The cast, crew and alumni from Knight Theatre’s production of Company, Spring 2025
For the first time in St. Norbert College's history, the Creative Writing Club and Knight Theatre are joining forces to create and perform a play completely from scratch.
On Sept. 29, I met with the president of St. Norbert’s small but mighty Creative Writing Club, Abigail Walton (‘26). Since taking over the club, Walton has made it her mission to grow the club and create more involvement opportunities for the imaginative minds who dedicate time to their craft. Wanting to do more with the club members’ talents, Walton approached the president of Knight Theatre, Sam Czekala (‘26) and proposed an idea. Walton wanted to do a collaboration.
Abigail "Abby" Walton (‘26)
Knight Theatre is a student-run theater company founded in 1994 that operates throughout the year. A major aspect of this student organization is that they rehearse over J-Term. Every year, they choose a show to perform, then through rigorous practice — as is the nature of theater — they perform it during the first week of the Spring Semester, sacrificing part of their winter break to do so.
Walton first met Czekala through SNC’s production of Wonderland last fall. When asked why she wanted to do a collab, Walton had this to say: “Our club is brand new, and I wanted to make sure that we are solidifying our spot in St. Norbert by collaborating with other people. We know Knight Theater doesn’t have a lot of resources outside of what the college can provide, but if we can make Knight Theatre bigger, it’ll also help us, so it’s a win-win.”
Many of the writing club members have experience in shows, so Walton thought: Why not have the members of the Creative Writing Club write a play script, and have Knight Theatre perform it?
When I met with Czekala, I asked her how she felt about the offer. “I was really excited,” she said. “I had already been thinking about doing some sort of production over the spring semester in addition to our show that we rehearse over J-Term. When she approached me, I really loved the idea, because I think it’s cool to have SNC students both writing the plays and then doing the acting and performing.”
Czekala expressed that the collab would be different than what they do traditionally, but she is excited to see the turnout.
In terms of what the script would look like, I asked Czekala if it would be similar to a capstone, which would mean a shorter performance with a lower budget.
“Yes, I think that’s going to be pretty accurate. Knight Theatre has limited resources, so it’s going to be, you know, any actors who are interested. We’re going to do a faithful production of these scripts that the Creative Writing Club writes.”
Czekala and Walton decided that the Creative Writing Club would take a few weeks to write the scripts, and then do their first table read in late October. “I like the structure that Abby and I came up with, of having two different table reads to get feedback, and then the creative writing students will work on writing the script in the fall, and KT will take over in spring.”
Walton chimed in with her own excitement, “I’m excited to see what my writers can come up with, because from some of the first exercises we did this year, I can tell that these guys have no limit with creativity. They just go crazy.”
Regarding the writing and rehearsal process, however, Walton does have some worries. “I feel bad that we don’t have a lot of resources to go big on sets because of the smaller program we have for theater. I feel like I am limiting that opportunity to them, but it’s all I can do. I’m trying to make art clubs bigger, or at least more well-known.”
Of course, the lack of resources is not Walton's fault, and she is not the only one wary about it. St. Norbert College cut the theater department last year, and the performance groups on campus are feeling the blow. We have faith that theater may return someday, but for now, the fate of the performing arts rests in the hands of students willing to keep it alive.
Czekala closes her thoughts with a hopeful look into the future, “If this goes well, the structure of having Creative Writing Club students write plays in the fall — and then having KT perform them in the spring — will be great for both our clubs. I think this could be something that continues into the future. It would be a nice legacy for both Abby and I, especially since Theater Studies is one of the programs here that was discontinued.”
There is a lot to look forward to this year. Despite setbacks from program cuts, the students of SNC are working hard to keep their passions flourishing. The theater and art departments are small, but their community is strong. The Creative Writing Club and Knight Theatre will be working hard, and only time will tell what this play will ultimately become.