“Minds Mirage,” by Aleksei Ellis, a third-year MFA student, highlights the 13th annual Big Muddy New Play Festival, March 20-23 in SIU Carbondale’s Christian H. Moe Laboratory Theater in the Communications Building. (Photo by Russell Bailey)
March 10, 2025
‘Minds Mirage’ highlights SIU’s 2025 Big Muddy New Play Festival
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The thin line between reality and imagination will be highlighted as part of the Big Muddy New Play Festival in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Theater and Dance.
The 13th annual festival is March 20-23 in SIU’s Christian H. Moe Laboratory Theater, which is in the Communications Building, Room 1045. “Mind’s Mirage,” by Aleksei Ellis, a third-year graduate student from Kingston, Massachusetts, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. March 20-22 with a 2 p.m. matinee March 23. The festival will also include three full-length stage readings, along with a free workshop and talkbacks by St. Louis playwright Courtney Bailey.
Ellis said her play focuses on Penelope and her friends, Tabitha and Addy, who are hosting a birthday party for Penelope. An unwelcome guest upsets Penelope so much that she does not want to attend the party, but her friends and Penelope’s childhood doll, Ms. Melanie-tonin, “all confide in her, trying to get her to join them. That is until, Tabitha provides a solution: a little candy, but not a sweet treat, but rather a substance to better relax Penelope.”
“Through dream sequences, Penelope’s mind is revealed as she experiences her trip from bizarre nightmare encounters to a past spelling bee and even a breakup that continues to replay in her mind,” Ellis said. “The mirages of Penelope’s reality are portrayed all in her mind, but only in her mind. The question is: What is reality versus her own perception, as Penelope is actually schizophrenic.”
Having the play performed on the Moe Theater’s black box setting “is a dream,” Ellis said.
“One of my favorite performance spaces is a black box due to the intimate close setup,” she said.
“Part of my inspiration while writing my play is working with perception shifts and blurring the line between reality and imagination,” Ellis said. “Many plays have happy endings or are wrapped up with a nice bow, but I did not want that. I want the audience to question where the line lies between Penelope’s reality and her hallucinations.”
Ellis’ play is directed by Olusegun A Ojewuyi, professor in theater. The cast is:
- Malia Jones, senior, musical theater, as Penelope.
- Addison Bean, senior, communication studies (public relations specialization), as Tabitha.
- Kenzie Losinski, senior, musical theater, as Addy.
- Jamie McCormick, senior, theater, as Molly.
- Amelia Warner, junior, musical theater, is the stage manager.
Ellis will graduate with her Master of Fine Arts in May. She earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts acting and dramatic writing at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire in May 2022 and was accepted into SIU’s program the day after she graduated.
Ellis was attracted to SIU’s MFA program because she was “looking to further my education in challenging myself in my art.”
“When looking for programs, I was looking for one with a lot of opportunities to write and have my work performed as well as student collaboration,” she said. “Since I am from New England, I wanted a program outside of New England to challenge my perspective by pursing an education outside of my home state.”
Ticket information
Tickets for the 80-minute performance, which includes a 10-minute intermission, are $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens (age 55 and older) and $5 for students. Tickets are available online, at the McLeod Theater Box office, by calling 618-453-5741 or in person at the box office. The box office will be open 10 days before a show from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and one hour before each performance.
Free staged readings are March 22
The staged readings by theater students in the MFA playwriting program are also in Moe Theater and a discussion will follow each reading. Admission is free, and there is no RSVP.
The schedule, with play title and student, is:
- 10 a.m. — “Not a Place of Honor” by Alice Doherty.
- 1 p.m. — “The Great Love of Siabanda Sesay” by M Kamara.
- 4 p.m. — “Taypacolypse” by Mikayla Delos-Santos.
Talkbacks, workshop set
Jacob Juntunen, professor, dramatic theory, criticism and playwriting in the School of Theater and Dance, said Bailey will give a talkback after Ellis’ show on March 21. She will also do a talkback after each of the three staged readings on March 22.
Bailey will also present a free workshop at 1 p.m. March 21 on “Living Sustainably as a Playwright.” The session will include discussions on the “strategies and best practices for making life work as an artist,” Juntunen said.
Another production at The Varsity Center
While not a part of the festival, Juntunen noted that a free production of “The Banana Slip,” a play that was developed at last year’s Big Muddy New Play Festival by AJ Rice, a senior in cinema and photography, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. March 22 and 2 p.m. March 23 at The Varsity Center, 418 S. Illinois Ave., Carbondale. The production “is a fast-paced comedy about municipal government and crime,” Juntunen said.