By Kayla Pickrell

After months of preparation, the play “The Monkey King” will make its opening Thursday at the Guignol Theater. Derived from a series of Asian folk tales, “The Monkey King” was devised and made by students to be performed for students.

Performed in conjunction with the Year of China Initiative at UK, ‘The Monkey King’ also highlights the importance the theater department wants to make on how these plays in the Rebels Act Out series pertain to students and their lives.

Robert Haven, costume technologist for “The Monkey King,” said the connection to students is based upon the fact that the monkey king will travel and have adventures that appeal to students. Students are on an adventure themselves.

Running for two weekends, “The Monkey King” is open to the public for $10.

“For the price of going with your friend to Starbucks and just enjoying one drink,” said Nancy Jones, chair of the theater department, “you can watch an amazing performance put on by your peers.”

Jones said that there are parts of theater that can never be experienced from a YouTube video or a movie. Theater requires a “caliber of talent,” “quality,” and is “unique.”

“Theater leaves a lasting impression,” Jones said,  “and you get to breathe the same air as the actors in front of you.”

Albert Hardin, lighting designer for ‘The Monkey King,’ gives a slightly altered yet maintained look on theater.

“(Theater) is live, not canned and everybody’s take on it is different,” Hardin said. “Not only is the experience different for the individual, but each night is different as well,” he said.

‘The Monkey King’ is a play that director Jennifer Goodlander wants to “push the envelope” with. She picked her actors based upon this sense to create a “collaborative” and “amazing” performance for everyone who attends.

Theater is “richer, more rewarding, more interactive, and more dynamic” than most forms of entertainment, Hardin said.

‘The Monkey King’ premieres Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Guignol Theater.