Photo by Erin M. Droste

Ryan Butts, KU graduate and actor, and Jena Peterson, actor, kiss after sharing their memories of a difficult life during rehearsal of “Ketchup” Thursday evening at Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Mo.

Ketchup makes everything better, even maggot-riddled World War II rations, says one KU alumnus playwright.

“Ketchup” is a one-act play written by Kristin Soper, 2004 graduate. It tells the story of a couple through its early years, its separation during World War II and its twilight years. The famous red condiment is a metaphor for the main character’s wife.

“My grandpa would put ketchup on everything,” Soper said. “His relationship with his wife covered up the bad flavor in his life.”

Soper’s and two other University students’ plays — “The Option” by Libby Dean, Louisburg senior, and “Breakfast” by Kendra Finney, Overland Park senior — are being produced by Potluck Productions for its 10th annual 2005 Women’s Playwriting Festival.

The three plays were among the 12 selected from 50 entries, Glendora Davis, 2005 Festival producer, said.

All three plays were written in Paul Lim’s, professor of English, playwriting class.

This is the second year that Dean has had a play performed at the Women’s Playwriting Festival. Last year the festival produced her play, “A Test of Will.”

A playwright has a better sense of setting and of the stage after working with a production, Dean said.

“The Libby Dean last year and the Libby this year are two different people,” Lim said. “In terms of stagecraft and character development, I could see growth.”

Soper credits Lim with helping KU playwrights get their plays produced.

“If it wasn’t for him it would be stashed in a drawer somewhere,” Soper said.

This is the first time that Finney’s play, about a young woman who is angry that her boyfriend never makes her breakfast, has been performed on stage.

“Breakfast” plays on the age-old relationship question, “What do women want?”

The inspiration for “Breakfast” comes from a relationship with an ex-boyfriend who happens to be traveling from Pennsylvania to watch the play, Finney said.

Dean’s play, “The Option,” is a comedy about a mother trying to give her son “the talk” during breakfast, months after the son’s father has died.

This is the first time that “The Option” will receive a full performance. It got a staged reading in January at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre regional festival.

Student playwrights bring a fresh perspective to Potluck Productions, one director said.

“They bring naiveté and innocence,” D.K. Evenson, director, said. “They’re very quick to capture the essence of life.”

— Edited by Austin Caster