In 2000 Paul Bonin-Rodriguez received his second Tennessee Williams Fellowship at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. As part of his residency, he proposed collaborating with students on an original show based on one issue that affected all their lives. The purpose of this was to bring students to a place of honest reckoning in the performance environment — the stage — and create an atmosphere of communication with the local community. After some consideration, the topic of drinking was chosen.

During a period of five weeks Paul collaborated with 25 students to create the script. They met in groups of varying sizes and individually. Through structured improvisations as well as compositions, they created the scenes in the show. Sections were based on personal experience, interviews, research into the history of social drinking as well as contemporary issues surrounding it. Throughout the process of creation, students juxtaposed scenes, providing constant dramaturgical input. Following Spring Break, the show was mounted, with direction by faculty collaborator Pete Smith.

The result was Common Sources, a multi-disciplinary show about drinking in the college environment. In campus lexicon, a "common source" is a keg or punch bowl, any other shared source of alcohol. Since the mid-1990s common sources have been banned across most campuses, the result of crackdowns on underage and excessive drinking. Unlike intervention programs, the show Common Sources had the capacity to celebrate the ritual importance and examine the dangerous tension between intolerance and revolt.

In seventeen sections, Common Sources illuminated the bridge of commonality that already existed between students, faculty, administration and the town community. At times hilarious and at other times, tragic and personal Common Sources provided a forum for to the dialogue that needed to happen. Students composed a score, designed lights, promotional materials and the set — the latter a glittering array of discarded beer cans and bottles. The final show was celebrated by students, faculty and administration alike.