The Third Annual Original Play Series performance is set for 7:30 p.m. on April 25 in the Fine Arts Auditorium. Admission is free.
Four original plays were selected from the Barton Theatre Department’s Original Playwright Contest. The plays are “A Humbug Of A Parody” by Matthew Castle, “Sunday in the Park with Georgie” by Jaime Abel, “Aliens Anonymous” by Kara Grosfield and “Checking Out” by Joseph Doze.
Barton Theatre Director Dr. Richard Abel said the series is an excellent outlet for writers in the community.
“I think my job is about making opportunities and helping people to be creative, whether they are art majors or accounting majors,” he said. “The series adds another cultural dimension to Great Bend, Barton County and the college itself. What the college, and certainly the theatre department, is all about is opportunity.”
Grosfield, a Barton alumnus, said the Original Playwright Series has been a great way for her to hone her craft.
“I can say personally that the Original Play Series was the first time I really had the opportunity to turn my story ideas into a script,” she said. “Now, I am going to school for screenwriting and I really don’t believe I would have discovered this passion if I hadn’t been presented the chance to write my first play for the Original Play Series.”
Grosfield also said her time at Barton helped her develop an interest in the arts.
“I owe a lot to Barton,” she said. “It is the first place that I got a chance to work in the performing arts. A friend and I had passed a sign advertising the theatre department and we decided to pop in and see what it was all about. Since then, I have acted in several plays and have written four plays that have been performed for the Original Play Series. I am now seeking a degree in screenwriting at Colorado Film School and have started acting in films as well. I can’t imagine what my life would be like now or what I would be doing if I hadn’t walked past that sign and gotten the chance to find my life’s purpose.”
For more information about the series or theatre department, contact Abel at abelr@bartonccc.edu or 620-792-9333.
