Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Annual Benefit Write On! Held 3/4

Philadelphia Young Playwrights (PYP) will hold its annual benefit, Write On! A Celebration of Student Voices, on Thursday, March 4th from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. at The Suzanne Roberts Theatre, home of Philadelphia Theatre Company, located at 480 South Broad Street on the Avenue of the Arts in Philadelphia. The benefit will open with a cocktail reception, followed by an awards ceremony, live performance of student written plays, and a closing party.

The celebration highlights the transformative effects of the Philadelphia Young Playwrights experience as the organization salutes two remarkable individuals who have made a lasting impact on the organization - 2010 President's Award recipient Taylor Williams, Legal Counsel, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and 2010 Distinguished Service Award recipient R. Andrew Swinney, President of The Philadelphia Foundation. Write On! will also showcase the inspiring voices of student writers Emily Acker, Kya S. Johnson, and Aimee Leong - three winners of PYP's Annual Playwriting Festival - whose work will be performed by professional actors on the main stage of the theater as part of the 2010 Professional Productions.

"We are proud to shine a spotlight at the Write On! Celebration on the outstanding accomplishments and contributions of our amazing friends, Taylor Williams and R. Andrew Swinney," says Young Playwrights Executive Producing Director Glen Knapp. "Taylor and Andrew richly deserve our applause and appreciation for their commitments to advancing opportunities for young people and for their steadfast efforts to improve the quality of life in Philadelphia for us all."

ABOUT THE HONOREES
Philadelphia Young Playwrights honors longtime supporter and advocate, Taylor Williams, Legal Counsel, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, with the 2010 President's Award, Young Playwrights' highest honor. The organization acknowledges Williams for the duration and excellence of her service, her expertise and ongoing guidance, and for her passionate advocacy for the power of each student's voice.

At founder Adele Magner's request, Williams first did the legal work to incorporate Philadelphia Young Playwrights and was invited onto the Young Playwrights Board at it's founding in 1987. She has continued to offer legal advice and participates on the Literary Committee, annually reading and responding to submitted student playS. Williams currently serves on the Executive Committee and the Arts and Education Committee. A member of the bars of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Williams represents Pennsylvania's Judiciary (Justices, Judges and Court entities) in a broad spectrum of litigation matters, often of a constitutional nature. She heads the litigation unit for the judiciary, and serves as lead litigation counsel. She tries cases before juries and frequently argues in federal appellate courts.

As both a professional actor and theater enthusiast, Williams has served for many years as the Chair of the Theatre Wing of the Philadelphia Bar Association, planning major Bar Association programs for the public. As an actor, Williams has performed throughout the Philadelphia area, playing lead roles with the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Area Repertory Theatre, Novel Stages, Villanova Theatre, and Philadelphia Shakespeare in the Park. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association.

Young Playwrights will present R. Andrew Swinney, President of The Philadelphia Foundation, with the 2010 Distinguished Service Award - established to recognize those individuals who have made an enduring impression on the arts and education in the Philadelphia region and the Young Playwrights organization. Swinney is being celebrated for his leadership and devoted service to the non-profit community, his determination to improving the quality of life in the Philadelphia region, and for his dedicated focus on fostering opportunities for young people to improve their lives.

Since 1998, Swinney has spearheaded the innovative Philadelphia Foundation, the oldest and largest community foundation in the region. Established in 1918, The Philadelphia Foundation provides philanthropic services to Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, awarding some $20 million in grants and scholarships each year. More than 800 families and businesses have turned to The Philadelphia Foundation to help them give something back to their communities by creating permanent, charitable trust funds that benefit the quality of life in southeastern Pennsylvania.

ABOUT THE PLAYS & PLAYWRIGHTS
Following the reception and awards ceremony, Write On! guests will enjoy Young Playwrights' 2010 Professional Productions program, presented by PNC Arts Alive. Fully staged professional productions of winning student plays will be performed by professional actors and directed by David Bradley, a long-time Young Playwright's teaching artist and member of People's Light & Theatre Company. Part of Young Playwrights' Play Development Series, the performances offer students the extraordinary opportunity to work closely with award-winning professional directors, dramaturges, actors and stage crew, and have their work featured on the main stage of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre.

The themes of the Professional Productions are Peace and Self-Discovery. The student-penned works explore these topics alongside issues of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity. The program will feature the monologues F.A.T. by Kya S. Johnson of Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls in Northeast Philadelphia and Torn Between by Aimee Leong of Center City's Science Leadership Academy - both winners of the 2009 Young Voices High School Monologue Festival. In the humorous and poignant F.A.T., a full-figured African-American girl ponders self-identity and love. The monologue Torn Between tells the story of an Asian-American teenager in an interracial relationship with her African-American boyfriend and her struggles between loyalty to her family, or to her heart.

The program will also feature the play Milk and Honey written by Emily Acker, who will be in attendance at the benefit. In Milk and Honey, two worlds collide over a soccer ball as an Israeli boy and a Palestinian boy come together amidst intolerance and violence. Influenced by her study-abroad experience in Israel during her sophomore year, Acker began writing Milk and Honey in 11th grade, while a student at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr. She is now a freshman at Northwestern University, majoring in theater and political science. Milk and Honey won Young Playwrights' 2008 Annual Playwriting Festival. The play was first produced at the organization's New Voices: Workshop Productions at Temple University in 2008. Acker went on to win the 2009 Young Playwrights Inc. National Playwriting Competition, and in early January, Milk and Honey had a successful off-Broadway reading.

ABOUT PHILADELPHIA YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS
Philadelphia Young Playwrights, led today by Executive Producing Director Glen Knapp, is an award-winning program that taps the potential of youth and inspires learning through playwriting in 50 or more public and private K-12 schools each year. Now in its 22nd year, the organization remains the only theater arts program in the region promoting literacy through playwriting and supporting the development of each student's distinctive voice.

Each year, the Young Playwrights program pairs Philadelphia-based theater professionals with individual classroom teachers and works closely with them to integrate playwriting into the curriculum. By teaching students to draw on their own personal experiences and imaginations during the creation of their plays, Young Playwrights helps them improve their writing, literacy and problem solving skills while simultaneously strengthening self-expression.

Young Playwrights offers an antidote to diminishing arts education and places an incredibly compelling learning process in the eager hands of our young people. For many students, working with Young Playwrights is a life changing experience, shaping new views of themselves as writers, artists and successful individuals. When students write about their lives, they are empowered to change them. The program's success can be measured by the growing level of self-confidence, increased literacy and community activism that its participants experience. PYP students' voices and plays have powerful impacts upon audiences of all ages.

Honorary Chairs of the Write On! Celebration include Shelly and Larry Beaser, Patricia Mikols and Oliver St. Clair Franklin, Dianne Semingson and Craig Lewis.

ADMISSION
Write On! tickets start at $125, with admission for PYP students, PYP alumni and PYP teachers/teaching artists available for $50. Tickets can be purchased online by visiting www.PhillyYoungPlaywrights.org or by calling Young Playwrights' Lindsay Mauck at (215) 665-9226. The benefit serves as a fundraiser for Young Playwrights' programs and services for students, teachers, and schools throughout the year.

Write On! Event Sponsors: Independence Foundation (Premier Sponsor), TARGET (Volunteer Sponsor), Beneficial Bank (President's Award Sponsor), and PNC Arts Alive (Professional Productions Sponsor).

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