USU Theater Students to Perform Live Reading of 'Bluebirds'

LOGAN — Utah State University theater students will perform a live reading of the play Bluebirds at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 and 18 in the Black Box Theater.

According to Amanda Dawson, USU Theatre assistant professor and head of BFA Theatre Education, Bluebirds is a new play but a historical story.

“It tells the story of these three Canadian World War I nurses who are stationed in France,” Dawson said. “The story is told through their relationships to each other, but also through the letters that they write home.”

The USU play reading series focuses on contemporary plays. The reading consists of a group of actors reading the play script on an empty stage. Typically, there is little to no use of costumes, props, lighting, movement or scenery.

“A play reading is exactly what it sounds like,” Dawson said. “We rehearse Monday through Thursday, and then we read it aloud in front of an audience on Friday and Saturday, with scripts in hand.”

USU Professor Michael Shipley and Dawson started the play reading series at USU in the spring of 2021.

“It was created to fill a couple gaps in our program,” Dawson said. “It was COVID year, and so we were losing production opportunities and we really wanted to create performance opportunities for students.”

Dawson added that the reading series serves the purpose of creating more production opportunities for students, focusing on contemporary work, and with a shorter time commitment.

Bluebirds is written by the Canadian Playwright Vern Thiessen. According to Dawson, his work isn’t produced very much in the U.S.

“He was letting us do a reading of the play for free, which was very generous,” Dawson said. “It’s exciting to get to do a reading of a contemporary Canadian play.”

Dawson said Bluebirds is a beautiful, sad and incredible play.

Bluebirds Cast and Crew

• Maggie: Willoughby Staley
• Christy: Jayke Martin
• Bab: Charlee Harris
• Director: Amanda Dawson
• Assistant Director: Emily Nuttall
• Stage Manager: Audrey Allen

The live reading of Bluebirds is free and open to everyone. For more information, check out the event site.