Casting Announced For Final Week of The Blank Theatre's 32nd Annual Young Playwrights Festival

Casting has been announced for the fourth and final week of The Blank Theatre's 32nd Annual Young Playwrights Festival. The last three of 12 winning plays by young playwrights aged 15–19 will be presented live onstage August 1–4. The plays are Ode to Us and I by Audrey Hunter (age 18, from Dallas, TX); Meet Me Here by Sydney Tate (age 17, from Aldie, VA), and Still Life by Leo Eigen (age 16, from New York, NY).
 
Ode to Us and I will feature (in alphabetical order) Ceci Balgot (The Tiny Chef Show, Monster High: The Movie, Monster High 2, Elsewhere, Girl Meets World, Desperate Housewives), Alison Becker (Unstable, StarTrek: Lower Decks, The Hostage, Murderville, Good on Paper), Cameron Britton (A Man Called Otto, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, Shrill, The Umbrella Academy, Manhunt, Mindhunter), Jerah Milligan (Mahogany Drive, The Other Side of Fortune, Helpsters, Early to Rise, Chicago P.D., Blue Blood), and Ben Stillwell (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Mystic Quest, Young Sheldon, Murder in the First, Teen Wolf). An octopus family pretends to be The Cleavers, Steve Jobs & family, and a final, more honest version of what they really are. The mother is the only one who seems to remember each version of her family as they evolve from one to the next. A unique and fresh look at what it means to be a middle-class family facing challenges that never seem to be solved but morph into new expressions of the same thing. The playwright was mentored by June Carryl. Directed by Laura Stribling.
           
Meet Me Here will feature (in alphabetical order) Zora Bikangaga (I Love That for You, The Other Morgan, Auntie Zariyah, Hypocrite, Drunk History) and Chad Lindberg (Star Trek: Picard, List of a Lifetime, Pen15, NCIS, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). A Beckettian conversation between Life and Death as they wait for their trains. They contemplate how swiftly things move and how much more often they are called upon now. They ponder giving it all up. They ponder switching roles. They ponder prayers. They ponder how beautiful parts of what they do are. How do Life and Death perceive their respective roles in the universe? The playwright was mentored by ShaWanna Renee Rivon. Directed by Marguerite Moreau.
 
Still Life will feature (in alphabetical order) Shalina Bathina (Undertow: Narcosis, Die Games, How I Met Your Father, Long Slow Exhale, Little Voice), Joel Johnstone (CSI: Vegas, Good Eggs, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, S.W.A.T.), and Elena Campbell Martinez (Them, Deep Tissue, Fire Country, Station 19, Reasonable Doubt, The Rookie). Aaron is outraged that their neighbor has left her boots out in the hall. His wife Erica tries to calm him down and brings up the beauty of Van Gogh's painting The Old Shoes as an example of the beauty of everyday objects. Their argument continues the next morning when the boots are still there, and Erica continues to try to keep him from calling the co-op board on Joan when there's a knock on the door. It's Joan checking to see if Erica is okay because of the yelling, and she gives Erica the help she needs to see the truth inside the argument. The playwright was mentored by Robert L. Freedman. Directed by Jorge-Luis Pallo.
 
Performances are Thursday and Friday at 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended and may be made online at www.theblank.com. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 N. Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, 90027.

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