After a six-year hiatus, Del Mar Drama is performing “Lightning Bolt Theatre” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 and 23 in the Finley Theatre on Heritage Campus.

“It’s all student-written material, original stuff,” drama professor Carl Yowell said.

Previous performances have seen students put together and perform full plays.

“Lightning Bolt has historically been a bunch of different projects,” Yowell said. “We’ve done original plays, we’ve done sketch comedy, like ‘Saturday Night Live,’ we did puppet theater.”

For this installation, Yowell has opted for a more individualized approach to the students’ productions.

“This year, it’s student-written monologues,” Yowell said. “There may be short scenes with two characters.”

The format comes from various other activities the drama department has undertaken during the semester.

“Alex Garza was a guest artist, sponsored by the Cultural Programs Committee,” Yowell said. “He came in earlier and did a little workshop with drama students on how he writes his one-person shows.”

Garza’s workshop was not the only influence on the format.

“We did ‘Greater Tuna’ as a faculty performance,” Yowell said. “The genesis of ‘Greater Tuna’ was characters that [playwright Jaston Williams] and his friend Joe Sears would do at parties.”

Yowell intends for this production to be an opportunity for his students to recognize their creative potential.

“Theatre comes from somewhere,” Yowell said. “The idea is that you can make your own theatre from the ground-up.”

This stems from a concern over theatre students being unable to find work.

“Too many theatre students come out of college with their diploma in one hand and a resumé in another,” Yowell said. “They look at the world and go, ‘where’s my job?’”

He intends to show his students the possibility of creating material instead of playing previously-existing material.

“To this, we’re saying, ‘go make your job,’” Yowell said. “Go make your own work, you can do this.”

Yowell also selected “Lightning Bolt” based on the state of the department itself.

“After COVID, we had a huge drop-off in drama department enrollment,” Yowell said. “We’re in a regeneration phase here.”

With the department increasing in numbers, he thought the time was right to revive a long-dormant production.

“This is the last thing we haven’t done in a while,” Yowell said.

So far, he notes a positive outlook with what materials have been put together.

“The material is very interesting, wildly varying in terms of subject matter,” Yowell said.

He encourages the audience to consider the uniqueness of the production.

“You’re gonna get to hear original voices,” Yowell said. “Regard it as sort of a world premiere.”

Furthermore, he also encourages the audience to consider how this production may affect the students’ trajectory.

“You never know what might result of it,” Yowell said. “This may inspire some students to say ‘y’know what? I’m gonna do some more of this.’ You may see something that can become big in a few years.”

“Lightning Bolt Theatre: Lightning Strikes Again” runs at the Sue Sellors Finley Theatre on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23. Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free.