Tonight Penn State student Emma Futhey (freshman-theatre) will do something very few people in her position normally get to do.

Despite being a freshman, Futhey will make her directorial debut with the play Happy Sunny Super Fun Day written by Peter George (sophomore-theatre) and showcased by Outlaws, a student-run theater company that puts on plays every Thursday night in the Arts building.

Futhey will serve as the head director for the show, a job not normally given to new members.

"I'm originally from State College, so I went to a lot of shows last spring," Futhey said. "The weird thing is that if you want to direct, you have to be assistant director first, but I did some directing in high school, so they let me just go right to directing."

After every show, the audience is able to ask the cast and crew any questions or make comments on the show in a talk back session.

"[The play is] a series of vignettes about human interaction ranging from the more serious, to the more absurd... it's a character study on society in general," Mark Schroeder (junior-theatre), one of the four student producers, said.

Despite the play's name, the show is not necessarily a feel-good comedy, George said.

"The piece is very trippy, actually," he said. "Very confusing, deep symbolism. On the outside there's a lot of shock value, but if you look closely there's lots of metaphors for life and human existence."

The idea for the play came from George questioning everyday occurrences, such as why bad things happen to good people.

"I just had all these questions. So I just started writing them down, and the play evolved out of it," he said. "Lots of funny parts but lots of parts that make you go, 'What the hell just happened?'"

Students in Outlaws try to come up with stand-out ideas to set their shows apart from the rest.

Members of Outlaws are responsible for the entire production, from scripts to wardrobe.

"First, [the producers] receive scripts through e-mail, and we then pick one on Thursday for the following week. Once we decide, we assign a director to the piece that weekend and then back away and give them control," Schroeder said.

The producers don't see the piece until the following Wednesday night, when they give feedback to the director and actors. That does not mean that Futhey is calm. In regards to the talk back session that immediately follows each piece, there is a twinge of nervousness in her voice.

"Hopefully I'll be hearing good things and not hearing 'You suck!'" she said.

If there are criticisms during the talk back sessions, club members said anyone who participates in Outlaws is open to feedback.

"When a play stimulates a good talk back session after it's over -- when people can get into the meat and potatoes of it and start analyzing it, that's the reward for me," Schroeder said.