RLTP Hosts Buffalo Young Writers Night to Spotlight Local Student Playwrights

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) will present its fifth annual Buffalo Young Writers Night tonight, May 21 at The Road Less Traveled Theater at the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre. Doors open at 7:00 pm with performances beginning at 7:30 pm. The evening will feature winners of the 2014 Buffalo Young Writers contest (or BYW), recognizing outstanding student playwrights in the WNY area. RLTP launched its Buffalo Young Writers contest in the fall of 2009 by giving high school and college student writers and playwrights the opportunity to submit their work for the chance of a professionally produced presentation.

RLTP Literary Director and BYW producer Jon Elston announced the winners of its fourth annual contest in March at a Mighty Taco Talkback Thursday performance of RLTP's production of An Iliad. Prizes include a cash prize of $200, a one year membership to the Dramatists Guild, and a workshop production for the Grand Prize winner, as well as staged readings of the plays of four chosen runners-up, who will also receive complimentary tickets to the Road Less Traveled Theater.

The 2014 Grand Prize winner is Naomi Asch, a Sophomore Theatre major at the University at Buffalo. Her play A Long Line Of Strong Women celebrates the life of one Patricia Midelle, a luminous figure who is evoked through the accounts of three men whose lives she has touched. Elston praised Asch's play as being "rhapsodic, bittersweet, and deeply moving". A Long Line Of Strong Women will receive a workshop production starring RLTP Ensemble Member Bob Grabowski, directed by fellow Ensemble Member Kyle LoConti.

The four runners-up will be presented as staged readings; these include Sabrina Kahwaty's romance A Fine Line; Marina Laurendi's family melodrama Runaway; Zakary Reynolds' irreverent farce Back At Her Place; and Malik Askia-Ruben Shaw's dark romantic comedy Being Alone, Together. Cast for the readings will include Grabowski as well as Greg Howze, David Mitchell, Danica Riddick, Jared Crouch, Josie Lasusky, Fatimah Pennington, and other WNY actors. Readings will be directed by Elston, Katie Mallinson, and Katherine Boswell.

Admission for Buffalo Young Writers Night is $10 (cash/check only). Reservations are recommended by phone at (716) 629-3069. The Road Less Traveled Theater is located at: 639 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14205 (inside the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre).

Road Less Traveled Productions will continue the Buffalo Young Writers contest for a sixth year in the fall of 2014. More information will be provided at www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) is a professional, non-profit theatre company dedicated to the development and production of new theatrical works by Western New York playwrights, as well as presentations of esteemed modern dramas of outstanding literary merit. RLTP, a member of the National New Play Network, is located in the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre in the Theatre District of Downtown Buffalo, NY. For more information about RLTP and to purchase tickets, visit www.RoadLessTraveledProductions.org or call (716) 629-3069. RLTP's work is made possible through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.