Circle Theatre Announces Annual High School Playwriting Project

Circle Theatre is pleased to announce the four finalists and four semi-finalists plays in the annual High School Playwriting Project.

Finalists (listed alphabetically by playwright):

Emma Close and Sarah Lacy, Closure, Southlake Carroll High School
Teacher: Jamie Pringle

Isabella Duran and Aidan Mondress, Chaotic Company, Southlake Carroll High School
Teacher: Jamie Pringle

Wesley Junker, Playing Again, Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts
Teacher: Lindy Davis

Garrett Zartman, Under Better Circumstances, Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts
Teacher: Lindy Davis

Semi-finalists (listed alphabetically by playwright):

Storm Baese and Kate Chadwick, Second Chances, Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts
Teacher: Lindy Davis

Mary Caruthers, Artificial Family, All Saints Episcopal School
Teacher: James Venhaus

Amya Scott, The Black Card, Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts
Teacher: Lindy Davis

Jay Shortes, Hole in the Sidewalk, Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts
Teacher: Lindy Davis

A public reading of the four finalist plays will take place at 3pm on Sunday, May 5th at Circle Theatre. Artistic Director, Matthew Gray, will direct the readings. A reception honoring the students and their teachers will immediately follow the readings and awards ceremony.

There were 108 scripts submitted from ten schools, including All Saints Episcopal; Amon Carter-Riverside; Benbrook Middle High School; Boswell High School; Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts; Fort Worth Country Day; Haltom High School; Richland High School; Southlake Carroll High School, and Western Hills High School

The annual High School Playwriting Project public reading is free of charge and open to the general public, as well as families and friends of the playwrights. Finalist and semi-finalist students and their teachers will receive cash stipends, certificates, trophies, and complimentary theatre tickets as an acknowledgement of their participation and accomplishment.

Additionally, Texas Wesleyan University is offering an academic scholarship to the finalist playwrights, should they choose to attend the university and are accepted into the school.

For further information, call 817.877.3040, from 12pm - 5pm, Tuesday through Friday. Circle Theatre is located in Sundance Square at 230 West 4th Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102. About the High School Playwriting Project The High School Playwriting Project began as collaboration between Rose Pearson and Larry Boston (an Eastern Hills High School theatre teacher) in 1996. When Mr. Boston received a playwriting scholarship award from the Star-Telegram, he approached Ms. Pearson with the idea of having readings of his students' plays at Circle Theatre, presented by a professional director and cast of actors. These readings expanded into what is now known as the High School Playwriting Project.

Each year, the project begins with invitations to area high school teachers and students to enter 10-minute scripts for evaluation by an experienced panel of judges. These judges read the anonymously submitted plays, write responses for each script, and choose 20 plays to send to Connie Whitt-Lambert, theatre professor at Texas Wesleyan University. This year's panel of judges included Devin Berg, Stefany Cambra, Chantel Carlson, Roger Drummond, Sarah Gay; Deiree Fultz, Steven McGaw, Nicole Neely, Steven Pounders, Ernestine Rose, and Ashley White.

Connie Whitt-Lambert, along with Wesleyan playwrights Alison Baron, Sam Berg, William Bull, Adrian Carreno, Shanjala Davis-Allen, Abigail Garraty, Tobin Griffin, Kaitlin Hatton, Mariah Kuhn, Davonte Mitchell Dixon, Rebecca Nagle, Skylar Peters, Delaney Pricer, Ryan Simon, Jose Torres, and John Traxler then provide written analyses for each of the selected twenty plays. This provides the students with an opportunity to edit their original submissions.

The High School Playwriting Project is open to all students and is not limited to theatre classes. Teachers or students wishing to participate in next year's playwriting project may email matthewgray@circletheatre.com.

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