Aaron Scully, now a second-year doctoral student in the theater department, first graduated from MU in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management.
“I was running my family’s restaurant in Warrensburg, Missouri, and went back to school to get my MBA,” Scully says. “In the last semester of my MBA, I auditioned for a play and got cast, and at the same time, I was taking a directing class and decided I wanted to change directions.”
Since high school, Scully had been interested in writing, acting and directing, and he had considered pursuing theatre as a career.
“The practicality of it was kind of what drove me to not do it,” Scully says. “It wasn’t that I didn’t like it.”
Scully went on to complete a second master’s degree in theatre at the University of Central Missouri before returning to MU at age 39 for his doctorate.
“I can teach and have a career but also be an artist,” Scully says. “I just like to have a solid career, although the job market for theatre professors is not the best one, but I’m hoping that I get a job.”
Scully wrote his first short play during his time at UCM where he was able to direct the production in their BlackBox Theater.
“I was like, ‘this is it,’” Scully says. “I really, really enjoyed it, and I started teaching.”
Next weekend, he will present four original plays in the Mizzou New Play Series, a full-length called “Sliding Into Home,” a one-act called “Doctor Scott” and two 10-minute plays called “A Prayer for the Firecracker Kid” and “The Long Ride Home.”
“Sliding Into Home,” a semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, is showing at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The play is about the pressure a father can put on his children to be very skilled at one thing, specifically baseball, and the effects that can have on the entire family.
Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival semifinalist “Doctor Scott” focuses on an African-American doctor trying to establish a family practice in the rural South and is inspired by the play “Plumes” by Georgia Douglas Johnson. “Doctor Scott” can be seen at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“I really wanted to look at history and how it reflects today’s times, and how some things have changed and some things haven’t, which is frustrating,” Scully says.
Scully’s two short plays are inspired by his own experiences.
“The Long Ride Home,” a comedy, comes from a car ride home from the Roots N Blues Festival half marathon.
“I listened to the conversation my friend was having with his girlfriend in the car,” Scully says. “I used like the first two minutes and then made my own story.”
A more serious play, “A Prayer for the Firecracker Kid,” comes from Scully’s childhood and recent spiritual discoveries.
“It’s essentially a 10-minute play about the discovery of prayer in somebody’s life, and how powerful it can be, which is something that I discovered not too long ago,” Scully says.
The Mizzou New Play Series, featuring Scully’s plays and 17 other works, will take place from Feb. 9-14 at the Rhynsburger Theater. Tickets are $5 at the door on a first come basis.
