Frontier Fest is a student-produced festival of short plays and choreographic pieces.
Texas Tech University's School of Theatre & Dance, housed within the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts, presents “Frontier Fest,” a festival featuring new works. Performances are scheduled for April 8-11 via Zoom, and virtual curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Formerly known as Raider Red's One-Act Play Spectacular (RROAPS)/Raider Red's Awesome Dance Spectacular (RRADS), “Frontier Fest” is a festival of short plays and choreographic pieces originated by Texas Tech students. The creation of each new work in the festival begins from a unifying prompt suggested last season by professor of scenic design, Shawn Ketchum Johnson: a set design depicting audience chairs in a theater flying away at breakneck speed.
This is the first time in the history of the new works festival that a design has served as the impetus for the creation of new works.
Students weren't able to use the set designed by Johnson for last year's production because of the pandemic, but the works inspired by the prompt have now been reimagined for a virtual platform.
“The prompt has deeper meaning now and illustrates the unexpected loneliness all of us experienced over the past year,” said Tom Laney, graduate student and the festival's producer. “It inspired writing and dance that is hilarious, moving and thought-provoking.”
“Frontier Fest” premieres new works by Mackenzie Duke, Delaney Ellis, Charles Hughes, Isabella Gonzales, Destanie Davidson, Blanca Del Loco, Texas Beam, Sydney Rood and Bradley Hewlett.
Tickets for “Frontier Fest” are $5 for individuals and free for Texas Tech students, faculty and staff. For more information, visit the School of Theatre & Dance website or email theatre.dance.boxoffice@ttu.edu.
