Following the success of “Hollywood Hound Bound,” an original play written by Bryan Hahn, an alumni of the Department of Theatre and Dance, the Eastern New Mexico University theater is preparing to open its second show of the season.

“Three Kids Coming Home” is a set of three one-act plays also written by alumni and directed by Felipe Macias.

The show will run today through Saturday at 7 p.m. with a matinee on Sunday at 2 p.m. This semester the department offers free admission to all students with current ENMU identification. General admission is $5.

The series of plays are written by former ENMU students Jamie Barnes, Claire Ann Rice and Leonard Madrid.

Rice, a 2003 graduate of ENMU, wrote the one-act “Sex in the Next Room,” a play which she said is about an “experiment in relationships.”

“(It’s) about denying yourself even as the whole world seems to be telling you not to deny yourself,” Rice said. “I wanted to write about love and sex and friendship. It was a fun exploration.”

Madrid, whose work has been seen on the ENMU stage in previous years, contributed “Ambrosita,” one in a series of short plays set in Madrid's hometown, Portales.

“I wanted to write it more about accepting your home for what it is,” said Madrid, a 1997 ENMU graduate. “I also wanted a play about the rhythm of language, the rhythm of footsteps walking down the streets of Portales and the rhythm of heartbeats. I hope that comes across in the pace and the language.”

Jamie Barnes’ “La Vida Muerte” rounds out the trio of one-act plays.

The series features Mackenzie Kennedy in her senior recital. Kennedy has starred in several ENMU shows, including “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Crimes of the Hear and Whose Life is It Anyway?”

— Submitted by Jennifer Conlee, ENMU Department of Theatre public relations