U of A Theatre's ArkType New Works Festival Going Digital

Courtesy of University of Arkansas

The ArkType New Works Festival: Pandemic Edition begins Jan. 29 and runs through Feb. 13.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Department of Theatre invites all to celebrate new works, new worlds and new theatrical archetypes during the ArkType New Works Festival: Pandemic Edition from Jan. 29 to Feb. 13. 

The festival is going virtual this year and will feature plays-in-process by current Department of Theatre M.F.A. playwrights, including Adrienne Dawes, Brendan Beseth, Lauren Ferebee and Sarah Loucks, as well as a short new play by assistant professor and head of the M.F.A. Program in Playwriting, John Walch. 

All performances are free and open to the public, but reservations are strongly encouraged to receive timely and convenient notifications to the online viewing. 

Reservations can be made online at uark.universitytickets.com.

While this year’s festival is being delivered remotely, Walch said “the essential work of developing the text is in place and these circumstances are challenging writers to reimagine their process.” 

Lauren Ferebee, a third-year M.F.A. candidate in playwriting, agreed, adding that “the pandemic has made me confront my own relationship as a theatrical writer to liveness.” 

Ferebee’s experimental multimedia, called S1ST3RS, is part of the festival and is a multimedia re-mix of memory and longing through the lens of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. 

“I am interrogating anew what elements of theatre are essential for a text, and in light of that have chosen to collaborate with artists from the music and experimental media departments of the university so we can explore together what liveness means, how it exists in the digital age, and what audience experience possibilities exist with a multimedia approach to making,” she said. 

The ArkType New Works Festival: Pandemic Edition performances include: 

Friday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m.
This Bitch: Esta Sangre Quiero 
By Adrienne Dawes, second-year M.F.A. candidate in playwriting; directed by Estefania Fadul; music by Eric Johnson and Edwin Green, second-year M.F.A. candidate in acting; music direction by Nehemiah Luckett.

Synopsis: When Diana, a ruthless and power-hungry Pilates influencer, learns her social media manager Teodoro is hooking up with her makeup artist Madeinusa, it sparks bitter jealousy. Even though it would be social suicide for her to date someone with zero followers, Diana finds herself falling madly in love, but if she can’t have Teodoro … no one can! 

This Bitch: Esta Sangre Quiero is a bilingual Gen Z comedy inspired by Lope de Vega’s Golden Age epic masterpiece, El Perro del Hortelano.” 

Friday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m.; 
Saturday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 12 and Saturday, Feb. 13, both at 7 p.m.
2084: A Short Play for Zoom 
By John Walch, assistant professor and head of the M.F.A. Program in Playwriting; directed by Huan Bui, second-year M.F.A. candidate in directing.

Synopsis: Flirting with Orwell’s classic novel, 1984, this short drama/comedy (of only about 15 minutes) contemplates a world where we are constantly surveilled. A disgruntled customer, who believes they have been cursed by their past and doomed by Zoom, zooms into Zoom customer service to try and get a distressing video from their past dropped in the memory hole and deleted forever … even though they signed the Terms and Conditions.

Friday, Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m. 
We’re All Soldiers in a Strange War 
By Brendan Beseth, third-year M.F.A. candidate in playwriting; directed by Kate Frank.

Synopsis: Set in a nightmare, dreamscape of our present — where nothing makes sense, where everything people want has the price of life as we know it — Harold is trying to find a meaning to his existence.

Saturday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m. 
S1ST3RS 
Written and directed by Lauren Ferebee, third-year M.F.A. candidate in playwriting; music and composition by Matt Magerkurth; digital art and media by Jared Lambert; cinematography by Keaton Grimmett; art direction and additional collaboration by Mischa Hutchings.

Synopsis: An experimental multimedia re-mix of memory and longing through the lens of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters.

Friday, Feb. 12, and Saturday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. 
The Tornado Play 
By Sarah Loucks, second-year M.F.A. candidate in playwriting; directed by Lacy Post, second-year M.F.A. candidate in directing.

Synopsis: In the wake of a devastating tornado wrecking homes in a small town in Iowa, the community contemplates how they want to rebuild and reimagine the values their homes will be built on.

About the Department of Theatre: The Department of Theatre has been providing exciting and affordable live theatre for more than 70 years. The department combines a first-rate theatrical education full of hands-on experience with a wide selection of titles to challenge students and delight the community. The department offers the Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre, a broad spectrum program in the context of a liberal arts education, and the Master of Fine Arts degree in six concentrations: Acting, Directing, Playwriting, Costume Design, Scene Design and Lighting Design. Classes at both undergraduate and graduate levels are focused on providing a strong, professional orientation to theatre performance and technology in conjunction with appropriate research-based coursework to address the required foundations in theatre history, dramatic literature and dramatic criticism.

About the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with three schools, 16 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the majority of the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among fewer than 3% of colleges and universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.