TGS's Playwrighting Festival for Young Writers Arrives in September

The young writers will be showcasing their new plays at the Historic Palace Theatre. 

By: Aug. 25, 2021
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TGS's Playwrighting Festival for Young Writers Arrives in September

The Growing Stage has announce four finalists for the inaugural Playwrighting Festival for Young Writers.

Earlier this year, the company asked for submissions from young writers from across the country selecting four finalists to move onto the next round. Now after a month long development process, the young writers will be showcasing their new plays on Saturday, September 18th at 4:00PM in person at the Historic Palace Theatre.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic and the effects on the arts community, The Growing Stage is thrilled to have provided this opportunity to young writers and now audiences. Executive Director Stephen L. Fredericks states, "Together we have experienced great change over the past two years. A societal awareness that has impacted all of our lives in both health care and race relations. Knowing this we felt that it was vital that the Growing Stage provide a forum from which the voices and creative expression of our young people could be heard. The power within the theatre arts is vital in not only how it creatively shares the ideas of others, but also in how it heals and offers an opportunity to view the world through another's experience. The Young Writer's Festival provides a chance for young people to share and to further develop their talents as emerging artists and to give voice to a generation ready to be heard."

Meet the 2021 Finalists:

Red by Violet Baker (Age 12) | Directed by Jessica Stanzek

It's 1887 and Grace Wilson seems like the luckiest fifteen-year-old girl in the world. She goes to Castlers Finishing School For Young Ladies and is in the top of her class. Meanwhile, though, in the woods behind the school trouble is brewing. Fifteen-year-old Ava (known as Red) has lived in a deserted horse barn with her older sister, Winona, little sister, Maria ("Ria") and father for her entire life. But when her father and older sister goes missing, Ava is left to take care of Ria. A chance encounter between Grace and Red sets in motion a series of events resulting in the discovery that everything is not what it seems.

Wasting Earth Minutes by Maya Abraham (Age 14) | Directed by Jillian Petrie

Pollux is an alien from Venus who has been sent on a mission to earth. Her friend Gemini has decided to have a "human themed" birthday party. Pollux is charged with going to earth to get all the supplies. When Pollux lands at Target, she is totally confused by all the "strange earthly things" (razors? toilet paper??). A chance encounter with Jenna, a sassy and skeptical target employee, leads to the most unlikely of friendships, as Pollux desperately tries to complete the mission.

Dear Future Self by Maxine Ting (Age 16) | Directed by Jeorgi Smith

Jane and Otis cross paths when they find out they are both writing letters to their future selves in a room which won't let them leave till they finish writing their letter. What discoveries will be made about themselves and each other?

No Exodus by Alethea Shirilan-Howlett (Age 18) | Directed by Dennis S. Connors

The year is 1995, there's a horrible thunderstorm outside and Wendy Symmonds and her daughter Ruth are having a dysfunctional Passover seder at their home in Syracuse, New York. In attendance is Ruth's visionary and slightly eccentric friend from camp, Oscar, her overworked, almost-graduated best friend Paige, and Wendy's best friend, Carmen. The night becomes tense when Oscar brings up Ruth's summer project- a series of paintings of a piano in the house that her mother won't let her touch. As the order of the seder progresses, tensions increase between Ruth and her mother.

When the storm reaches its peak, it brings a sudden power outage before leaving a guest from Wendy's past in the doorway. No Exodus examines the personal and cultural stakes of holding onto and letting go of the past and the stories we tell about it.

Tickets are $10 per person and available for purchase by visiting www.growingstage.com or calling the Box Office at (973) 347-4946. Please note that masks are required for all ticket holders regardless of vaccination status.



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