Actors Theatre Presents New Voices Young Playwrights Festival 4/12-13

Actors Theatre of Louisville is proud to announce the lineup of the New Voices Young Playwrights Festival, a fully produced evening of new ten-minute plays written by Kentucky and Southern Indiana high school students and featuring members of the Apprentice/Intern Company. The New Voices Young Playwrights Festival runs April 12-13 in the Bingham Theatre. Tickets to New Voices are free and available by calling 502-584-1205. Patrons are encouraged to order tickets early as performances will sell out quickly.

The New Voices Young Playwrights Festival will feature a diverse range of works from niNe Young playwrights, selected from more than 400 entries in the New Voices Ten-Minute Play Contest, and include The Wait is Always Scary by Hannah Jones (Muhlenberg County High School, Greenville, KY); Finale by Trey DiNoto (Providence Junior-Senior High School, Clarksville, IN); Sets by Max Abner (Youth Performing Arts School, Louisville, KY); HP LaserJet 6P/6MP Postscript by Noah Park (duPont Manual High School, Louisville, KY); The Curious Case of Ashes and Posy by Sheila Wilson (duPont Manual High School, Louisville, KY); Calcu-Clash by Nisa Jones (Louisville Male High School, Louisville, KY); 5 Sure Fire Ways to Finally Get the Girl by Erica Schmidt (Bethlehem High School, Bardstown, KY); A Creation of Small Proportions by Josh Wiersema (North Oldham High School, Goshen, KY); and The Threepenny Space Opera by Jackson Wolford (duPont Manual High School, Louisville, KY).

Descriptions of New Voices Young Playwrights Festival's world-premiere lineup, along with playwright biographies, are as follows:

The Wait is Always Scary
by Hannah Jones
directed by Georgette Kleier

What makes a mom? A relationship is put to the test as teenaged Kardy waits to meet her birth mother for the first time.

Hannah Jones is a 17-year-old senior at Muhlenberg County High School. Ms. Jones has been writing since the seventh grade, when a teacher assigned the class to write a poem. She hated the assignment until she discovered her writing ability. Ms. Jones plans to continue writing and hopefully publish a novel.

Finale
by Trey DiNoto
directed by Sarah Lunnie

A walk in the park goes horribly wrong in this darkly funny tale of misdirected revenge.

Vincent Anthony DiNoto III (called Trey by most) is a senior at Our Lady of Providence High School. Mr. DiNoto is currently working on the school's production of Mame in which he plays Ito. Mr. DiNoto plans to attend Indiana University Bloomington in the fall and study secondary English education and creative writing.

Sets
by Max Abner
directed by Gretchen Wright

Actions speak louder than words in this inventive exploration of art and the people who make it.

Max Abner, a freshman theatre major at Louisville's Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS), feels honored to participate in the New Voices Festival for a second time. Mr. Abner has appeared in plays at Center Stage, Music Theater Louisville, St. Francis and YPAS. For their inspiration, Mr. Abner thanks his friends, family and all artists who have shown him entertainment and poetry.

HP LaserJet 6P/6MP PostScript
by Noah Park
directed by Jay Briggs

Computer users, beware! This printer won't just jam your term paper, it'll steal your wallet too. Grab a baseball bat and steel your nerves-things are about to get ugly.

Noah Park is a sophomore at duPont Manual High School. Mr. Park loves to play video games and play music with his band ‘Pappy and The Drool Monkeys.' He also has two plays accepted into the 2010 Youth Performing Arts School New Works Festival. Mr. Park hopes to have a career in music or professional playwriting.

The Curious Case of Ashes and Posy
by Sheila Wilson
directed by Rebecca Davis

When memory lies and reality's just an illusion, who can you trust? Marvin toes the line between sanity and madness in this dark psychological drama.

Sheila Wilson is a junior at duPont Manual High School in the Math, Science, and Technology Magnet program. Ms. Wilson is also a playwright and director at Youth Performing Arts School. She is a student at Walden Theatre where her most recent credit is the 2010 Young Playwrights Festival. Ms. Wilson also participated in the Lincoln Project with Actors Theatre. She is very happy to be a part of New Voices.

Calcu-Clash
by Nisa Jones
directed by Caitlin Puckett

When dueling mathletes face off at the premiere of the hot new movie Parabola Pandora, fractions fly instead of fists, and it's numbers-not bones-that get crunched.

Nisa Jones is a senior at Louisville Male Traditional High School. Ms. Jones enjoys creative expression through writing poetry and short stories among other genres. After high school, she plans on attending the University of Louisville, where she will pursue a major in English.

5 Sure Fire Ways to Finally Get the Girl
by Erica Schmidt
directed by Daniel Liam Conway

The angel of love endeavors to find romance in the darkest, loneliest, most godforsaken of places: high school.

Erica Schmidt is a senior at Bethlehem High School. She enjoys singing in the choir, and her job at the YMCA. Ms. Schmidt has been writing for many years now and has always drawn deep inspiration from the theatre.

A Creation of Small Proportions
by Josh Wiersema
directed by Jacob Stoebel

Hell-bent on world domination, a mad scientist has labored for years to develop a creature so utterly obnoxious she would annoy the planet into submission. Her name? SMiley Cyrus. Be careful what you wish for.

Josh Wiersema is a junior at North Oldham High School. Throughout his freshman, sophomore and junior years, Mr. Wiersema has been an active member of his school's speech team and has had much success in local and state tournaments. The speech team and several English and writing classes have prepared him for a future in writing and acting.

The Threepenny Space Opera
by Jackson Wolford
directed by Jeffrey Mosser

Can legendary space bandit Jacks Muldoon evade the authorities, romance his rival's daughter and win the day? In this wildly imaginative musical, he just might.

Jackson Wolford is a junior at duPont Manual High School. In the New Voices festival: 2009- A Piece of the Pie (Honorable Mention), 2008- Gin and Tonic (winning play). Youth Performing Arts School New Works Festival: 2009- Commedia of Errors and Ursulis Ex Machina. For Abbey Road on the River: co-author of The Day the Beatles Met.

THE CAST

The 2009-2010 Actors Theatre Acting Apprentice Company: Erin Adams, Natalie Allen, Dan Applegate,
Alexis Bronkovic, Patricia Cancio, Brandon T. Chinn, Michael Cox, David Darrow, Kara Davidson, Gwen Ellis, Erin Fried, Zane Johnston, Courtney Moors, Brittany Parker, Jessica Rice, Brett Ashley Robinson, Tyler Jacob Rollinson, Shayan Jazy Shojaee, Robbie Tann, York Walker and Matthew Whitfield.

THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Brenda Ellis (Set Design); Rachel Szymanski (Lighting Design); Marisa Barnes (Sound Design); Joe Cunningham (Props Design); Lindsey Chamberlin (Costume Design); Cristy Smith (Costume Design); Lucas W. Adams (Dramaturg, Sets); Jeffrey Mosser (Dramaturg, Finale); Emily Feldman (Dramaturg, The Wait is Always Scary); Jacob Stoebel (Dramaturg, Calcu-Clash); Sarah Lunnie (Dramaturg, HP LaserJet 6P/6MP Postscript); Rebecca Davis (Dramaturg, 5 Sure Fire Ways to Finally Get the Girl); Steven Rahe (Dramaturg, The Curious Case of Ashes and Posy); Caitlin Puckett (Dramaturg, A Creation of Small Proportions); Zach Chotzen-Freund (Dramaturg, The Threepenny Space Opera).

TICKETS
Tickets to the New Voices Young Playwrights Festival are free and available now by calling 502-584-1205.