The annual Student Theatre Festival at Kent State will kick off April 13 at the Erdmann-Zucchero Black Box Theatre.

This year, they will feature the productions “Now” and “Night Mother,” which will be both directed and performed by students in the School of Theatre and Dance.

“Night Mother,” is a piece about family and how mental health and suicide affects everyone involved.

Becca Martin, a senior theatre studies major, will be directing the play — but with a twist. Typically, the play follows the relationship between a mother and daughter; however, Martin’s experimentation on the story lead her to cast a mother and daughter as well as a father and son.

“My exploration shows how the the written text affects the audience’s viewpoints of mental health and suicide and how those viewpoints change when gender and parental relationships are changed.” 

Martin was awarded a flash grant by the university to do an exploration on the piece. This means that she takes a creative liberty with the piece then polls the audience at the end to see how they responded to the change.

Kent State students can receive a free ticket to the Student Theatre Festival by presenting their FlashCard at the box office at the Roe Green Center for the School of Theatre and Dance on campus.

Jaret Shannon is the performing arts reporter. Contact him at [email protected].