Some playwrights wait a lifetime (or longer) to see their work performed. After graduating with a theatre degree this past May, Edward Precht ’14 waited just four months to see his play Bread and Circus go live. In November, the College’s Theatre and Dance Department presented his play, which was the winner of the David L. Shelton Student Playwriting Project at last year’s Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
As icing on the cake, the cast for Precht’s play included a number of fellow Cougars, including a few of the playwright’s close friends. The result, he says, was exceedingly satisfying.
“Living with these actors, learning with them, growing with them – I think that’s an opportunity rarely given to playwrights, and especially so with a cast so fun and talented,” says Precht. “The newcomers even impressed me much more quickly than I expected. I would trust each and every one of these people with my life, which, in a way, I’m doing.”
In April, another of Precht’s plays, Table for Two, will be performed at the Take Ten Festival in New York City, where Precht lives. Meanwhile, he’s hard at work writing another two plays while he leaves the rest of his professional life unscripted.
“I think there’s a sense of adventure in not knowing what’s next. It allows me to focus on the present rather than worrying about the future,” says the 22-year-old,
who shares an apartment in Harlem with fellow Cougar alums Nick Heitmann ’14 and Anthony Massarotto ’13.
“I’m starting to find a few like-minded individuals seeking to make theater less terrible – so hopefully a few good things should happen soon,” Precht says. “Until then, I’m not sure. Keep writing. Hope for the best. The usual.”
