Seven world premiere plays, and three other plays, written by Suzan-Lori Parks will be coming to campus, presented by the Department of Theatre and Film.

The 10 plays are a part of Parks’ “365 Days/365 Plays” National Festival, which has theaters and universities all over the country showing productions of world premiere plays every week.

The plays are from Parks’ project in which she wrote a play a day for 365 days, and BGSU is the only university that gets to show these seven plays, which are not like most performances audiences are used to seeing.

“I think people are going to be very surprised,” said Kate Collins, faculty advisor for the production.

Each play is one to five minutes long, and one or more of them may not even have dialogue, according to Collins.

The plays are also their own separate pieces, and do not have one continuous story.

Each of the 10 plays has a different cast and director, and despite a short rehearsal time, they have been able to come together, understand and create their plays.

Parks left the plays very open to interpretation, and in return the directors of the plays create their own interpretations.

In addition, the actors had very little rehearsal time to prepare.

“[The] actors were wonderful and jumped [right in],” said Ellen Rooney, first year theatre and film Ph. D student and director of the play titled “Remember Who You Are.”

The experience of being able to be a part of the festival is rewarding and irreplaceable, said Lawrence Blackwell, a Ph. D student in the Department of Theater and Film and director of the play titled “Space Invaders.”

“[It’s] something I can take with me and no one can take away from me,” Blackwell said.

Jeff List, a Masters candidate in the Department of Theatre and Film is the person responsible for the University’s participation in the festival, and is leading the production of this week’s plays.

“This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the actors, directors and entire [University] community,” List said.

The directors and other crew echoed his sentiments.

In addition to “365 Days/365 Plays” Parks also won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her play “Topdog/Underdog,” according to the Pulitzer’s Web site, www.pulitzer.org.

Editor’s Note: Admission for the plays is free, and free parking is available in lot A, next to University Hall, for all performances.

Performances are at 8 p.m. both tonight and tomorrow night at the Joe E. Brown Theater.