Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. Announces Selections For Student Playwright Festival

Plays by local high school seniors, Alexandra Askew, Kaleigh Medlow, and Pearl Reagler have been chosen by Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. for its 2022 Student Playwright Festival. Each selected playwright is awarded a $500 scholarship and is paired with a Houston-based playwright as a mentor to fine-tune their plays and prepare them for production. The students will be the guests of honor as the plays are performed at the MATCH - Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston. Scholarships for the 2022 festival have been graciously underwritten by the J. Flowers Health Institute.

Alexandra Askew, a senior at Westside High School, debuts her play, Absquatulate: to leave without saying goodbye., centering on a family struggling with the unexpected loss of a family member. She describes the play as "a sory about the complex relationship between mother and daughter following the death of their father/husband." Ms. Askew will be mentored by Ted Swindley, best known as the creator of the worldwide hit musical, Always...Patsy Cline. Mr. Swindley is also the Founding Artistic Director of Stages Repertory Theatre and president of Ted Swindley Productions, Inc., a theatrical licensing and production company.

Kaleigh Medlow, a senior at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, is the president of the school's Women of Color club and a member of the National Honor Society. Her play, Hand Me Downs takes on the journey of three generations of Black women who hand down a blouse from daughter to daughter, while simultaneously handing down generational trauma and tendencies. Ms. Medlow will be mentored by playwright Gwen Flager. Waiting To Be Mended and Shakin' the Blue Flamingo, full length plays, were produced in Houston, Texas, as well as her 10-minute plays, In Flight and Jornada del Muerto. Her plays have additionally been produced and/or presented in reading festivals in California, Kansas and Louisiana.

Pearl Reagler, a senior at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, focuses her written works on the grotesque, gothic, and futuristic. In her play, Stay Sunny, four teenagers join a group phone call to try and make sense of a mysterious impending disaster. Ms. Reagler will be mentored by Doug Williams, best known to DDTCo. audiences as co-author of The Boundary. Mr. Williams is a playwright, novelist, and award-winning screenwriter. His screenplay about the life and career of U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, Black Star Rising, based on his play of the same name, has been recognized in 40 film festivals, and won eight best screenplay awards.

The 2022 Student Playwright Festival will be presented at 7:30pm on June 8, 2022 in Matchbox 3 at the MATCH - Midtown Arts & Theater Center (3400 Main Street, Houston, TX, 77002). The event is open to the public. Tickets will be available soon online at matchouston.org or by calling 713-521-4533.