Texas A&M University- Commerce’s theatre department will be presenting “Calling All” in the Studio Theater in the Performing Arts Center Nov. 17-22 at 8 p.m. nightly plus a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee.

“Calling All” is a one-act play written by Melanie Marnich, about a group of six people, (two girls and four guys) in their early 20’s who are telemarketers working for PBS. It is the last night of pledge week and they have a large goal to meet—but don’t want to. The play happens in one day, so there aren’t any costume changes.

“Calling All is a dark comedy,” graduate assistant and director Lauren Simpson said. “It starts out with jokes then gets real. It’s so real to human existence. You get to see the individual people at the same time while seeing them all together.

“Three years ago a good friend of mine emailed me with different pieces and ‘Calling All’ was one of them. I didn’t think anything about it at first. Then I went back and reread it, and I liked it, so I wrote up my proposal and sent it in,” she said.

“I’m excited about it. It’s a really good script, funny, and has that humanity. I’m excited for people to see it. I thank my good friend who died before he finished his master’s—because if he had never emailed it to me, I would have never had this opportunity, so I’m doing this with him in mind. The play is not suitable for children, there are different references for young and seasoned adults.”

“Calling All” is the entry for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, KC/ACTF.

“The festival is the college level Tony Awards,” Simpson said.

Three actors will be chosen to compete, as well as a couple of design elements, at the festival.

“As the director, I’m more on the creative side; I help them learn their lines and how to say them better and with which props. I have a picture in my head of how I want it, and everyone, the actors, and my stage manager, Katie Oloch—my right hand, help me get what I want out of my head out on stage,” Simpson said.

Tickets are on sale at the theatre box office (in the Performing Arts Center), Monday-Thursdays, 1-5 p.m. or online. Tickets for students with their IDs, or younger than 18 are $5, tickets are $10 for seniors, and $15 for adults.