Three new student-written plays will be premiered this weekend in the A.E. Hotchner Studio. The A.E. Hotchner Festival—named for the acclaimed writer and alumnus who funds the festival—offers all Washington University students, including graduate students, the opportunity to workshop their original plays with student actors, faculty members and a professional dramaturg, culminating in readings of the pieces and post-show discussions with audiences.

Students from all over the University are encouraged to submit their full-length, one-act and/or 10-minute plays to the festival in January, after which a committee of faculty members and a professional working in theater outside the University convene to discuss the plays and choose three winning full-length pieces. In some past iterations of the event, additional short works are also chosen.

The winning playwrights then meet with the festival’s producer, University playwright-in-residence Carter Lewis. They receive feedback on their plays before spending the summer reworking their pieces. They then return to campus in the fall ready to have their plays read by actors for the first time. Over the course of the two weeks leading up to the festival weekend, each play receives 15 hours of rehearsal, and the three playwrights work with a faculty director, dramaturg and their student casts to continue developing their plays, often rewriting much of their scripts over the course of the workshop process.

“The unique thing about each festival is each process is different,” said Lewis. “Some plays are really ready to go; and so, the director works a lot with the actors. Some aren’t ready to go; and so, they rewrite up to the day that we do it.”

This year’s festival features plays by class of 2018 alumni Scott Greenberg and Lucas Marschke and junior Ike Butler. The three playwrights had the opportunity to work with acclaimed dramaturg Michele Volansky, who has worked at renowned theaters Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Philadelphia Theatre Company. Volanksy supports the playwrights by providing expert guidance and support throughout the rewriting process.

“I like to think of a dramaturg as a midwife, because they’re helping that birthing process of the play, and she’s removed from it enough to be able to hear these things with a fresh ear and see things with a fresh eye,” said Annamaria Pileggi, professor of practice in drama and one of the festival’s directors.

The first play of the festival, “Tom and Grace,” written by Scott Greenberg and directed by drama professor Andrea Urice, premiering Friday night at 7 p.m., underwent an incredibly long and transformational rewriting process both before and during the workshop period.

“We heard the play on the first day, and it was really exciting. And we all sat down and talked, and something in my brain clicked and decided that we needed to rewrite the whole thing,” said Greenberg. “What people will see is actually really, really far away from what entered the festival, which I am both excited and terrified about.”

The play follows a woman named Grace who cuts off contact with her estranged mother and decides to hire a home service oracle to tell her what the future has in store for her, sending her on a “rollercoaster” journey navigating important decisions and personal relationships.

Greenberg went through many stages of rewrites before reaching this point. After winning the festival, Greenberg and fellow playwright Lucas Marschke followed the advice of Carter Lewis and applied for a grant to spend a week at Tofte Lake Center, an artists’ retreat in Minnesota.

The playwrights received the grant and were able to spend a week over the summer reworking their plays with the help of a professional dramaturg, during which Greenberg completely rewrote “Tom and Grace.”

Throughout the past two weeks of workshopping the play, Greenberg once again scrapped his script and started over, creating another new version of the piece.

“I think that the play that we’re going to see on Friday is…I don’t know if it shares any scenes with the play that I submitted to the festival,” said Greenberg.

The use of actors was incredibly influential for Greenberg throughout his writing process, as hearing the actors read his work greatly changed his perspective on it.

“A good actor can make something work that you didn’t know worked, or can show you that something you thought worked doesn’t work,” said Greenberg. “A couple times this week, I’ve heard our actors read a line and they’ve misread the line—like they’ve just said words in the wrong order—and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s probably how that should sound,’ and I’ll scribble it down in my little notebook.”

In addition to the help of actors, Greenberg received guidance and support from Urice, who focused on aiding the developmental process of the play rather than trying to polish the performance.

“My job is to just serve whatever that writer needs in this in order to further the play along,” said Urice. “Yeah, we have a public performance coming up, but that’s unlike an opening night of a play. We’re a little less focused on the product. The process is what’s important.”

The second play of the festival, “Arriving At,” premiering Saturday at 2 p.m., was written by this year’s only current underclassmen playwright, Ike Butler. The play depicts a variety of interesting characters stuck on a stopped Boston subway.

“The thing that really interests me about this play, and that I hope that interests people enough to come and go on this ride with us, is it’s about the collision of lives in a trapped space,” said Pileggi.

Butler hopes that the piece will inspire people to become more in tune to the world around them, a message he was first inspired to turn into a play while sitting in a Boston subway car himself.

Butler also found the workshopping process extremely useful for developing his piece.

“There have been several relationships in the play that have been much more fleshed out just after having heard the lines read and having seen the actors work with each other,” said Butler.

The final piece in the festival, “Florida,” will be become into a full production by the Performing Arts Department in the spring. The play, written by alumnus Lucas Marschke and directed by drama professor Jeffery Matthews, premieres Saturday night at 7 p.m.

“It’s really a story of a family that’s both metaphorically and literally stuck,” said Matthews. “They’re on their way to Florida, and they’re stuck in the snow; and the things that pop out will be tensions, irritations, crises and also joys that happen amongst this family.”

Marschke’s first draft of the road-trip dramedy had more of a cinematic tone than that of a play, but through the rewriting and workshopping process, developed into a much deeper and focused piece fit for the stage.

Working with the actors, Matthews and Volansky helped reassure Marschke throughout the rehearsal process, as he found it very exciting when members of his creative team connected with his work.

“It’s always really fun to hear somebody else get it,” said Marschke. “Florida” has had a unique workshopping experience, as much of what is being developed will continue to be worked on for the full production. Since the play will receive a much more extensive rehearsal process in the spring, all of the focus during the festival was on supporting Marschke through his rewriting process.

“What we’re doing in the reading is a journey to the production. It’s not getting it to production. He’s still going to have time with it before we get into production rehearsal in the spring; so, it’s really not about me at all—it’s about Lucas,” said Matthews, who noted that the festival rehearsals have provided him with clear images of how he plans to direct certain aspects of the piece in the spring.

Each play will be discussed with Volanksy and the playwright after its reading. Audience members are encouraged to provide feedback that will help the playwrights continue to develop their pieces.

“The playwright might have specific things they want to know; and so, the dramaturg will ask those questions specifically of the audience,” said Lewis. “Beyond that, what is helpful to a writer is not, ‘I think you should write your play this way.’ What’s helpful to know is where their greatest point of engagement was, what actually excited them about the story or the journey, where they were confused and also what the play’s about.”

The A.E. Hotchner Festival provides a rare opportunity for student playwrights, actors and audience members to get involved with the development of a brand new play from the ground floor.

“I think the coolest thing about this festival and about new play festivals in general is that when the audience comes to the play, they are not just passive observers of a finished product,” said Pileggi. “They actually are helping to finish the play. Their responses to what they see very well could impact the future of the play.”

Members of the Washington University community are encouraged to experience any and all of the three readings, which take place Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The festival is also already taking submissions for next year’s competition, which is open to all students.