B Street Theatre Takes Student-Written Plays On the Road With FANTASY FESTIVAL XXVIII, Now thru 6/6

Last week the B Street Theatre School Tour production of Fantasy Festival XXVIII hit the road. This is the 28th year that elementary and middle school students throughout northern California have submitted original plays to B Street Theatre's annual playwriting contest for young people. Out of over 330 plays submitted this year, 6 have been selected for the tour. Two of the winning plays are from students who benefited from B Street Theatre's playwriting workshops sponsored by the Rotary International Foundations of Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova. The resulting show featuring all 6 winning plays will be performed at 144 assemblies in 110 schools in northern California between now and June 6, 2014, with a special public performance at the B Street Theatre on May 3 at 10:00am.

The winning plays are: THE FOLDED PAPER MYSTERY, by Holden Vigna from Williamson Elementary, Rancho Cordova; THE TELEPORTER by Diana Vang, Ilynne Xiong and Carina Candelario from Sierra Enterprise Elementary in Elk Grove; COULD YOU BRING ME SOME EGGS, by Lilly Lo and A PLAY, by Vitaliy Miroshnichenko both from Taylor Street Elementary, Sacramento; CAVITY TROUBLES, by Michelle Ivanov and Lyuda Skidan from Gateway Community Outreach Academy in North Highlands; and THE GREEK TEACHING by River Swanson and Jonny Apodaca from Crocker-Riverside Elementary in Sacramento.

B Street Theatre's mission is to promote education and literacy, social interaction and cultural enrichment by engaging children and adults in the highest quality theatre arts and playwriting. In selecting the winning plays, the team of judges look for originality and creativity. The plays this year take the audience on a journey - trips to the moon, a day in the life of a Midwestern farm, a visit to the dentist, the world of the Greek gods and a poignant look at bullying.

The two-theatre playhouse on B Street in Midtown is home to Mainstage, B3 and Family Series, each created to house quality theatre for audiences year-round. Recognized as one of Northern California's top professional theatres, B Street Theatre has produced more than 100 new plays, 60 of which are world, national, West Coast, or regional premieres.