From conception to paper to production, “Rings of the Tree” is another milestone accomplishment for Utah Valley State College senior and playwright Mahonri Stewart, who has been writing and acting since he was in the fifth grade.

Stewart is a Provo native and has had two plays previously produced and sponsored by UVSC, as well as one at the Art City Playhouse in Springville. His plays have been recognized nationally and locally and have won several awards through the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and locally through the Hale Center Theater.

“Rings of the Tree” is Stewart’s fourth production and the first senior project to come through UVSC’s recently revamped Department of Theatrical Arts for Stage and Screen. The new department is starting to pick up speed and, Stewart opines, is becoming a “new and viable presence” in the college theater scene.

So, why “Rings of the Tree”fi A question to be answered by purchasing a ticket and attending — since an explanation would “be giving away the plot,” Stewart joked.

He did say the play is steeped in symbolism and while keeping mum about the plot, Stewart did say that it’s “not what it at first appears to be” and has “a lot of twists and turns to it.”

“Rings of the Tree” sports a cast of nine members, eight of which are UVSC students. Jamie Dennison, a sophomore and theater/psychology major, plays the main character, Diana Applesong — a wealthy heiress who has closeted herself in her mansion to escape worldly worries and the pain of a tragic past.

Dennison said her character “puts on the persona of an ice princess when really deep down she’s just full of tears.”

Her cool façade is melted when a group of adventurers happen into her quiet life and she is unexpectedly forced to face personal issues long buried out of sight.

The play is set in Victorian times and Stewart believes the play appeals to a broad audience on many different levels, but particularly to those “who love an old-fashioned story in the style of Jane Austen and Dickens” — with a little fantasy thrown in for flavor.

“The story is intimate and epic at the same time,” said Stewart. “It has characters whose inner worlds are everything to them, but who have been so shaped by surprising outside events that they have a difficult time coping with the inevitable consequences of life.”

Stewart praised UVSC’s theater program and supportive attitude toward himself as a student playwright and to all students in general.

“The fact that they treat students on a one-on-one basis is really, really impressive,” Stewart said.

IF YOU GO:

Rings of the Tree

Where: UVSC Blackbox Theater (Gunther Trades Building, Room 631)

When: Tonight through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., matinee Saturday at 2 p.m.

Tickets: $5, call UVSC Campus Connection at 863-8797

Info: 863-8797

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