So much goes into the making of a play. From conception to production — and all the twists and turns in between — the willingness to bend and change with the living, breathing work makes all the difference.

In her new show, “All She Must Possess,” UMBC assistant professor Susan McCully explores the lives of Baltimore’s Cone sisters, Etta and Claribel, who together built an impressive collection of more than 3,000 pieces of art, including 500 by Henri Matisse. The show, which recently closed out its world premiere at The Rep Stage in Columbia, MD, was part of the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival.

UMBC senior theatre design and production major Isabelle Tabet interviewed McCully about the genesis of “All She Must Possess,” and what it was like to watch her play take shape on the stage.

Below: Photos of “All She Must Possess” by Katie Simmons-Barth, courtesy of Rep Stage.

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• Dennis Coates and Brad Humphries, economics, have found that sports stadiums depress local wages for workers in other entertainment-related fields.
• The play Kerrmoor, written by Susan McCully, theatre, directed by Eve Muson, theatre, and produced by Baltimore’s own Interrobang and Strand Theatre Companies, will premiere as part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival on October 29.
• Rebecca Adelman, media & communication studies, comments on the now-iconic image of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned off the coast of Turkey, and examines why this particular image from the crisis in Syria invoked such a visceral response where others did not.
• John Rennie Short, public policy, argues that our fire policies are “worsening the damage and increasing the cost” of the wildfires in the Western United States.
• Technical.ly writes on Baltimore’s burgeoning startup culture, and profiles two bwtech@UMBC companies, Fearless Solutions and PaRaBal, that plan to move downtown from the research park later this year.
• UMBC Men’s Soccer edged out a 3-2 win over George Washington.