26th Annual Madison Young Playwrights Festival Set for Today

Playwrights Theatre announces the 26th Annual Madison Young Playwrights Festival will be held on Saturday, March 17 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. The Madison Young Playwrights Festival brings to life the work of young playwrights who completed a play as part of a 10-week playwriting program conducted by Playwrights Theatre in the Central Avenue School, Kings Road School, Torey J. Sabatini School, Madison Junior School and St. Vincent Martyr School. Five plays were chosen and these plays will be presented with professional actors.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students. For tickets, call the box office at 973-514-1787 X34. The Festival will take place at the Madison Junior School, 160 Main Street, Madison, NJ.

“We have selected a particularly unique group of plays for the Madison Festival this year,” said Jim DeVivo, Director of Education. “The five chosen for the Festival represent an imaginative group of plays received from the schools; all students who participated in the program are to be congratulated! The Festival playwrights are currently working on script revisions and I look forward to these plays coming to life during rehearsal."

On Monday, February 27 at 8:00pm, Robert H. Conley, Mayor of Madison, proclaimed March “Madison Young Playwrights Month”. The proclamation was held at the 2nd Floor Council Chamber at the Hartley Dodge Memorial Building at 50 Kings Road.

“We are very proud to once again honor the creativity of these very talented students,” said Artistic Director, John Pietrowski. “Their plays are the results of over four months of writing and rewriting, and the writers will do even more work with the professional actors during rehearsals the week of the Festival. The plays are equally entertaining and enlightening, providing a real insight into the imaginations of our young artists.”

The following student’s plays will be presented this year:

It’s Hard to Get a Halo by Katerina Rettino (Central Avenue School)
Crime Scene Disaster by Kelly Notine (Madison Junior School)
She’s Actually Pretty Cool by Ellie Culin (Kings Road School)
Is It A Dream? by Kevin Espiritu (St. Vincent Martyr School)
From Geek to Chic by Mollie Sullivan (Torey J. Sabatini School)

Carolyn Hunt is currently teaching a playwriting residency at Madison High School. They will present an in school staged reading of select plays when the residency concludes in April. This reading will include high school students working alongside professional actors.

Throughout the year, Playwrights Theatre placed teaching artists in the aforementioned schools in Madison. At specific points in the residency, parents were invited to listen to the works in progress at roundtable readings. These teaching artists and the program are a part of Playwrights Theatre’s Madison Young Playwrights Program, a partnership with the Madison Board of Education and an initiative of the New Jersey Writers Project, Artists-in-the-Schools, a co-sponsored program with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Playwrights Theatre's New Jersey Writers Project brings seasoned teaching artists into the classroom to help students and teachers discover the joy of writing, performing and being creative. Educators and Parent Teacher Organizations have discovered that a professional writer in the classroom greatly enhances skills not only in reading and writing, but across the curriculum as well. In addition to in-school residencies, after-school programs and residencies completely in Spanish are available, as well as Professional Development workshops and seminars for teachers, licensed by the New Jersey Department of Education.

For more information about Playwrights Theatre and the Creative Arts Academy Summer Camp, please visit www.ptnj.org or call (973) 514-1787 X10.

Funding for the Madison Young Playwrights Festival is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/A Partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the F.M. Kirby Foundation, Travelers Foundation, Dalba Goeller and Company, LLP, Investors Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, The Pearsall Family Foundation, Madison Rotary Clubs, and the Madison Board of Education.

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