Hartford Stage Announces Winners of 2012 Write On Annual Competition for Young Playwrights

Hartford Stage today announced the winners of the Annual Young Playwrights' Competition, Write On, for students in grades 9-12, and this year's winners are Abigail Kehoe, Alyssa Slotnick, Christopher Snow, Joe Buchek and Jonas Shivers.

Abigail Kehoe - Classical Magnet School - Grade 12
Abby Kehoe is a senior at Classical Magnet School in Hartford, where she is taking a playwriting class and slowly warming to this dialogue-heavy literary medium. Flash fiction, poetry, and novels are her usual forte, but she is hopeful that this opportunity will expand her writing repertoire and make her a better-rounded thespian. Abby is currently stage-managing Classical's production of Iphigenia 2.0 and preparing for National Novel Writing Month in November, where she will be attempting her first complete novel.

Alyssa Slotnick - Lewis S. Mills High School - Grade 12
Alyssa Slotnick is a senior at Lewis Mills High School in Burlington, CT. She has a love of both reading and writing, as well as an interest in photography. She is currently taking AP English at her high school as well as several other English classes. Throughout high school she has had an interest in writing short fiction, and though playwriting is a new genre for her, she is very excited to use Write On to its full potential in exploring and learning a new type of writing.

Christopher Snow - Global Communications Academy - Grade 9
Christopher Snow was born in Hartford, CT, and has always been interested in art, film, media direction and production, acting, fashion, and interior design. He had the good idea of doing Write On because he sees it as good start in the art industry, starting with playwriting.

Joe Buchek - Hall High School - Grade 11
Joe Buchek is a junior at Hall High School. He has never written a play before this one and hopes to learn from this workshop.

Jonas Shivers - Hall High School -Grade 12
Jonas Shivers is a senior at Hall High School in West Hartford. Jonas has a large background in technical theater working on a lot shows throughout his four years at Hall, including but not limited to, Moon over Buffalo, Romeo & Juliet, House of Blue Leaves, Our Town, The Children's Hour, Cheaper by the Dozen, and Under a Better Sky. He likes to write short stories. Jonas also is an actor, musician, DJ, and a freestyle skier in the winter.

Students were asked to submit an idea inspired by a topic that is important to them and relevant in their world and for these selected playwrights, Hartford Stage's Education Department will help with the rest. Winning playwrights sit in on rehearsals for Hartford Stage's Brand:NEW Fall Festival of New Works, participate in writing workshops lead by Hartford Stage's Aetna New Voices Fellow, and see their own plays performed for the public by professional actors and directors. This year, the writers in the Write On program will work with Aetna New Voices Fellow, Matthew Lopez (The Whipping Man).

Hartford Stage, since its founding in 1963, has been known for innovative revivals of classics and the development of important new works, including 65 World or American premieres. Recent work includes Quiara Alegria Hudes'Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Horton Foote'sThe Orphans' Home Cyclewhich had a celebrated run at the Signature Theatre in New York during the 2009-2010 season; a landmark production of Harper Lee'sTo Kill a Mockingbird;the premieres of Michael Kramer'sDivine Rivalry;and Daniel Beaty'sResurrection (later retitledThrough the Night,which had a successful run off-Broadway during the 2010-11 season). In 1998 the theatre launched an unprecedented ten-year retrospective of Tennessee Williams, which included the premiere of three plays. Other new work includes the premieres of Eve Ensler'sNecessary Targets, Edward Albee'sAt Home at the Zoo,Matthew Barber'sEnchanted April(which transferred to Broadway), Matthew Lombardo'sTea at Five, and many others. The theatre has earned numerous distinguished honors, including a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, the Margo Jones Award, OBIE awards, New York Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards. In 2005 Hartford Stage was awarded The Hartford Courant's Tapestry Award recognizing its outstanding work in diversity, and in 2008 it was awarded the Bank of America Neighborhood Builder's Award recognizing its excellence in building community in Greater Hartford. Hartford Stage is currently under the leadership of Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing Director Michael Stotts.