‘Lights Over Stephenville’ recounts 2008 UFO sightings over little North Texas town
Research for the project included interviews with residents who witnessed the occurrence, according to a Tarleton State University press release.
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Students at Tarleton State University have written an original play to chronicle the experience of eyewitnesses to a 2008 UFO sighting incident in Stephenville, Texas.
The play was inspired by a National Geographic documentary where they spoke with a local pilot who said he saw the lights over his ranch.
“When I first moved to Stephenville, I was tooling around on YouTube and I saw a National Geographic documentary about these UFO sightings in Stephenville,” said Tarleton State Theater Professor Dan Stone. “I thought it would make an awesome play.”
Stone, the director of the project, formulated a class to take the idea of a play from inception to performance, according to a university press release.
Emily Fox, James Stack, Kay Grimstad, Gabe Ramos, Elm Carter, Abigail Wilson, Lily Peltz, Bee Harris, Matthew Carlton, Jake Anderson and Caroline Bachhofer all signed up for the class which created “Lights Over Stephenville.”
The students went into the community and interviewed residents who witnessed the occurrence, the university said.
“We interviewed at Fuzzy’s Tacos and people came and shared their stories,” said Stone. “I hung out at Jake and Dorothy’s, which seemed to be the center of all this. It was a big undertaking because people had a lot of differing experiences.”
A throughline in the plot of the play, according to the university, is a reporter at the Stephenville Empire-Tribune who was the first to report on the story, which immediately garnered worldwide attention. Her refusal to back away from the story reportedly led to her dismissal, after which she claimed her work files and computer were confiscated, adding to the intrigue of the story, the university said in its press release about the play.
“Lights Over Stephenville” will be played five times in four straight nights, from April 10 to April 13. Saturday, April 12 will have two showings: one at 2 p.m. and another at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for students, $8 for children and $10 for adults. Click here or call (254)968-9634 for tickets or more information.
