SMU’s theater division recently held a weekend full of SMU Student Theatre (SMUST) productions, with readings of student written plays like CUTTHROAT, a student-directed play called Time in Adventure and an open mic night.
“SMU student theater is a completely student-run theater company within SMU’s theater department,” Abigail Brittle, one of the seven student board members of SMUST, said. “We produce about five to seven shows a semester just out of the basement.”
SMUST is different from other projects students work on during the semester because every aspect of SMUST is student run. Compared to the sophomore and junior acting projects, which are directed, produced and fully faculty involved, SMUST is supported by faculty in terms of funding to obtain rights to shows if students want to produce them but there is rarely the professor’s involvement—the students run everything.
“The students come together to make productions happen,” Brittle said. “We produce student-written work and student-directed work and sometimes we do productions that have rights or are full-length plays.”
The process of getting a SMUST show produced starts with the SMUST board. Students must propose their ideas to the board and include the script of their show, the student actors they want in their show and the location they want the show to be produced. The board then reviews the proposal.
From there, the SMUST board makes sure everything fits in their schedule and does not conflict with any main stage productions that are going on. Once everything is approved, SMUST assigns a producer to each production to help with the production process.
On Feb. 20, senior Camila Escobar, with the help of SMUST, debuted her original play CUTTHROAT.
“I’m on the acting track and I’ve never written anything before, so this was the first play I’ve ever written,” Escobar said. “I’m so grateful that we have a full production team. SMUST provides pretty much everything for us, which is more than I could ever ask for.”
Having an organization like SMUST gives students like Escobar the opportunity to expand on their love for theater and see something they created on a stage.
“It’s a lot of original work and stuff we’ve never seen before,” Escobar said. “It’s very raw and very real. It’s just a lot of fun.”
The original work that SMUST produces adds to the students’ love for it. Students get to see their peers produce work they are proud of and support each other.
“Everyone’s rooting for you,” Sadie Brooks, a junior theater student, said. “You have a whole group of people that want you to succeed and you want them to succeed.”
Brooks is on the board of SMUST and has loved every moment of being a member of SMUST. She loves that the original work SMUST helps produce allows everyone to see how hard students work to get their projects produced.
“I’ve always been involved in SMUST. I love making things happen,” Brooks said. “I love it because you get to do original work. I’ve done a couple where my friends have written stuff that I directed or I was in. You just get a group of people to put on art and it’s an easy way to get yourself out there.”
Not only is SMUST helping students produce original work, but it’s helping students find their passion.
“Last year I was in Adult Horse Part Two,” Brooks said. “It was life changing for me. It really helped me be super passionate with my art.”
SMUST is a true extension of the classroom work that theater students do daily. They apply what they learn in class and rehearsals to their lives and apply that to their projects.
SMUST is so important for the students involved because it allows them to work on their craft outside the classroom and be able to explore different aspects of theater that they may not do on a daily basis.
“SMUST is so special because it shows how hungry our students are,” Brittle said. “Theater students are working around the clock to make theater and it shows that even though we’re in classes all day, even though were in main stage shows in the department, it just shows that we still have a passion for theater outside of that, and that we have a strong enough community to make that happen together” Brittle said.
On March 8-9 at 8 p.m., SMUST performs their next show called Chairs, directed by Julian Harris and Brittle and starring Brady Bagwell. The performance will be in Owen Arts Center B450.
