Mary-Michael O’Hara ’25 has been a frequent performer in Wofford Theatre productions, but she went from the stage to the page to write a short play that was selected to be read at the historic Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia.
O’Hara’s play “Pee Stick” was one of only six works chosen to be performed at the 2025 College Playwriting Festival, held Feb. 21-23. The selection came with a $300 stipend and housing, and the play was read for the public by the resident acting company of Barter Theatre, which opened in 1933.
The 10-minute play was written as one of O’Hara’s assignments in her playwriting workshop last semester taught by Dr. Mark Ferguson ’94, T.R. Garrison Professor of Humanities and chair of the department of theatre. O’Hara drafted some early ideas inspired by what she would want to act if she were handed the script.
“Dr. Ferguson was like, ‘These are great, but they’re not you. They’re not saying anything,’” O’Hara says. “I thought, ‘Yeah, but I don’t have anything to say.’ That was obviously a lie. I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do.”
O’Hara took Thanksgiving break to consider what she had to say about the state of the world and the past three years of her life. By the time she returned, she had her draft for “Pee Stick.”
The play centers around two 21-year-olds named Aria and Lucy. Aria believes she might be pregnant and is contemplating taking a pregnancy test. Does she want to have an answer, or would she rather be blissfully ignorant and go on with her day? Her friend Lucy is there to listen and try to help her feel confident in whatever decision she makes.
“The crux of the play is she takes the test, but what do you do in those five minutes where your life could change and suddenly you have no control … and everything starts happening to you? You lose that sort of agency,” O’Hara says.
“It is so impossible to decide what is ever the right path for a woman. There are the expectations of what is good for you and what is bad, but what happens if that doesn’t align with what you want?”
The College Playwrights Festival allowed O’Hara to work alongside people in the industry and gauge the audience’s response to her play. As someone who loves to act, talking with the actors in residence at the historic theatre about how they make plays come to life was an exciting opportunity. The experience also deepened her love of the other side of the theatrical process.
“It re-inspired my love of writing,” she says. “That is something I will be forever grateful for.”
Playwriting experience only adds to the all-around skillset O’Hara has developed at Wofford in the performing arts — not just acting, but also building sets, making costumes and supporting the productions behind-the-scenes. She hopes to pursue the arts after graduation.
“It’s all so interconnected, and I love it so much that my future will no doubt be centered around storytelling with film and theatre,” O’Hara says. “I don’t want to pick a lane, because it’s all so vital to me.”