Abby Uphoff glances at the camera giving a smile for her acomplishments on Feb. 16, 2022 at Memorial Union in Columbia, Mo.
In seventh grade, a young girl auditioned for the school play on a whim. Eight years later, that same girl is now a Region 5 winner of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Abby Uphoff, a junior from Minooka, Illinois, is majoring in English with an emphasis in nonfiction creative writing with a minor in theater at MU. Uphoff recently won the John Cauble Short Play Regional competition with her play “Eat the Rich” and received a National Partners of American Theatre Full Length Play Honorable Mention for her other 10-minute play, “The Lobotomy of Betty Valentine.”
“Eat the Rich” broadcast at Mizzou’s New Play Series from Feb. 9 to Feb. 13, both virtually and in person at the Rhynsburger Theatre.
Uphoff has been doing plays since seventh grade and recognized the potential that playwriting had by combining her interests in reading, writing and performing plays.
“Playwriting was the perfect dot in between the two lines of my two interests,” Uphoff said.
Uphoff explained the motivations behind her award winning play, “Eat the Rich.”
“It was back in 2019 when “eat the rich” was a meme and the phrase was getting talked about on Twitter.” Uphoff said. “My friend was like, “You should write a play about that where they literally eat the rich,” and I was like, “LOL, that would be so crazy.”
Uphoff attributes her play coming to fruition from a playwriting class she took with David, A. Crespy, a professor in the Theater department at MU. His encouragement led her to submit the assignment to KCACTF.
“He was on the panel for them (KCACTF) for several years, and it’s one of the most important festivals for undergraduate writers, and it’s one of the only ones that accepts works from people with a degree.” Uphoff said.
Crespy touched on his experiences with Uphoff as a student. He delved into Uphoff’s talent and his excitement about her future works.
“Abby was one of those dazzling students who comes along now and then and just blows you out of the water,” Crespy said. “Abby is unique, and she’s definitely following in the more purple veins of [Tennessee] Williams, who also wrote his first plays at Mizzou.”
‘Eat the Rich’ is about an intern named Jessica. A young woman of color going into the workforce, she deals with a terrible boss, microaggressions and economic issues. At the height of the play, Jessica bounds and gags her boss on a table and debates whether she should actually cook and eat him or let him go. The play uses a technique in playwriting called ‘dream theater’ where the play takes place largely in the protagonist’s subconscious. There’s moments where it phases in and out between the real world and her conversations with her therapist. This brings a “surrealist dramedy feel to it,” in Uphoff’s words.
Uphoff delves into the process that the play took from script to live action.
“It starts in class where you write half of it and you bring it in.” Uphoff said. “Peers in the class were aligned with me politically, so they were more focused on helping me craft a really good play rather than getting inflamed by the political nature of it … It’s been through five drafts before the one that’s finally sent off to Nationals, and it’s a product of all different people from all different walks of life giving me comments on it and helping me grow it.”
Uphoff also explains the positive and somewhat astounded reactions to the play both inside and outside of her social circles.
“My family for sure was like, ‘What did we send you to college for, you little nut.’ Uphoff said. “It is a comedy and there’s an element of comedy and drama fused in. I find a lot of adults are shocked by the comedic nature of it because they don’t expect it to be funny when it has such a strong political message to it.”
Uphoff’s play beat out submissions from six other states.
“I think it’s the timeliness of it because I wrote it and it kind of took the shape it took based on the current job crisis.” Uphoff said. “All of these workers are suddenly realizing they have the power to quit, and COVID [is] really challenging how we currently have the workday structure … the play is a direct response to the dialogue we’re having about that right now.”
Uphoff shares her plans with furthering her career in theater. This semester, Uphoff is taking Advanced Playwriting with Crespy to further her study of theater.
“…We’ll be churning out three more plays, so we’ll see how that goes.”
Uphoff will also be participating in “The Revolutionists,” a play by Lauren Gunderson about four women who changed the course of the French Revolution. Uphoff is playing Charlotte Corday, an assassin for Jean-Paul Marat. “The Revolutionists” will show at the Rhynsburger Theater April 27 through May 1.
Edited by Shannon Worley, sworley@themaneater.com