The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center to Host Young Playwrights Festival This Month

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center will hold its 18th annual Young Playwrights Festival from May 12 to May 14, 2023, on its Waterford campus.

The festival provides local middle and high school students with professional-level support to develop their original one-act plays. This year's five Featured Playwrights will spend a weekend at the O'Neill with a dedicated creative team-director, dramaturg, and actors -helping them bring their plays to life.. The development process draws on principles and techniques used during the O'Neill's renowned National Playwrights Conference and allows them time to revise and experiment with their work.

The weekend will culminate with a staged reading of their plays on Sunday, May 14 at 5pm in the Dina Merrill Theater. Seating will be on a first come, first serve basis, and attendees are asked to pay what they can to help support the festival.

"I really look forward to exploring this year's selection of scripts-from a horror comedy with an unreliable narrator to a family drama filled with mysterious crows, a high school freshman's lust for power, a Black teen coming into her own super power, and a take on a future earth where it is hot enough to fry eggs on sidewalks-our crop of 2023 plays are sensitive, inventive, and have something to say about this world," said Sophia Chapadjiev, the Young Playwrights Festival Artistic Director and Director of Education.

The five Featured Playwrights at the 2023 Festival will be:

• Musharraf Atik - A Classroom Heist; Waterford High School (Waterford, CT)

• Elena Eiss - Sidewalk Eggs; Pittsburgh CAPA (Pittsburgh, PA)

• Nazariah Isaac - All the Space Between; New London Visual and Performing Arts Magnet High School (New London, CT)

• Aerin Rollins - Crows; Clark Lane Middle School (Waterford, CT)

• Hannah Weisz - You Are Cordially Invited to Elika Strauss' Birthday Celebration; Golda Och Academy (West Orange, NJ)

Additionally, throughout the weekend, 16 selected Guest Playwrights will also have the opportunity to observe the development process as well as the chance to hear their plays read aloud.

The 16 Guest Playwrights at the 2023 festival will be:

• Mia Brady - Fly Free; Old Saybrook Middle School (Old Saybrook, CT)

• Henry Choi - On the Account of a Western Star; Bergen County Academies (River Vale, NJ)

• Penelope deRosset - The Man Who Would Definitely Not Be King; Burlington High School (Burlington, VT)

• Jaedon Emerich - Playwright Woes; Clark Lane Middle School (Waterford, CT)

• Annalise Girard - Ellie's Good Fortune and Lucky Dog; Clark Lane Middle School (Quaker Hill, CT)

• Stephanie Groves - Gyopo; Lake Braddock Secondary School (Burke, VA)

• Frankie Kane - Stalker Girl: A Comedic Murder Mystery; Saint Ann's School (New York, NY)

• Maliyah Kievits-Centeno - It's All a Disaster; Groton Middle School (Groton, CT)

• Gabrielle Mckayle -- Killer Queen; Rockville High School (Vernon, CT)

• Miro Meek - The Story of Achilles and Patroclus; Classical High School (Providence, RI)

• Lesley Moran - The Reaper; Robert E. Fitch High School (Groton, CT)

• Tovah Oslovich - Haunting Insecurities; Rockville High School (Vernon, CT)

• Shia Pascal - Abandoned; ISAAC (Ledyard, CT)

• Alberto "Ace" Perez - The Best Tom Greeley Stories; Hackley School (Bronxville, NY)

• Etta Singer - (whispers) lesbians; Horace Mann School (New York, NY)

• Jake Wang - Figure of Mind; Clark Lane Middle School (Waterford, CT)

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