Grand Valley State University’s STAGE will host its spring play this weekend.

“Beautiful Upon Exploding” premieres tonight at 7 p.m. in Area 51 in Kirkhof. Shows are free and open to the public.

Matthew Fowler, president of STAGE said that STAGE is the only theater-oriented student organization on campus and is completely run by students.

STAGE is dedicated to providing opportunities for Grand Valley students to be involved in all aspects of theater, according to the organization’s STUEY page. A main goal of STAGE is to promote student-written work in a theater setting. Shows are written, directed, produced and performed by students.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to come and experience performing with little commitment,” Fowler said.

The play is written and directed by junior Andrew Wernette.

“Beautiful Upon Exploding” is a semi-linear story that centers around Elle Curran, a high school teacher who has an affair with one of her female students, Wernette said.

“The play tracks a year in Elle’s, and other character’s lives, as they begin to unravel and fall apart,” Wernette said. “It focuses on the themes of emotional isolationism and the importance of relationships with others. There are comedic elements, but this is largely a tragedy.”

Wernette said, if anything, this is a character piece.

“Elle, the main focus of the story, starts the play having had an affair with one of her students,” Wernette said. “She is also revealed to have ovarian cancer, and as her life begins to fall apart, so too, does her health.”

The cast is made of nine, and a large portion of the other characters reappear and interact.

“You get to see Cory, the student at the heart of the affair — she’s a witty fast-talker who’s able to just run circles around people, but she gets her life messed-up throughout the plot as well,” Wernette said. “The third main force throughout is Reed, a tag-along nice guy Elle starts a relationship with. As he says himself, ‘I’m Reed Massinger, I’m here to help.’”

But, he said he thinks the main force here is figuring out what makes Elle tick, and for people to decide how they feel about her by the end.

“This isn’t a play where you can sit by and let it wash over you,” Wernette said. “As an audience member, you’ll have to give a little of yourself if you want something back. But, if you can sit still and invest yourself in this little dream happening on the stage, I would hope that we could build some sort of connection with you.

Wernette swears that there is a message to be heard, he said, the audience just has to listen for it.

“The thing about a tragedy that is different from a comedy, is how you feel during and after a performance,” Fowler said. “Comedies will make you laugh for sure, but there’s something about tragedies that really hits home and makes you feel better about your own life — we all have a natural curiosity for the unknown, the extreme, for things that seem dark and sad. If we didn’t, people would stop making horror and drama flicks.”

STAGE meets on Thursdays for their main meetings at 9 p.m. and the writer’s guild at 10 p.m. in Kirkhof Room 0072. Visit www2.gvsu.edu/~stage for more information.

“Don’t be afraid to come and join us,” Fowler said. “We’re all accepting of new members. We want to help them exercise their passion for performing — we understand and want to help people that don’t have an outlet.”

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