In a remarkable display of creativity, senior Mikul Wyer has achieved a feat that many seasoned playwrights can only dream of – selling out a theater with their original production. Wyer “started writing the play about three years ago” and finished it as auditions began.

The play, titled “Just a Bunch of Stars” is described by Wyer as being “set in 1932 New York City during the prohibition era, and it is set in a speakeasy for the entire play. It basically centers around a group of friends who frequent the speakeasy, and all of them are there for a reason.” The inspiration behind writing the play was wanting to “make people feel something,” Wyer said.

What makes Wyer’s achievement even more remarkable is the dedication he poured into bringing his vision to life. Balancing his academic responsibilities along with writing the play which went through “four-ish iterations before it was something I felt comfortable putting on stage, Wyer said. He described learning how to write his plays and succeed in school through “a lot of hard work and time management,” a skill key to his success.  

The journey from script to stage was not without its challenges. Deciding to produce the play in front of the school was “a little tough because they made me add like nine characters to the play, which was a lot,” Wyer said. Although difficult, he said “it also opened up a bunch of possibilities.” 

The buzz surrounding “Just a Bunch of Stars” quickly spread throughout the community, as it was the first play to be written by a student and produced by the theater department. “Just a Bunch of Stars” sold out the Schiff Center both February second and third. 

“I did not expect it to sell out as quickly as it did. It’s kind of just like wow, that’s a thing that happened,” said Wyer. While he was excited by the play’s success, he described feeling a “real culmination of being flattered and being extremely panicked,” said Wyer. 

Although this was Wyer’s first play to be produced, he is no stranger to his work being in the spotlight. He has been featured in independent literary magazines, Blue Marble Review, Eunoia Review, and news writing for Midwest Living. He also has won various Scholastic Awards along with being a Semifinalist for the National Merit Competition 2024. Despite all of that publicity, he said he “got way more stage fright from this play than I ever did acting [or anything else].” 

After the play’s success, Wyer hopes to “send it to a few community theaters and see if they’d be willing to do it; then even commercial ones and see what happens.” As for his future in playwriting, Wyer said in college he wants to“ pursue one of creative writing or theater” in the aftermath of the sold-out performances.

Wyer remains humble in the face of his success, crediting the theater department for assisting him with the play. “Mr. Raia help[ed] me by reading the play four times and giving me feedback every time, and Trey help[ed] me kind of get an idea of what it would look like on stage,” Wyer said. 

While “Just a Bunch of Stars” is the first student-written play to grace the stage at Seven Hills, it hopefully will not be the last. After his hard work and years poured into the play, Wyer said his advice to others looking to do the same is to “identify what crutches you have as a writer and what you tend to lean on too much and force yourself to not do those things.”