World premiere of award-winning play held this week at River Campus

The world premiere of the award-winning "The Winter Guard Play" by Avery Deutsch opened Wednesday, March 1, at Rust Flexible Theatre on the River Campus.

The play won Southeast Missouri State University's Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival competition in 2022. In a description of the play on SEMO's website, the story follows the journey of a high school color guard team as they prepare for national championships. The team attempts to choreograph a winning routine about global warming. The website states "The Winter Guard Play" is "about catching flags, catching each other, and realizing the grown- ups aren't going to save you."

According to SEMO's website, the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival honors new American plays that provide dynamic performance opportunities for college-aged actors. The festival recognizes playwrights for their outstanding work and provides a resource for universities across the country to identify plays with roles for college-aged actors for production at their institutions. The festival features both a full-length and short play division.

There will be four more performances — 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2, through Saturday, March 4, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 5.

For more information about the play and performance times, call the River Campus box office at (573) 651-2265 or visit www.rivercampus.org.