real joy of being a playwright is being able to see your plays produced," she said.
Linnell and Wolfe, along with Professor Susan Erickson, were on this year's selection committee, which received about 70 entries. If the writers made the first cut, they were asked to submit a revised script that considers the suggestions of the committee. The committee then selects what will be performed in the festival.
"We look for scripts that have clear characters and a story that has the potential to be brought to life," Linnell said. "We look for the audacious and the outrageous - the people who are going to surprise and delight."
Aside from an opportunity to be produced and to become a better writer, Words Afire offers encouragement to all involved, including writers, actors, directors, costume designers and stage crew.
"We want to create artists for the future," Linnell said. "We want to encourage students to take risks and to try what is the hardest and most meaningful thing to them. They need to become true believers here because if they don't, they will wilt on the vine."
