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What Light?
Type of Show
Short Play
Performance Type
Live
Digital
Acts
1 act
Duration
30 min
Performing Groups
Community Theatre
College/University
High School/Secondary
Movement Requirements
Minimal to comically bad dance and stage combat
Tech Requirements
Flexible
Cast Summary
Flexible: 6 characters (4 principal / 2 supporting, pronouns may be changed according to casting needs)
Overview
You know how you're always looking for that Shakespeare-adjacent witty one-act comedy that takes place in the ER? Problem solved: It's What Light? by Erin Dealey.

This play explores the answers to the following questions:  How can light break a window? Is partying such sweet sorrow? How much do you remember from your 7th grade Romeo & Juliet unit (JK you're on your own there).

Strangers become friends when they stage their own fractured, misquoted version of those famous star-crossed lovers, on a not-so-quiet-after-all night in the Emergency Department of a university hospital.

*For extra credit, look for meta-R&J easter eggs hidden throughout*
Plot
It’s a slow night on a snowy November, in the ER of a university hospital, where an overwhelmed and overly-cheerful nurse tends to three undergrads, each with a painful break that needs medical attention. Lucy may have broken her wrist, and worries she’s lost her big theatrical break in her first college play. Jake swears his abdominal pain stems from a recent breakup. Finn may need stitches for the laceration caused by a lacrosse stick to the head as she entered-but-for-the-record-did-NOT-break-into the dorm room next door. As they open the curtains between their exam rooms, their hearts open as well. And when Lucy finally confesses she’s been cast as the Nurse, and not Juliet as everyone has assumed, the others rally to create their own mis-quoted version of R&J, so she can have her moment, and possibly find her Romeo. 
Casting
Flexible: 6 characters (4 principal / 2 supporting, pronouns may be changed according to casting needs)
Female Principals
4
Male Principals
2
A NOTE ON CASTING:
Casting is flexible--pronouns may be changed according to casting needs (no need to seek out additional permission from Uproar).
JAKE
Male. 20ish college sophomore, fresh from an unexpected break-up.
LUCY
Female. 18ish, freshman, theater major, with a possible break that may ruin her big break.
FINN
Female. 18ish, Don’t-call-me-Elizabeth freshman, suspected of breaking and entering.
NURSE
Female. 1 part Mary Poppins + 2 parts Lorelai Gilmore.
R.A.
Female. 22ish grad student, Pre-law/ Sociology, hoping for a break-through with FINN.
DR. SCOTT
Male. Overworked ER doc who needs a break.
Uproar Theatrics 2024