For the students responsible for the Lab Theatre’s “Experiments in Ink,” an exciting display of student-created/produced/acted plays premiering today in the Fine Arts Building, creating art is a labor of love.
Now in its sixth year, “Experiments in Ink” gives community members the opportunity to view the complex work of up-and-coming student playwrights conveniently on-campus.
This year’s show is composed of five original works by playwrights Megan Crivello, Jean Simmons, Chad Armistead, L. Isabella Iasella and Karen Strang that explore everything from love in the unlikeliest of places to faith and the soap operas of our lives.
Almost everything about the creation of the showcased “Ink” plays is student-done: The selected pieces are chosen by a committee of students and are then put through a workshop process with the help of playwright, U professor and scholar Tim Slover.
To call “Experiments in Ink” a dutiful undertaking would be an understatement-roles for the plays are often double- (sometimes triple-) cast just to ensure that the pieces get off the ground.
“Ink” is a place to see the work of playwrights searching to find their craft and style-a place where the flesh of the work can be seen finding its pulse. Ink is a unique opportunity to see the early work of playwrights who might someday go on to be the future Mamets, Shepards and Gilmans of the world.
“Experiments in Ink” plays from Feb. 10 through the 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lab Theatre, with a Friday matinee at 4:30 p.m. and the closing show on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $7 general admission and $5 student. Tickets can be purchased from the Kingsbury Hall Box office (581-7100), the Union or through ArtTix (355-ARTS).