2011 Young Playwrights Festival Winners Announced

(Photo By Amy Steinmetz)

2011 Young Playwrights Festival Winners Announced

The culmination of FST's WRITE A PLAY program presents winning plays by winning playwrights in professional performances.

The plays are here.  As part of the Sarasota Festival of New Plays, more than 4,000 young
playwrights submitted plays to Florida Studio Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival, and FST is proud to announce the winning plays of both the Under Six and Seven Up program. The winning plays will be performed in a fully-staged production on FST's Keating Theatre stage for more than 10,000 Sarasota and Manatee county students over the next six weeks.

Play titles such as 3 Egg-cellent Eggs, Flipper's Fright, Three Mice Save the Day and The Postman That Bit Back! represent the creativity in the minds of the Young Playwrights. Florida Studio Theatre will celebrate the achievements of the winning playwrights with the Young Playwrights Festival Day on Saturday, May 14, 2011. Over 300 people will travel to Sarasota from as far as Miami and across the seas (Vladimir, Russia, Tel Mond, Israel and Dunfermline, Scotland) to see the plays and receive recognition.

"This was a very successful year for the Young Playwrights Festival" said Adam Ratner, Young Playwrights Festival coordinator. "The plays written by the students were a dynamic mix, from comical farces to heart touching tales of struggle and determination."

Winners of the 2011 Young Playwrights Festival and their families will gather at Florida Studio Theatre's downtown campus to see their plays and celebrate the honor. The playwrights will have the opportunity to see their winning plays performed in professional productions of UNDER SIX and SEVEN UP. Winners will receive a special certificate and medal honoring their courage to create at an Awards Ceremony, to be held at 2:00 pm nearby at Holley Hall on the Festival Day in May. Artistic Director Richard Hopkins and Associate Director Kate Alexander will preside over the ceremony, with special guests including WRITE A PLAY Educator of the Year, Brian Flynn of Rowlett Magnet School, as well as dignitaries from attending countries.

UNDER SIX features the heartwarming and hilarious plays written by children ranging in age from Kindergarten to Sixth Grade sent in from all over Florida and around the world. SEVEN UP features work written by students in grades seven and higher. This year's production of SEVEN UP will feature winning entries from The United States, Israel, Russia and Scotland.

In speaking about the plays, Beth Duda, Director of UNDER SIX , said, "I love the variety of the plays selectedfor the 2011 edition of UNDER SIX . The plays run the gamut from farcical to heartwarming. Several of the plays include important lessons. Flipper's Fright tells the tale of a young frog overcoming his fear during his journey to adulthood. Any Way!!! I'll Do It!!! highlights the bonds friends share in the face of serious illness. We are shown in the play, Coffee Talk that each of us needs to find our own path to self-actualization. The plays, Fairy Town and Three Mice Save the Day are a lighthearted and funny look at how even the smallest beings can have a huge impact on their own destinies. The selected young playwrights have written plays that surprise us, delight us, and most of all make us feel."

Kate Alexander, Associate Director of Florida Studio Theatre, adds that whether humorous or serious, "we want the plays to reflect what students honestly think and feel; we do not tell them what to write- only to write from their hearts-to write authentically. We want to see the ‘child's view of the world' not what adults want them to see and say."

Each year, Florida Studio Theatre receives thousands of plays for submission to the Young Playwrights Festival, which is a part of the Sarasota Festival of New Plays, and the culmination of the year-long WRITE A PLAY program. In its eighteen-year history, the WRITE A PLAY program has reached over one million children. The program continues to expand, thanks in part to various grants and funding received from local, state and national organizations.

2011 Under Six Winning Plays

Angry Squirrels by Vaughan Heaps

Fruitville Elementary, Ms. Mayers - 4th Grade

 

Any Way!!! I'll Do It!!! by Samantha Chaulsett

Fruitville Elementary, Mrs. Deming - 4th Grade

 

Coffee Talk by Spencer Emerson Opal-Levine

Pine View School, Mrs. Robbins - 2nd Grade

 

Fairytown by Isabella Fesko

Gulf Gate Elementary, Mrs. McKenzie - 1st Grade

 

Fitting in on the Bookshelf by Cian Graue

Fruitville Elementary, Mrs. Cain - 5th Grade

 

Flipper's Fright by Emily Blackwell

Braden River Elementary, Mrs. Nissley - 5th Grade

 

Gone Fishing by Skyler Milton

Port St. Joe Middle School, Mrs. Knox - 6th Grade

 

Jack and the Cherry Tree by Lohren Waylonis

Sea Gate Elementary, Ms. Burke - 4th Grade

 

Ketchup Girl & Her Best Friend Little Pickle by Lily Mancini

Fruitville Elementary, Mrs. Rice - 3rd Grade

 

Meeni Learns to Share by Corie Wentzell

Abel Elementary, Mrs. Marini - 4th Grade

 

The Postman That Bit Back! by Delanie MacDonald

Virgil Mills Elementary, Mrs. Kern - 4th Grade

 

3 Eggs-ellent Eggs by Tony Kernohan

Gulf Gate Elementary, Ms. Beck - 5th Grade

 

Three Mice Save the Day by Zaria Guerrier & Kevin Walker

Abel Elementary, Mrs. Graham - 3rd Grade

2011 SEVEN UP Winning Plays and Playwrights

Cloud 9 by Vadim Kulikov

Humanitarian Linguistic Gymnasium #23,

Alevtina Vladimirovna Bukova - 7th Grade

 

Dung Heaven by Linnet Berna & Hugh West

NewGate-Field School , Scott Osborne - 8th Grade

 

The Father by Caitlin Waller

Hagerty High School, Dr. Backel - 10th Grade

 

In The Dungeon Away From Home... by Matan Levin

Shelanu School, Tami Philosoph - 7th Grade

 

Inner Battle by Katherin Aristizabal

The City of Pembroke Pines Charter High School ,

Mrs. A. Kidd - 10th Grade

 

Simple Story by Alexandr Paltov

Humanitarian Linguistic Gymnasium #23,

Alevtina Vladimirovna Bukova - 7th Grade

 

Troubles of a Cucumber by Bronwyn Stever

Lyons Creek Middle School, Ms. Phinney - 8th Grade

 

The Wee Evacuee by Millie Jobson & Rachel Millar

St. Margaret's R.C. Primary School , Mrs. O'Neill - 7th Grade

www.floridastudiotheatre.org

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