Playwrights Theatre Announces the Winners of the 30th Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest

Playwrights Theatre has announced the winners of the 30th Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest. From the 328 plays submitted by young writers throughout the state, a panel of theatre professionals has selected four High School plays, three Junior High School plays and three Elementary Schools plays. In each category, selection was blind; plays were selected without knowledge of playwrights' schools, grade or background. The 30th Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest Festival will be held on May 20 and May 21, 2013 as part of a partnership between Playwrights Theatre and Premiere Stages at Kean University. Select plays from this festival will be reprised at Playwrights Theatre's nationally-recognized Forum Reading Series in December 2013. This reading series brings together writers from all over the United States.

The plays will be presented at the University Center's Little Theatre at Kean University on Monday, May 20 at 7 pm for the Elementary and Junior High Division winners and on Tuesday, May 21 at 7 pm for the High School Division winners' plays. The readings will feature professional actors and directors and reservations can be made by calling 973-514-1787 X21 or via email njypf@ptnj.org. Admission to the readings is free, but reservations are required, as seating is limited.

"We read a wide variety of plays this year," says Jim DeVivo, the Director of Education for Playwrights Theatre. "I am impressed with the diverse themes and questions explored in the plays chosen for the Festival and am excited to see them evolve onstage."

In the High School Division (grades 10-12), the winners are:
You Definitely Got All That from Your Mother by Emma Iacometta, 11th grade, Bergen County Academies
Mirror by Kelsey Garrett, 11th grade, Middletown High School South
Blues-Berries by Philip Peker, 11th grade, Livingston Senior High School
Good News! By Philip Anastassiou, 11th grade, Bergen County Academies

The aforementioned winners received a New Jersey Governor's Award in Arts Education, which is co-sponsored by New Jersey Arts Education Partnership and the New Jersey Department of Education, at the Governor's Awards Ceremony on May 2 at 4:30 pm at the War Memorial in Trenton. The Governor's Award is the highest honor in arts education in New Jersey.

The NJ Young Playwrights Contest and Festival is one of the most enduring programs of its kind in the country," said Playwrights Theatre Artistic Director John Pietrowski. "These writers are joining the ranks of some very successful playwrights, including a few who are making a living in the field at present. We applaud these young writers' artistry and efforts."

In the Junior High School Division (grades 7-9), the winners are:
We're Sisters by Christine Vapsva, 9th grade, Union County Academy for Performing Arts, Scotch Plains
Untitled by Emma Ohlig, 9th grade, Union County Academy for Performing Arts, Scotch Plains
An Obstacle Worth Facing by Lindsay Gerrato, 8th grade, Columbia Middle School, Berkeley Heights

"Premiere Stages is proud to continue to foster the development of young artists," said Clare Drobot, Producing Associate and Resident Dramaturg at Premiere Stages. "Our partnership with Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey is an important part of our Play Factory educational initiative and we are excited to help showcase this year's group of budding playwrights."

In the Elementary School Division (grades 4-6), the winners are:
A Tale of Two Kitties by Matthew Sidorovich, 4th grade, Lafayette Elementary School, Chatham
Bully Days by Zachary Vincent, 4th grade, St. Vincent Martyr School, Madison
It All Happened in 24 Hours by Anna Gregory, 4th grade, Lafayette Elementary School, Chatham

This is the 30th year celebration of the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. Playwrights Theatre is reaching out to former winners to find out where their lives have taken them. Many have gone on to pursue careers as published prose and poetry writers as well as playwrights and journalist. Others have become have become lawyers, professors, and comic book illustrators."

About the High School Playwrights:

Philip Anastassiou is a junior at the Bergen County Academies (BCA) in the theatre program of the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. In addition to the New Jersey Young Playwrights Competition, this 17-year-old award-winning playwright and actor saw his plays recognized on both a state and national level in three writing competitions in 2013, including the Scholastic Art and Writing Award (2 national and 6 regional awards), the NJ Theater Project's 11th Annual Young Playwrights Competition, and the Blank Theatre Company's Young Playwrights Festival in Los Angeles. Influenced and inspired by the absurdist plays of Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee, Philip's work is marked by a sense of magic realism and dark comedy. In April 2013, he won Best Leading Actor Award in a drama for the titular role in The Madness of George III, by Montclair University. He was also cast as Tommy Albright in the Lerner and Loewe's musical Brigadoon at BCA. As a freshman, he was nominated for best leading actor in a comedy by Montclair University for his performance as Berowne in the award-winning BCA production ofLove's Labour's Lost.

Emma Iacometta is currently a junior at the Bergen County Academies within the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts-Theatre Concentration. Along with acting, dance, and playwriting classes, Emma plans to pursue a career in Stage Management. Recent production stage manager credits include South Pacific (pre-production, SummerStage at Leonia),The Declaration (Fully Flighted Productions),The 39 Steps (Nutley Little Theatre),The King and I (Bergen County Academies), and A Civil War Christmas (Bergen County Academies). This past winter, Emma assistant directed Brigadoon (Bergen County Academies), for which she is nominated for Paper Mill Playhouse's Student Achievement Award.

Kelsey Garrett is a junior at Middletown High School South. Kelsey has always loved reading, writing, and performing. She first took dance and musical theater classes at 9 years old and has continued to be involved in the theater every opportunity that she gets. Some of Kelsey's first performances with Footlights Musical Theater Company included Annie, High School Musical, and Beauty and the Beast. Over the last 3 years at Middletown H.S. South, Kelsey has enjoyed performing with Southside Theater in Rimers of Eldritch, Bye Bye Birdie, andCabaret. In addition, she has written and performed with South's Theatre Arts Club's One-Page Play Festivals and Ten-Minute Play Festivals. Kelsey has also volunteered backstage and in the house at the First Avenue Playhouse in Atlantic Highlands. Kelsey enjoys working with South's Peer Leadership Program and Gay-Straight Alliance. She is also a member of Bottlecappers, a program which teaches the community's children about the dangers of drugs and fosters positive leadership skills.

Philip Peker is a junior at Livingston High School, in Livingston, NJ. He just recently opened up the doors of the writing world, and quickly received several awards in a handful of genres: personal memoir, persuasive writing, poetry, journalism, and dramatic script. Philip is never shy of experimenting whether it is in writing, reading or music, which is his other central passion in life. As a classically trained guitarist, Philip has delved into many genres, including jazz, rock, fusion, gypsy, and acoustic over his 12 years of studying the guitar. He loves a great jam, and has had some with several jazz greats over the years. Philip also loves to compose music, and he and his buddies have a band, called Castles, in which they share their musical creations between themselves, and the world. Not a day goes by without Philip creating a new song, new lick, or new musical idea. Above all else, Philip Peker is an explorer. Whether he is exploring new sounds, new literature, new intellectual passions, new places, or making new friends, Philip is always thirsty for more living, more experiencing, and more doing. He has an unbounded thirst for knowledge, whether it is learning about Ancient Greek warfare tactics or engaging in debates on the merits of Keynesian vs. Austrian economic theories.

For more information about Playwrights Theatre, visit www.ptnj.org or call (973) 514-1787.

For more information about Premiere Stages, visit www.kean.edu/premierestages or call 908-737-4092. (7469).

Playwrights Theatre's New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest receives generous funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; and Travelers Foundation, Bank of America, Investors Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, PSE&G, The Bay and Paul Foundation and the Provident Bank Foundation. The New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival and New Jersey Young Playwrights Program are registered to the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission.

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