OC theatre program announces winners of the Spring Playwriting Competition

Despite the festival’s cancellation, the Department of Music presented the top three one-act plays written and directed by OC students.

April 14, 2020 - The Oklahoma Christian University Department of Music is constantly looking to enhance their students’ education and experiences, through both music and performance. The annual Spring Theatre Festival allows a space for aspiring writers, actors and directors to use their gifts. However, due to the unfortunate circumstances of COVID-19, the performances were canceled.

The competition portion of the Spring Theatre Festival allows student directors to submit original one-act plays in early March, with the top three winning recognition. Three off-campus judges decided which scripts would be produced, and if the writer has interest to direct, they would have been invited to the festival, originally set for April 11. If they are not interested, an OC student and aspiring director would have been selected to carry out the piece.

OC public communications and leadership student Lisa Pergi was in charge of the competition. OC Theater Coordinator and alumna Kristi McAllister oversees the theater program this spring, mentoring directors, coordinating technology and editing scripts. After hearing the news that students were no longer returning to school, both Pergi and McAllister worked hard to ensure that the students’ stories in the playwriting competition would be rewarded.

In third place this year was Jake Doberenz’s “Off the Couch.” A lazy brother is confronted by his sister who wants him to get his life together. To help her case, she brings in her brother’s former youth minister as a mediator. However, the minister critiques both of their conceptions of work and vocation, attempting to pave a middle ground that honors God. Both siblings find themselves at odds with the minister.  

The second place award went to “Chainbreaker” by Aubrey Trumbo. “Chainbreaker” explores a true story about a prison in Abilene, Texas. Through the eyes of inmates, volunteers and a prison chaplain, the characters offer a compelling story about the difficult journey to God and the revelations found in the Bible. 

And in first place with the grand prize of $100 was “The Monster’s Bedtime Story” by Morgan Sohl. In this story, a monster who looks to feed on the fears of children and a girl who fears no monster pass the night by telling bedtime stories. Sometimes, the stories people tell themselves can help us rise above the narratives they were written into.

The OC Department of Music is proud to reveal this year’s Spring Theatre Festival winners and looks forward to students returning to campus in the fall.

For more information about the OC theatre program, contact kristi.mcallister@oc.edu.