Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your writing on stage? To have words that were originally just sitting on your Google Doc or scribbled into the comfort of your journal for “your eyes only” to be taken out of this space and recited by actors in a public setting? Holly, Rhian, and Fiona are all experiencing this as their debut plays take to the DU Players’ stage in the next few weeks.
Holly O’Connor is a first-year film student whose play Virginity Rocks is set in an abstinence camp. She describes the play as “thriller and comedic” and adds, “there’s this ax murderer in the woods of the camp that murders any of the campers that are intimate with one another.” She says that the idea first transpired from a StarKids production, an American theatre company that produced a play during COVID called “Abstinence Camp.”
Rhian Gregan is a second-year Drama and Film student, he labels his play, First Dates, as a “comedy with an underlinement of seriousness about it.” He adds, “First dates is a play about a first date in real time, and it is a bit strange. It’s a bit strange queer, if you might say. And as the day goes on, it kind of goes off the rails, it’s really about gay dating, and what it’s like dating in the gay community, the highs and the lows of it all.”
Fiona Murray is a third-year Ancient History and Hispanic student and describes that her play, IOU, is all about giving “platonic love a space on stage” which she says has not seen enough representation in the media. The play revolves around two girls, “Florence and Jade, who’ve been friends for like, 17 years. And essentially they’re kind of at a point in their lives where they’re changing … how they’re becoming different people, and how that’s affecting their friendship.”
In deciding to write and produce a play, Rhian refers to his time on the Players’ committee as Basement Manager as well as his involvement as Stage Manager and Publicist for other people’s shows over the last two years. He says that last summer was the first opportunity he had to write a play. Previous to this, he says “I never really sat down and was like, Oh, this is something you can do. Even though I was really interested in drama, I always saw myself as a performer. So during summer, I had free time, and then I had this idea of, like a first date play, and then one day I just sat down, I started writing it.”
Similar to Rhian, Fiona recalls her experience within Players’ as Chair of the society as well as her experience as Crew member with multiple Players’ plays as an encouragement to put forward her play. Fiona says, “I think I was a bit scared of directing, because I hadn’t done drama in so long. So I was like, Oh, let me see other people do it. Let me kind of get a feel for it. So I started doing lots of crew stuff…. But then I decided. It’s my chance to be direct something, try something I’ve never done before, be on the other side, be the kind of vision of the show.”
However, it’s important to distinguish that it is not just people with specific experience within Players’ who get their plays featured. Holly’s experience is a testament to this. She acknowledges, “we didn’t know whether we’d get accepted or not, because, you know, I have never done a Player’s show before, and I don’t have a lot of experience, but we were trying our best, and we did get submitted. So I was very, very grateful.”
Along with the process of writing and directing the play, there is also the pressure of securing a crew before submission. Holly says that when she came up with the idea of submitting the play, she asked her friend Na Nguyen to co-direct, saying, “I definitely would not have been able to put it on without her […] Na really helped with that, because she knows a lot of people and Players. So she was able to gather all these people that she knew had experience”.
They each describe the numerous roles that make up the play’s crew from publicity to dramaturg, who Rhian describes as “another eye, to make sure the story makes sense for the audience.” Fiona said she has a crew of about 20 people, “before the submission even goes through, you need to make sure you have that team, because it’s such a short period of time we have to put on a show.” In explaining the little time they have, Fiona said to me at the time of the interview that she had just cast her show with the show’s first date less than three weeks away.
Holly describes the community found within the crew, “it’s all kind of like a bonding experience, because we’re all in it together.”
On showcasing their art, Holly shows her excitement at the opportunity, “I find it so exciting, writing these stories and then seeing them come to life on stage […] especially because it’s gonna be my debut of something I’ve written coming to life.” She adds, “it’s almost nice, in a way to know that people do appreciate my writing and it gives me some sort of confidence because the industry I’m going into is quite hard.”
Fiona says, “I think I’m excited. I’m a bit nervous, obviously, because I think people can judge people’s work. I think that’s one thing about theater. It’s quite a vulnerable thing. So it’s always, how are people going to take this?”
Nevertheless, she adds, “I’m excited to kind of see how people take the characters, because, in my head, I have them kind of seen as a certain way from the people in my life slightly. They’re kind of skewed a little bit… when it’s another performer in those shoes, I think that’s going to change that perspective of that character a bit and take that away slightly, but they’ll also still be the sprinkles of, like, what I’ve imagined for those characters.”
Rhian also showcases his mixture of nervousness and excitement saying, “It feels weird to have people in my brain… like walking around in my brain and getting to see what I’m thinking about as it feels so personal to me. But it’s also like, I’m ready to share this and put something out there.” He reflects on how close the play is to him describing that “it’s such a constant thing in my life, since summer, like, nearly, a whole year of my life, writing this play, to actually eventually put it up, is such a great, crazy opportunity.”
Virginity Rocks will take the players stage in Week 10 from Monday the 24th to Saturday the 29th at 1 pm, followed by First Dates at 7 pm. IOU takes to the stage in Week 11 from Monday the 31st to Saturday the 5th at 1 pm.
Make sure to follow @duplayers on Instagram for details on tickets.
