Monday, August 7, 2023
Town & Gown Theatre’s Troupe d’ Jour presents the 11th Annual Stillwater Short Play Festival Jacob Boyd O’Colly Contributor Town & Gown’s Stillwater Short Play Festival is celebrating its 11th year of exciting productions and yet another opportunity to give back to the Stillwater community. The festival consists of eight short plays of approximately 10-15 minutes in length and runs for one weekend of two performances – Saturday, Aug.12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 13 at 2:30 p.m. This year’s lineup includes the following plays: The Yanks are Coming, written by Hank Kimmel of Atlanta, Georgia Choices, written by James McLindon of Northampton, Massachusetts Moon Rabbit, written by Mark A. Fisher of Tehachapi, California The Naughty List, written by Robert J. LeBlanc of Newburyport, Massachusetts Bad Idea, written by Brian Cox of Detroit, Michigan L’art est Pour Tout le Monde, written by Matthew Hanf of Elk Grove, Courtesy of Jacob Boyd California Family by Numbers, written by Town & Gown actors rehearse for upcoming Short Play Festival. Arianna Rose of Delray Beach, Florida be available at the door for each pertunity to “vote” for their favorite play(s) Award, which will be announced at the The New Me, written by Richard formance. As an extra bit of fun, the by dropping cash or checks into a pair close of the Sunday performance. Pauli of Annapolis, Maryland festival’s “Stuff the Shorts” campaign of boxer shorts designated for each play. Tickets are $10 each and will will give audience members the oppor- This will determine the People’s Choice See Festival on 7
Annual summer research expo showcase undergraduate projects program. Students play a major role in research across universities. Dr. Christine Johnson, OSU associate vice president for research expressed how the work students put in Jaycee Hampton this summer is displayed for News and Lifestyle recognition at the expo. Assistant Editor “We are so pleased that we have had some Students at Oklahoma undergraduate students who State University have spent have been on campus for many weeks this summer in countless hours in labs conducting research projects the labs. You’ve been in the lab and you’ve been workthis summer. ing away and today is the Numerous projects culmination to share and showcased knowledge and disseminate some of your findings within student research at the annual Under- discoveries,” Johnson said. The summer research graduate Summer Research program helps prepare Expo, held in the Nancy undergraduates with conRandolph Davis building on nections and skills to pursue Aug. 2. A majority of research graduate school as they continue researching. is done during graduate Brittanie Cannon, a school, but undergraduate students at OSU are offered McNair Scholar studying psychology, was hesitant to the ability to spend hours join the program. working in labs on campus during the summer with this See Showcase on 6
Ethan Scott There are logistical issues in having a 16-team conference, but after the Big 12’s near miss with a collapse in 2021, Mike Gundy said that’s a good problem to have.
‘There’s security in numbers’
Gundy, Weiberg weigh in on Big 12’s realignment
Braden Bush Sports Editor
Courtesy of OSU Various projects by undergraduate students were highlighted at this year’s Undergraduate Summer Research Expo.
In the past year, Mike Gundy predicted that the Big 12 would “rise up and be just fine” during conference realignment and that OSU would be in good shape because of it. He also said conference realignment wasn’t finished. Check. “I’m almost like Nostradamus,” Gundy joked on Wednesday before practice. The Big 12 landed on its feet with the additions of four new teams and a renegotiated TV contract last year, then stole back its Big 8 bride in Colorado last week. Gundy made a new prediction Wednesday, saying
that the latest round of conference shuffling would conclude anywhere in the next week to a month. It might still not be over, but the Big 12 seemingly wrapped up its shopping Friday night when it approved the memberships of Arizona State and Utah after the admittance of Arizona on Thursday night. At OSU’s Football Media Day on Saturday afternoon, Gundy and athletic director Chad Weiberg weighed in on the realignment. “I think it’s all good. There’s security in numbers… numbers is strength,” Gundy said. “How they’re gonna break it up, who is gonna play who, I think that’s a challenge – but it’s a good challenge to have when you look back from where we were a year and a half ago.” That situation in 2021 was a rough one, and Weiberg likened the times to “dog days” full of uncomfortableness. The Big 12 had just lost OU and
Texas to the SEC, and OSU was scrambling to find security, whether that be in a revamped Big 12 or in another conference. Just two years later, the Big 12 is in a favorable spot. In the grand scheme of things, two years is a short amount of time to go from a destitute conference to a league in a position for longevity. How did it happen so quickly? “Leadership,” said Weiberg, who was AD for two weeks before OU and Texas made their move. “I think these things happen not by accident, right? I mean, you have to give a lot of people – again, commissioners, our presidents and chancellors, our athletic directors – you have to give them credit for stacking a series of good decisions on top of each other to get to where we are to survive and grow and position ourselves in the place that we’re in now.” See Big 12 on 3