24nd Annual Young Playwrights Competition Now Accepting Entries

The Theater Project, an award-winning professional company and incubator for rising talent, is encouraging New Jersey's creative young people to enter its annual Young Playwrights Competition. The deadline for submissions is January 21. The judges, all members of The Theater Project's Adult Playwrights Workshop, offer half-hour tutorials to any interested contest entrant after the judging is completed.

 “We want to make sure that young playwrights know their creative efforts are valued by showcasing them for the community,” said Kevin Carver, program coordinator. “Arts education sometimes gets short-changed as schools struggle to meet so many demands. But when students lose out on arts experiences, they miss opportunities to develop critical thinking skills that are needed now more than ever.”

First, second, and third-prize winners will receive cash awards and see their work performed by professional actors at the March awards ceremony at the Cranford Community Center. Playwrights earning an honorable mention will receive gift certificates. The Joseph Curka Award was named for her late husband by Marion Curka, one of the earliest supporters of The Theater Project. The Young Playwrights Competition is one of many programs made possible through the company's donors, sponsors and grants, such as the Union County Local Arts Program grant from the Union County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Interested students and teachers may find submission guidelines, videos, and podcasts with last year's winners at www.TheTheaterProject.org.

  The Theater Project works with its “alumni” winners to find other venues for their work, such as sponsoring them in other competitions, like the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival in New York City. Several past winners of the Young Playwrights Competition have gone on to pursue degrees in theater and playwriting, and they often return to The Theater Project's event to present prizes and share their journeys with the newest honorees.

The honorees at last year's event were as follows:

First Prize:

August Sullivan, Communications High School, Wall Township

Second Prize (a tie): 

Karma Beech-Wilson, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy, Elizabeth,

and

Merinrose Cheriyan, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack

Third Prize:

Jaylen Mingo, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy

Honorable Mentions:

Everett Bologna, West Morris Mendham High School

Elena Gergis, Bergen County Academies

Jack LaRocca, Communications High School

Allison Lee, East Brunswick High School

Kirsten Marcelin, Bergen County Academies

Katrina Migliore, Communications High School

Allison Quinn, Communications High School

Mia Ulrich, Governor Livingston High School, Berkeley Heights