Transit Theatre Troupe starts fresh with comedy set in ‘60s
What is the best way to spend a night? Watching your school theater troupe perform, of course! The Transit Theatre Troupe, a student-run company, performs all over campus throughout the year.
“[Transit is] student run, student directed, student designed, and student acted,” Leah Harris, a senior and the president of Transit, said. The students of Transit have been busy preparing for an exciting fall lineup.
On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the Transit Theatre Troupe will begin their season with the comedy “Sealed for Freshness,” written by Doug Stone and directed by Harris. The play takes place in 1968 at a Tupperware party, where five women come together to look at new products and end up learning more about themselves. Harris said this is a new type of production for the troupe.
“It’s female-heavy and set in the 1960s. This affects everything and our design team is challenged with setting everything back,” said Harris. Even with these challenges, Harris is confident in her team.
“Transit has gotten better and produced a lot of good shows and our work has grown exponentially,” said Harris.
“Sealed for Freshness” is only the beginning for the troupe. The next major event for Transit is the New Works Festival, which is October 21-22. The New Works Festival features several short plays written, performed, and directed by St. Edward’s students
“Most of the students in Transit are theatre majors who are passionate about theatre,” said Harris.
Transit is run solely on the response of the St. Edward’s student body, as they are the main audience targeted by the troupe. All shows are free admission, so the troupe depends on fellow students for financial support.
“We also print really cool shirts that we sell in order to fundraise,” said Harris.
Of course, donations are always accepted, with 80 percent going toward a local charity of the director’s choice.
“Giving back is an important part of what the troupe does and in the last couple of years we have given to local charities, which help us have a name in the Austin community,” said Harris.
