For stage director Sandy Cabrera, the play by Milta Ortiz, “Feeling Blue,” has personal meaning, reminding her of the stories her parents told her of the El Salvador Civil War in 1980. 

“My mother came and sat in the audience and in the opening scene it brought back tears,” Cabrera said.  “Afterwards she told me, ‘I saw this. I lived it. It was a different time.’

A time that Ortiz, winner of the National Playwriting Competition, has reproduced for the interpretation of the audience in Welsbacher Theatre in The Hughes Metropolitan Complex November 7 through 9  at 7:30 p.m., the 10th at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and the 11th at 2 p.m. 

Ortiz is currently in the Writing for the Screen and Stage MFA program at Northwestern University and is a playwright, poet and performer. 

Wichita State started the competition and has sponsored it for over 37 years. The actors had the opportunity to Skype with Ortiz and help bring to life an unpublished, unproduced show. 

“We bring up questions to her and you sometimes see that changed in the script.” Actor Steffan Rowe said. “It’s really cool to have a direct influence on the show as it comes to life.”

The audience also has the opportunity to share their opinions about each performance after the show in a talk-back. 

They will send two nights of video as well as the feedback they receive during the talk-balks to Ortiz.

Associate professor of Theater and Director, Ed Baker, describes the talk-balk as a time that the audience can express how they experienced the play, and what underlying message they took away from it. 

The show is about an hour in length and the audience is in a theatre-in-the-round which means the audience surrounds the stage on all four sides, creating a more intimate environment.

“I love theater when it is close and personal like this.” Rowe said. “There’s energy that comes when you are closer to the crowd than on the stage in Wilner.”

Besides Baker, it is a student-run production from lighting to props and costuming. 

“As a new play produced by Wichita State students what happens here for the next six performances represents the future of American Theatre,” Baker said.

Tickets are $10 for general admission with discounts available.