Theater festival raises the curtain on student playwrights’ work

Three student playwrights will see their words brought to life this week as the eighth biennial Clark University New Play Festival (Playfest) begins on March 12. Clark’s largest theatre arts endeavor, Playfest is the only event of its kind among U.S. colleges and universities, notes Gino DiIorio, director of theatre arts at Clark. While other schools hold festivals of student short plays, Playfest features full-length works. Each play is written, directed, designed, and performed by Clark undergraduates.

This year’s festival plays are “The Road Trip” by Megan Engstrom ’24, directed by Elizabeth Zinno ’25; “Poison on Palatine Station” by Rosie Cohen ’23, M.A. ’24, directed by April Chronowski ’25; and “Dreamballs” by Honey Lawless ’24, directed by Nat Solomon ’24.

“The plays are kind of wild,” says DiIorio. “We have a zany comedy that takes place at a cooking show, a serious family drama, and — a first for us — a science fiction murder mystery.”

The plays, which were first developed in DiIorio’s playwriting course and then as directed readings, involve more than two dozen students on and off stage: along with the playwrights, directors, and actors, each play has set and costume designers. “What’s most important isn’t the product, but the process that gives the playwrights, directors, actors, and technical staff the opportunity to work collaboratively and find the voice of the play,” DiIorio says.

“Student creativity is allowed to shine,” Engstrom says of PlayFest. “We’re given free rein to create in a way that normally isn’t given to undergrads.”

Engstrom’s play, “The Road Trip,” follows a family driving to a relative’s house. “Things start getting a little weird,” she says. “It’s the middle of the summer, yet it starts snowing. It’s not your normal road trip.”

Engstrom, a double major in English and theater arts, was inspired to write the play during a trip she took with her own family. “We left a family member’s house on kind of bad terms, and on the way home I quite literally was inspired by the feeling I had.”

“Poison at Palatine Station” takes place when two students go to one of their family homes for break. “It just happens to be a very nice space station,” Cohen says. “The patriarch of the family mysteriously dies, and an incoming solar flare prevents the family from calling for help, so it’s up to them to solve the mystery.”

Cohen, who is getting her master’s in history through Clark’s Accelerated Degree Program, wrote “Poison at Palatine Station” when she was watching the movie “Alien.” “I feel like every good murder mystery needs to be somewhere inaccessible,” she says. “And in space, no one can hear you scream, right?”

“Dreamballs” is set at a cooking show on “America’s most violent cooking network,” Lawless says, when a guest tries to recreate a recipe that came to him in a dream. “You know how dreams are. It goes poorly for everyone involved.”

Lawless, who is majoring in theater arts with a minor in creative writing, says the play was inspired by videos on the satirical website The Onion.

“It’s been a really fun show,” Lawless says. “I cackle every time that we’re in rehearsal. I’ll be cracking up at my own jokes.”