Three current and former playwriting students from Kansas University are participating in a number of prestigious national playwriting festivals and competitions, according to Paul Stephen Lim, KU English department playwriting professor.

“Suicide by Punchbowl,” a Ten-Minute Play by Whitney Rowland, Olathe junior, is one of five short plays still competing for the top prize at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

“Reel,” a full-length play by Paul Shoulberg, a 2004 Lawrence graduate enrolled in the MFA program at Indiana State University, has just been named the winner in KCACTF’s Mark Twain Award for Comic Writing. Both Rowland and Shoulberg will attend the national festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., April 17-21.

“Cellmates,” a Ten-Minute Play by Colin Elliott, Lawrence senior, is one of eight short plays being presented at the annual convention of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) in New Orleans, July 25-29.