No Easy Answers

UA playwright loads drama with hard questions

As the debate over having concealed carry weapons on Arkansas campuses raged on, Rachel Washington imagined her worst-case scenario in such a situation. A third-year master's candidate studying playwriting in the University of Arkansas' theater department, she has taught classes. And Washington decided the most terrible result would be if she watched a student of hers take down another student, then she responded with gunfire, killing the original shooter and forced to live with the aftermath.

Those dark internal monologues inform her new work "Kill/Shot," which debuts this weekend in Kimpel Hall on the University of Arkansas campus.

FAQ

“Kill/Shot”

WHEN — 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday; 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sunday

WHERE — Room 404, Kimpel Hall on the University of Arkansas campus

COST — $5-$10

INFO — theatre.uark.edu or 575-4752

NOTE: Seating is limited, so patrons are encouraged to reserve tickets in advance.

A fight with her then-boyfriend about concealed carry laws started her journey toward the work. The more Washington thought about it, and the more she researched, the less she understood. Policies from state to state differ, as does how individual campuses handle gun ownership policies.

"It left me very confused. I write from there," she says.

She says the work does not push beliefs on anyone, especially since she's not sure of her own. But it does explore a hard-to-discuss topic in a realistic way. She wrote "Kill/Shot" early last year and made edits after a reading last April.

In the play, a teacher named Ros confronts Ethan, a favorite student of hers. They have previously bonded over the history of mental illness in their respective families. And mental illness plays a prominent role in "Kill/Shot."

"The more you read the play, the less it's about guns," Washington says. "The play is about mental illness, bullying and people snapping."

Both characters "have a lot of darkness in them," Washington says, but how they process that darkness separates them.

The debut telling of "Kill/Shot" will be directed by fellow third-year University of Arkansas MFA candidate Brandyn Smith.

Washington is currently at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's regional competition at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, where her work "Give Me Shelter Tambien" is up for award consideration.

NAN What's Up on 03/06/2015

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