*Editors note: play is rescheduled to Friday, Oct. 7, 2022.

The season opener “Roses are Red: A Radio Play” will be debuting in the UNI Interpreters Theatre on Sept. 30, 2022. The theatre is located in Lang 040.

“‘Roses Are Red: A Radio Play’ is an episode of a fictional true crime podcast called, ‘Crime Shape Shifters’ where the podcast hosts tell the story alongside the victims of the crime,” said Emma Kossayian, director of the play. Cayenne Pepper, the main character, receives a rose and poem on Valentines Day, which she learns to be the town serial killer’s M.O.

This radio play was created by Kossayian, a communication-theater teaching and English teaching student in her senior year. “Theatre has always been a part of my life,” said Kossayian. She  has experience acting, directing and writing her own plays. She has directed two original 10-minute plays in the past for The Interpreter’s Theater Celebration of Women Directors. 

This play has been in the works for many years. “I have had this story with me since I was a 10th grader,” said Kossayian. Early in her studies at UNI, she was told by a theatre professor that the story would make a great radio play. This semester she was offered a director position and decided it was the perfect time to produce the show.

One of Kossayian’s biggest goals is to make theatre accessible for everybody. Radio plays do just that. In order to listen and follow along to radio plays, all people have to do is press play on a recording. “I am honored to have this experience be my final hurrah before I go off to student teach in the spring,” said Kossayian.

Tickets to the play are free, but there is limited seating for the one-night event. Seats can be reserved on eventbrite.com. A recording of the audio will also be available after the show.