Oregon Children's Theatre Bully Project Finalist Chloe Rust Is Runner Up in National Competition

Oregon Children's Theatre (OCT) is pleased to announce that Chloe Rust, a finalist in OCT's Bully Project has won runner up in the national Dramatic Change: Anti-Bullying Initiative competition for her play, Bullies Anonymous.

Based on OCT's 2012-2013 Bully Project, the national competition was conceived by OCT Artistic Director, Stan Foote, and Michael Bobbitt (Adventure Theatre, Baltimore) and implemented by Theatre for Young Audiences USA (TYA USA) and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) and the Dramatic Change/Young Playwrights for Change. This inaugural national competition invited regional theater companies across the country to hold local anti-bullying competitions, like OCT's Bully Project. Select finalists from the regional entries were submitted to the national competition.

Chloe's script, along with the other plays submitted, will be published in an anthology put out by TYA USA and AATE.

Chloe participated in last year's Bully Project at OCT where she came in 3rd place. She is an 8th grader at Lakeridge Junior High School in Lake Oswego.

As part of Oregon Children's Theatre's 2nd annual Bully Project, middle school students (5-8th grade) from Oregon and Washington were invited to write original, 10-minute plays about bullying.

Six finalists were selected to work with professional playwrights Matthew B. Zrebski and Debbie Lamedman of Playwrights West to revise and craft their scripts in a workshop setting. The final scripts will be featured at a public staged reading at the Winningstad Theatre (1111 SW Broadway, Portland) on May 11th at 5pm where members of OCT's Young Professionals program will direct and perform the six plays.

The six finalists in the OCT contest are: Chloe Rust, Mariana Penaloza-Vu, Kendall Uslan, Hannah Bachman, Lizzie O'Mahony, and Pablo Reese. The winners will be announced on May 1st.

"We love this project because it gives kids a voice about issues that are real and immediate to them," says OCT Artistic Director, Stan Foote. "Plus, it offers young writers a chance to work with professionals to hone their craft."

Emphasizing OCT's mission to use theater as an educational tool, all plays from The Bully Project will be available free of charge on OCT's website for teachers to use in their classrooms.

Oregon Children's Theatre finalist in The Bully Project: An Anti-Bullying Playwriting Contest wins runner up in national competition.

Oregon Children's Theatre Bully Project Staged Reading
Date: May 11, 2014
Time: 5:00 pm
Location: Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway
Tickets: Pay what you will
Box Office: General admission seats can be reserved at 503-228-9571
On the web: www.octc.org/schoolservices/bullyproject

About Oregon Children's Theatre: Founded in 1988, Oregon Children's Theatre has served over two million children, teachers, and families. OCT is Oregon's largest non-profit professional children's theater company and a resident company of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Performances are held weekdays for school audiences and on weekends for family audiences. OCT serves more than 120,000 children of all ages each year. OCT offers numerous school services including study guides, teacher professional development opportunities, in-school workshops, and an extensive outreach program. In partnership with Kaiser Permanente, our Educational Theatre Program provides free touring productions that promote healthy living. OCT's year round Acting Academy offers theater classes for children ages 3-18.

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