Burning Coal Theatre Company Hosts KidsWrite 2014 This Weekend

By: May. 30, 2014
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Burning Coal Theatre Company will present the world premieres of five new student-written plays at KidsWrite 2014. The plays will premiere at Burning Coal Theatre's home venue, 224 Polk Street in Raleigh, NC, today and Saturday, May 30th and 31st at 7:30pm and Sunday, June 1st at 2:00pm. All tickets are $10 and are available at the door. For further information, call 919.834.4001 or visit us online at www.burningcoal.org.

To encourage young writers of North Carolina, Burning Coal has held KidsWrite, a festival of new, student-written plays. Submissions are solicited from Wake and thirteen surrounding counties. This year's winning plays and playwrights are The Auxiliary Father by Sophia Holmes of Research Triangle High School in Durham, Five Stages by Miles Ndukwe of Millbrook High School, Elements by Michelle McGoogan of Enloe High School, Odyssey to Mars by Evan J. Hunt, and To Fill the Abyss: A Play on True Happiness by Nikhil Milind, both of Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy in Raleigh. These plays will be given full productions, after which the audience will be invited to participate in a Q&A session led by Burning Coal's Director of Education, Jonathan Fitts.

Sophia Holmes is a student at Research Triangle High School, where she enjoys a Science and STEM based education. She studies drama and loves to write, design, watch, and perform in all forms of theatre. She enjoys dance and piano, but theatre is her passion. Recent acting credits include "Working: The Musical" and "Lightning." Sophia's first suggestion for young people interested in writing is to read plays, books, and anything or everything with words (including YouTube comments and Yelp reviews). "The Auxiliary Father" is her stage writing debut.

Evan Hunt is fourteen and a half, born in Raleigh and resides in Apex, NC. Evan is an honors student at Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy, and has been a magnet student since kindergarten. He has also attended Fred A. Olds Elementary and Moore Square Magnet Middle School. A year round swimmer at Raleigh Swim Association, Evan swam and lettered with Broughton HS Caps this year, and has swam for Haddon Hall Hammerheads Summer team since age six. Evan hopes his future to include becoming a successful scientist and/or science fiction writer.

Michelle McGoogan is a junior at Enloe high school. She has written plays, acted, directed, and stage managed for various local theatre companies, including Applause!, Free Association Theatre Ensemble, Left?Field Theatre, and Enloe Theatre. This is her first time working with Burning Coal and she is very excited!

Nikhil Milind is a 9th grader currently attending the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy. His personal interests include basketball, coding, and playing various musical instruments. In his pastime and in English class, he has written many different works of literature. His favorite pastime is playing the violin and the piano. He also has a strong liking for helping out his school and community during special events.

Miles Ndukwe was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he currently lives and attended high school at Millbrook High School. Before going to Millbrook, he has had no experience in theatre, but since his sophomore year, he has been a cast member of eight productions, including the role of the Audrey II (puppeteer) in the 2013 spring musical Little Shop of Horrors. For Miles, theatre has been an escape from the everyday tasks of math problems, essays, and chores, and that is why he plans to minor in Theatre as he attends Duke University in the fall.

For further information, please contact Burning Coal's managing director, Simmie Kastner, at 919.834.4001 or visit our website at www.burningcoal.org/kidswrite

 

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