Local Teen Playwrights Set for The Coterie's 2016 Young Playwrights Festival

It is The Coterie's favorite time of the year when world premiere readings from members of The Coterie's Young Playwrights' Roundtable will be showcased during the annual Young Playwrights' Festival at 7:00 p.m., May 1, at The Coterie Theatre, located on level 1 of the Crown Center Shops. On stage will be the work of seven staged readings including monologue, spoken word, short plays, and an excerpt from a musical. In addition, the Festival will include the WORDS + MUSIC project: five moments of new opera, as created by UMKC Conservatory composers in collaboration with Roundtable members, staged with Lyric Opera performers.

Producing Artistic Director Jeff Church (who mentors Roundtable members) notes that "within the festival we have a three-way collaboration, now in its second year, between playwrights from The Coterie, opera composers from UMKC Conservatory, and performers from the Lyric Opera as they present WORDS + MUSIC. Opera moments have been adapted from monologues and dialogues created by Coterie Roundtable members. Lyric Opera's Linda Ade Brand spearheaded this partnership, which will appear again at our festival after a stunning success last year on our stage and in the KC Fringe."

This year's festival will incorporate six musical performances and seven Roundtable scripts in two acts. All are recommended as PG-13 and are appropriate for teens through adults. The Coterie invites the public to get a fascinating insight into the minds of young adults today.

Professional directors for this year's festival are Coterie education director Amanda Kibler, William J. Christie, and Kris Stoker. Stage manager for the festival is Chloé Robbins-Anderson. The producer and facilitator of the festival is Jeff Church.

Admission for the Young Playwrights' Festival is $5.00 and reservations are encouraged. Reservations can be made by phone at (816) 474-6552, online at www.thecoterie.org, or in person at The Coterie Box Office. On the day of the performance, the Box Office will be open 12:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. All seating is general admission with theater doors opening 30 minutes prior to performance.

THE FESTIVAL SELECTIONS

The following is a list of productions, the playwrights, and their schools:

Selected Works for the 2016 Young Playwrights' Festival

ACT I

• Acceptance Speech by De'Auan McClaine (Sumner Academy)
• A Day for Demons by Mallory Kneece (Van Horn High)
• Nightspooks and Daydreams by Connor Marshall (Odessa High)
• Who to Trust by Antonyo Byrd II (Truman High)
• No Wonder by Rosie Pasqualini (The Barstow School)
• Tailor of Klimovich by Connor McCarson (Rockhurst High)
• Poetical P.O.V.'s by De'Auan McClaine (Sumner Academy)

Act II

WORDS + MUSIC Project
A collaboration of the Roundtable, UMKC Conservatory, and Lyric Opera

• The Presentation by Reilly Donnelly (St. Teresa's Academy), composed by Paul Georgoulis
• Benjamin/Ben by Patrick Bircher (Lansing High), composed by Luca Pherigo
• Nighttime by Meredith McKnight (Lansing High), composed Aaron Hill
• Tony's Birthday by Annaliese Schroeder (Holden High), composed by Aaron Hill
• One Day Off by Bella Barnes (Pembroke Hill), composed by Jack Phillips
• Also, selected scenes from:
  • Reckless Days of Robin Hood, a musical with book, music & lyrics by Ryan Beard (Johnson County Community College). Developed in The Coterie's Young Playwrights' Roundtable and now commissioned by The Coterie for summer performance camp, July 22-23, 2016.

ABOUT REACHING THE WRITE MINDS

Reaching the Write Minds was established during Jeff Church's residency at The Kennedy Center to give a voice to emerging young playwrights. Highly acclaimed for its innovative approach to motivate and encourage young talent, Church launched Kansas City's Reaching the Write Minds program in 1992. During the Reaching the Write Minds five-hour seminar, students learn to create settings, build characters and, ultimately, devise a scenario for a complete play.

Playwright facilitators for 2015-2016 were Nancy Marcy, Vi Tran, and Matthew Schmidli. Selected participants from the Reaching the Write Minds seminars are subsequently invited to become members of the Young Playwrights' Roundtable.

Lauded because the program is a series of interactive working sessions, not a contest, the Young Playwrights' Roundtable stimulates young writers through their instruction via a mentoring approach between Church and peer members of the Roundtable. Members meet throughout the school year. Once students are selected, they remain members of the Roundtable until they graduate from high school.

2015-2016 Young Playwrights Roundtable Members

Bella Barnes (Pembroke Hill), Ryan Beard (Johnson County Community College), Patrick Bircher (Lansing High), Matthew Bourgeois (Truman High), Antonyo Byrd II (Truman High), Miah Clark (Shawnee Mission South High), Julia Cunningham (Shawnee Mission South High), Mekayla DePaolis (Lansing High), Marie Divine (Bishop Miege High), Reilly Donnelly (St. Teresa's Academy), Kyra Duwe (Arrowhead Middle), Jessie Fuller (Grandview High), Juanta Hill II (Park Hill South High), Annaleigh Hobbs (Shawnee Mission South High), Jarod Huggins (Lansing High), Hunter Julo (Pembroke Hill), Sam Keeney (Pembroke Hill), Mallory Kneece (Van Horn High), Trinity Lawrence (Arrowhead Middle), Connor McCarson (Rockhurst High), De'Auan McClaine (Sumner Academy), Meredith McKnight (Lansing High), Connor Marshall (Odessa High), Rosie Pasqualini (The Barstow School), Annaliese Schroeder (Holden High), Ana Schulte (Olathe North High), Lawson Smead (Lansing High), Suan Sonna (Sumner Academy), Shillan Thaithi (Olathe North High), and Austin Zollars (The Barstow School).