CPI Host 5th Annual Play Slam! Young Playwrights Festival

2022-2023 marks the fifth year of Playhouse on the Square's 10-minute Young Playwrights Competition. Play Slam! is part contest and part celebration of new works by local Mid-South aspiring writers and theatre enthusiasts. All scripts submitted are adjudicated by a panel of judges that consists of the Play Slam! Coordinator, Playhouse on the Square staff, and Associate/Resident Company Members, along with local writers and directors.

Five (5) Finalists and One (1) Winner from both the Middle and High School divisions have been chosen to be represented in the Play Slam! Young Playwrights Festival.

Carter Yeargan, a tenth grader from Houston High School, was selected as the Winner of the High School Division for his play Public Transit. Keyana Campbell, Naomi Alterman, Isabella Parish, Adalee Walker, and Alyssa Gray were selected as Finalists in the High School division, with Gray's piece Clementine receiving the Runner-Up award. In the Middle School Division, Hannah Drane, a seventh grader at First Assembly Christian School, was selected as the Winner for her play Haircuts, with Cadence Drane, Patrick Jefferson, Bryan Cole, Elena Martines, and Lucy Gibson selected as Finalists. Gibson's play Bottled Up was selected as the Runner-Up in the Middle School division.

The Finalists and Winners from both the Middle and High School divisions will be presented in the Play Slam! Young Playwrights Festival at The Evergreen Theatre this weekend, May 19-21. The Finalists will have their script presented as a staged reading with local actors. The Winners will have their script staged with minimal props and costumes and performed and directed by local professional actors. The Winner of both divisions will also have their play submitted to the National Competition, Playwrights for Change as the Playhouse on the Square representative.

This year's theme for Play Slam! is...What No One Talks About.

Fifth Annual Play Slam! Young Playwrights Festival Schedule:

• Middle School Division Winner and Finalist

Friday May 19th @ 7pm

• High School Division Winner and Finalist

Saturday May 20th @ 7pm

• Middle School and High School Division Winners and Runner-ups

Sunday May 21st @ 2pm

For questions, please contact Playhouse on the Square Play Slam! Coordinator, Savannah S. Miller at volunteer@playhouseonthesquare.org or (901) 937-6460.