KU News Release

English Alternative Theatre sponsors contest in conjunction with one-act plays

LAWRENCE — To celebrate the premiere of two original student-written one-act plays, English Alternative Theatre at the University of Kansas is sponsoring a writing competition on the subject “How My Parents Met.” The contest is open to anyone in the Lawrence community.

Eighteen semifinalists will be invited to read their entries live before one of three performances of the plays. A winner will be announced each night after the show to receive one of three $100 cash prizes.

Entries should be no more than 250 words, must include the writer’s full name, age and occupation and must be e-mailed with the subject heading “How My Parents Met” before 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, to Paul Stephen Lim, artistic director of English Alternative Theatre, at plim@ku.edu.

“Please Take ... Seriously!” by Adam Lott, a senior majoring in English from Lawrence and Garden City and a Garden City Senior High School graduate, traces the history of a couch from 1958, when it is first brought into a fraternity house, to the present, when its fate is being decided by two female professors who cannot decide whether to get rid of it. “Lights Fade, Curtain” by Whitney Rowland is about a playwright trying to understand his own life by attempting to write about his parents — how they met and why their marriage fell apart. Rowland is a junior in theatre and film and the daughter of Myra Rowland. She is an Olathe North High School graduate. Both plays are participating entries in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Nov. 9-10 and 2:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St. Tickets are $6 for students, $8 for seniors and $10 for the public. For more information, call the arts center at (785) 843-2787 or visit the English Alternative Theatre Web site.

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