Festival Allows Students to Shine 

      Student’s at the University of Oklahoma’s Helmerich School of Drama were able to let their talents truly shine at the Faith Broome Young Playwright’s Festival this past Tuesday evening.
   
      The festival, which took place on campus in the Old Science Hall’s Lab Theater, changed things up this year. While the previous four years that the festival has taken place focused on the works of professional playwrights, this year, the plays presented were actually written, directed and acted by students.
   
      “We normally have a playwright come workshop a play with us,” said Kasey Weir, a junior acting major at OU who also acted in the festival. “For some reason that didn’t work out as we were hoping, so we decided to just have our own students write the plays and direct them.”

Actor Oliver Archibald and actress Kasey Weir during their play "The Life 
and Death of Milly and Milly"
PHOTO: Meghan Whiting

      Instead of a single play, this year’s Faith Broome Young Playwright’s Festival consisted of six, 10 minute plays that focused on the concept of change. For example, the play “Changing” by John Steele, Jr., focused on a newly married couple and their relationship, which began to slowly fall apart due to the demands and pressures to succeed in the workplace. Another play, “Always Another” by Terra Dray, focused first on three teenagers all struggling with loss, drugs and an alcoholic parent. At the end of the play it showed them a few years down the road in an AA meeting, as they had all learned this as a coping mechanism for their past.
   
       According to the Helmerich School of Drama’s catalogue website, “The school’s commitment to new works adds to the exciting atmosphere that permeates the student’s academic career.” This is why the Faith Broome Young Playwright’s Festival is so important, because it gives students the chance to share their hard work and talent with their community.
   
      "We’re the second oldest program in the country, so we have a lot of alumni,” said Dr. Judith Pender, the producer of the Faith Broome Young Playwright’s Festival. “The people who created the Yale School of Drama created ours.”

      While Oklahoma may not seem like the premier state to begin a career in acting, those at the Helmerich School of Drama are glad they found the school and are excited for the future. 

      “I had no where I wanted to go until I started looking into theater schools and found OU,” said Weir. “We have alumni everywhere so anywhere you go whether it be L.A., New York, Chicago or Dallas there’s people everywhere willing to help you get your foot in the door, which is really helpful since my ultimate goal is to be on Broadway...at least just once.”

AUDIO: Meghan Whiting, runtime ;17

Adam and Meghan's Adventure

This was our adventure walking around OU's campus

The Future of STEM

Host of NOVA ScienceNow David Pogue spoke about the importance of STEM subjects at the University of Oklahoma this past Thursday.  

     STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, are subjects which the United States is losing ground in. This is not only an internal problem. Do to the lack of students majoring in these degrees, we are essentially giving our jobs away to foreign competitors.  

      “STEM talent equals success,” Pogue said. “In this country if we care about our economic power, our spiritual power, our leadership in the world, STEM is it, man. If you look at the biggest companies in the world, most of them are science technology and engineering companies.”

     As a country that was built upon the success of science and engineering inventions, something in our education system needs to change when, according to Pogue, our children now fall in the rankings to number 25 on a list comparing standardized math scores around the world. 

Pogue believes there are many factors contributing to the youth’s aversion to STEM subjects, such as the difficult “weed out” process that occurs at the very beginning of these classes, cultural biases and, as Pogue simply put it, “People are inherently frightened of what they don’t understand.”

     "This is exactly what my experience was like," said Joe Nigh, a junior at the University of Oklahoma who attended Pogue’s lecture. "I had been planning on majoring in biology and becoming a doctor my entire life, but after my first few classes here at OU, I already felt the pressure to either make an A or be "weeded-out."

     This is why Pogue hopes that shows like the one he hosts for PBS will help de-mystify science and encourage students to once again start pursuing these subjects.

According to an article by the Deseret Morning News, “Part of the solution involves changing the classroom experience, including hands-on projects and trial-and-error processes to effectively bridge theory and practice and bring STEM subjects alive.”

PHOTO: Meghan Whiting

David Pogue adresses audience at Meacham Auditorium Thursday afternoon

 PWOP: Portrait Without a Person

SOP: Sense of Place