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WHAT IS UPSTART?

The UpStart festival is a juried one-act play festival hosted by the University of Waterloo Theatre and Performance program. All these plays are written, directed, designed, and performed by students. They will be presented March 19th-22nd in the Theatre of the Arts. The UpStart festival is part of the 2025 Capstone project, with five senior Theatre and Performance majors making up the core of the creative team.

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The Waiting Room

University roommates Dylan - a rich hopeless romantic, and Aamir - a chronic people pleaser, form an unlikely trio with Tee - their standoffish classmate, while trapped in a mysterious hospital waiting room. In this test of wit and impulse, they must confront old wounds while waiting to treat new ones.  

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Hell Weeks

A university student, Olivia, receives an email from the Devil, which gives her an ultimatum that he made with the university: if she passes her exam, she will live, however if she fails, hell will claim her soul.

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Utopia

Set in the idyllic neighborhood of Utopia, the couple comprising of Charlotte and Beatty host a welcome dinner for Mary, a recent divorcee who has just moved next door. However, something is not right. Around the dinner table, Mary begins to wonder if something is afoot in her Utopia. 

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What are the shows?

The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples.

 

Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.

© 2025 by University of Waterloo Theatre and Performance

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