The University Players, a student organization that creates staged productions from start to finish with only the involvement of IU students, prepares for its 20th season.
"What makes us really special is that we are all students," University Players Social Director Jessica Van Winkle said. "University Players is run by a board of students, and we produce work that is designed, directed and acted by our students."
Van Winkle, an IU junior, said she came into the University Players as a freshman looking to get involved with the theater department. As the student organization's social director, Van Winkle said she organizes cabarets, a call-out meeting and other events outside the University Players' main productions.
Van Winkle said that the University Players allows students to not only work with their peers, but it also gives them a chance to learn about the different jobs it takes to create a production.
"It's a really great way for theater students or non-theater students," Van Winkle said. "You do not need to be a theater student to be a part of University Players, to try different aspects of theater and to really start to work with their peers."
Van Winkle said that it was through her experience costume designing with the University Players that it eventually became the focus within her major. She said that the environment allows students the chance to explore new roles within the theater without an added pressure.
This year, the University Players will put on four productions and a dance collaboration. The organization's first show, "The Wolves," will be about a girls' soccer team and will be performed from Oct. 5 to Oct. 7 at the Studio Theatre in the Theatre Building.
"We try to do a wide variety," Van Winkle said. "One of the things that we strive for is to give students the opportunities to do work that they may not otherwise get the opportunity to do. So, 'The Wolves' is a very new play. It was written last year, I believe. We try to pick a wide range, so people can find something that they want to work on, but also we want to pick unique things to do."
Van Winkle said each year the University Players usually have somewhere between 150 and 200 members. This year, the group has 20 board members.
In addition to the shows students create, Van Winkle said the organization provides various workshops that range in topic from head shots to stage make-up.
Devin May, a three-time director of University Players' productions, a former board member and a current IU senior, said that beyond the opportunities to participate in productions, the student organization creates a circle of connections.
May said the University Players' existence of 20 years lends a network that extends from current students to alumni who continue to perform, direct and design.
May said, "It's just cool to think of how big of a network it is now with different people who are out there working in the real world, acting and doing all of the other sorts of things they did with University Players as a launchpad."
