Theatre Opens New Play Examining the Highs and Woes of Aspiring Student Nurses

Ash Micheel

The Department of Theatre at the U of A opens Anatomy 101 (A Mysterium) by M.F.A. playwriting candidate Sarah Loucks, in partial fulfillment of her thesis.

Performances begin Friday, March 3, in the Global Campus Black Box Theater on the Downtown Fayetteville Square, at 2 E. Center St.

Tickets are available through the U of A Box Office at uarkartstickets.com. 

A Play About Young Women Studying Nursing  

On consecutive Sunday afternoons, six undergraduates at a large state school in the South gather in the university library to chug coffee and study the anatomy of the body, all while navigating the anatomy of a changing world. When Brittney, a transfer student, joins their study group, her difficult past forces the girls to confront what it truly means to care for someone at their most vulnerable.

Set in 2023, the play explores the larger social issues aspiring nurses face in post-pandemic and post-Roe America while focusing on the individual bonds and human connections formed despite the "soulless" library study room the young women choose to make "their study spot." 

Issues around female agency were on playwright Sarah Loucks' mind as she began early research for the play. 

"I was interested in young women who are making the choice to become nurses, and the values that drive that choice," Loucks said.  

Loucks said she was inspired by overhearing student nurses studying at a local coffeeshop and was fascinated as their conversations ricocheted between life and death—hematomas and mimosas. She began envisioning a "hyper-realistic" play that featured an ensemble of young women that "boldly honors their experience of college life with complexity and agency." 

Loucks overheard these conversations in March of 2020, but they stayed with her and deepened during the pandemic. As nurses were being publicly applauded while working in dangerous environments often lacking adequate personal protective equipment, Loucks wondered about the impact the pandemic would have on those considering going into the nursing profession.  

As the pandemic loosened its hold in spring of 2022, Loucks expanded her creative research to include interviews with U of A student nurses asking them: "why they wanted to become nurses now, with all the loss and uncertainty the pandemic brought?" 

Their answers surprised Loucks, ranging between the ordinary and extraordinary, or — as the play's subtitle suggests — bordering on the mysterious.   

While at times topical, Loucks says she hopes the play provokes broader conversations around "grief and care. How do we best care for one another during challenging times? How do we show up for one another authentically?" 

Cross-Curricular Conversation and Public Panel 

For those seeking further conversation, a free public panel, The Highs and Woes of Aspiring Nurses, will be held to discuss themes of the play and the nursing profession. Co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre, the Medical Humanities Program and the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, the panel will follow the Friday, March 10, 7:30 p.m. performance. 

John Walch, head of the M.F.A. Playwriting Program, and Casey Kayser, director of the Medical Humanities Program, will co-moderate a panel featuring director and Distinguished Professor Amy Herzberg; Stacy Pendergraft, co-director of the School of Literary and Performing Arts and associate professor of theatre at UA Little Rock; and instructors and professors from the U of A's School of Nursing, including Diana Dunbar MSN, RN, APRN, FNP-C; BJ Garrett, MSN, RN, CNE; and Sara Sugg MSN, RN, CPN. 

A reception will follow in the lobby of the Global Campus Theatre for further conversation with members of the panel and the artistic team. 

Anatomy 101 (A Mysterium) by Sarah Loucks, directed by Distinguished Professor Amy Herzberg, performs at 7:30 p.m. the evenings of March 3-4 and 8-11, with two Sunday matinee showings at 2 p.m. March 5 and 12.

Tickets range from $5 to $20, with discounts available for students, faculty, staff and seniors. Reserve tickets by calling 479-575-4752 or online at uarkartstickets.com.