This semester, the MSU Department of Theatre is working on a production called the Theatre2Film Project. This project involves a script written and acted out entirely by students, and it will be produced first as a play and then as a film.

On Wednesday at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, the actors performed a stage reading of the upcoming production.

Project director and media acting professor Mark Colson said the project actually began during the spring semester of 2014.

Colson said he saw a sample of students’ writing that he found strong and creative, so he began looking for a student to write a number of vignettes, stories or snapshots.

At the end of the summer, selected writer and theatre senior CJ Valle presented Colson with four vignettes.

Colson said those storylines were the springboard for the Theatre2Film Project.

From there, the department began preparing for production with help from the Department of Media and Information, Media Sandbox, the College of Music and the Department of Art, Art History and Design.

“It’s really this great, collaborative effort on so many people’s parts,” Colson said.

Colson said the script is based on the struggle and comeback of Detroit.

“What interests us there is that the city has obviously fallen on hard times and is trying to reinvent itself,” Colson said.

He said it remained crucial that the script was written and will be performed by college students.

Colson said the production is aimed at youth, addressing questions many college students might have concerning their future.

It also addresses the potentially isolating relationship that young people can share with their technology.

“Do you become a more isolated human being because of these devices you have?” Colson questioned. “Do you lose connections with other human beings?”

Colson said these relevant topics are what make the actors so excited about the production. He said the students are memorizing their lines fairly easily because they feel like they wrote the script themselves.

During the stage reading, viewers got to see this isolation acted out, as two characters had a conversation with one another while facing the audience. This was to represent the way we communicate via Skype.

Colson said he is interested in seeing what students have to say, and how they identify and solve problems on their own.

Colson said it will also be fascinating to watch the students adapt their performances from theatre to film.

Theatre senior Marley Boone said her character, a photojournalist who communicates with her girlfriend via Skype throughout the production, begins to realize that with technology there is always going to be some sort of disconnect.

“It’s all about technology and different forms we use to communicate with each other, and how they hurt or help a relationship,” Boone said.

Boone said the play is incredibly personable because the script was written by her peers.

“She nailed it on the head how we communicate to one another and what we say in certain situations,” Boone said.

As for future productions, Boone is looking forward to taking her character from the stage to the screen.

“I’m excited to see how I have to take my big, theatrical style of acting and tone it down for the film while still keeping the same intensity and intentions that I have,” Boone said. “It’s just going to be really cool to see how I can manipulate my acting for different forms of media.”

Colson said the Theatre2Film Project already has a slot in the Traverse City Film Festival in July.

He said right now they are focusing on the process rather than the outcome.

Those in the audience for the stage reading even got to give the actors feedback, telling them what worked and what didn’t.

“I’m really confident with the work that I’ve seen by my actors ... that this is going to be a very solid project,” Colson said.