Recipients Revealed For the Lortel Theatre's 2023 NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship

The Lucille Lortel Theatre is pleased to announce the recipients of the 4th Annual NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship, created as an opportunity for aspiring young writers citywide to get unparalleled access to professional theater artists for mentoring. The Fellows and Finalists of the program represent different boroughs of NYC, as well as D75 and D79 schools. Each aspiring playwright submitted an original 10-minute play and was judged by the following panel of playwrights and directors: Preston Burger, Mildred Lewis, A.J. Muhammad, Cherry Lou Sy, and Gabriel Vega Weissman. Plays were chosen based on dramatic structure and the playwright's individual voice.

Fellows will meet with a mentor to discuss their play and learn more about playwriting as a career in the hopes of inspiring the newest generation of theater makers. This year's mentors are Bleu Beckford Burrell and Nilan. Fellows work directly with their mentor, and then with director Kimille Howard (Assistant Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera, co-founder of the Black Classical Music Archive, Assistant Director of Broadway's Ain't Too Proud ), to learn what the role of a director is and how they collaborate with a playwright to create a theater work.

All plays will be presented in a special live performance on May 22 (location TBD) with Kimille Howard directing all works. In addition to the unique opportunity to see their plays brought to life, a collection of the Fellows' plays will be published by the Lucille Lortel Theatre and distributed to the student playwrights. Participation in this program is free.

"We were overwhelmed with the response to this program in our fourth year. It's more important than ever to encourage young artists to share their voices and part of the mission of the Lucille Lortel Theatre is to foster, support, and promote new and diverse theater voices," said George Forbes, Executive Director of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. "We are also extremely grateful to Peter Avery and the NYC Department of Education for all their assistance."

"One of the foundational goals of any educational initiative is to foster student voice and the chance to share points of view. I am so appreciative of The Lucille Lortel Theatre's Playwriting Fellowship which encourages NYC public school teens to consider the world around them, to express their unique insights creatively through original plays. Beyond the stories we share, we need to continue focusing on whose stories are heard, or not yet heard, in order to truly come together as a society. How inspiring for these diverse young artists to have theater

professionals see them, hear them and bring them from page to stage by a professional team of actors and directors," remarked Peter Avery, Director of Theater for the NYC Department of Education.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

This Year's Fellows

Arianna M. Collado - Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Manhattan - Dead
Britney Cuatlacuatl - Fordham High School for the Arts, Bronx - El Niño Que Fue Y No Llego (The Boy That Went And Never Arrived)
Victoria - Pathways to Graduation at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, Brooklyn (D79) - A Few Choice Words
Imogen Russell - Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School, Queens - Stalling
Jazzy Price - P23 Queens New York City Children's Center Upper School, Queens (D75) - Pick Fros, Not Fights

Finalists

Queenie Chen - P23 Queens New York City Children's Center Upper School, Queens (D75) - HERO and VILLAIN
Jolene Conti - Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts, Manhattan - Forest of Arden
Joseph Igiebor Yusuf Fofana - Fordham High School for the Arts, Bronx - The Sugar Kanes.
Arvaa H. - Health, Arts, Robotics, and Technology High School, Queens - Jehoram

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