ACT Guides Young Talent from Page to the Stage With 9th Young Playwrights Fest

ACT's annual Young Playwrights Festival returns March 10-12 for its ninth year, featuring an inspired mix of dramatic and comedic new works from talented student writers ages 13 to 18.

ACT will present staged readings of eight new plays developed through its Young Playwrights Program (YPP) serving upwards of 300 middle and high school students from King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Thurston counties throughout 14 greater Seattle-area schools. Winning plays by participating students were selected by an artistic panel at ACT. To prepare for the staged readings, each student playwright is partnered with a professional director and actors, and participates in nearly 20 hours of rehearsal with his or her creative team. Each program will be performed twice during the three-day festival.

ACT Young Playwrights Festival Schedule:

Program A
Thursday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 12 at 12:00 p.m.

Cooper Hewell, This Is Jeopardy, Olympia High School
A man and woman watch "Jeopardy" on an average night. They begin making plans for an ambitious future; one they cannot wait to begin...right after Final Jeopardy.

Nora Germani, Are You Sure You Want to Watch This?, TOPS K-8
Creating a play is simple, right? WRONG! When Erin gives it a shot, she discovers she's in for a wild ride when she is forced to interact with the world and characters she's created. Maybe making her main character insane wasn't such a good idea after all.

Adam Quinn, CivilizEd Manner, Seattle Academy
Seventeen year-old Aaron lives under the scrutinous eyes of his conservative grandparents. Hoping they won't learn the truth of his sexuality, he is careful to keep his budding relationship with Gabe under wraps. Could a momentary lack of discretion ruin everything?

Ben Lawson, Naïve Nativity, Lakeside School
In 1970s Ireland two inept guys find a mysterious baby on their lawn. Buffoonery ensues.

Program B
Friday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 12 at 4:00 p.m.

Kathryn Taylor, Birdcage, Newport High School
On a dark, rainy night, two boys decide to tell scary stories. Can Beau's spooky story about a mysterious ghost girl possibly be true?

Myriah Hernandez-Charbeneau, Sex is Fun, Bellevue High School
Chesty Chestnuts is everyone's favorite children's television personality. When Chesty's personal life starts falling apart, his audience realizes he just might be less than perfect-which leads to disastrous repercussions. Who knew a talking squirrel could be so influential?

Briana Kennedy, The Colors of Our Lives, Garfield High School
Tierra and Mike's relationship gets rockier each day. When Tierra's friends offer her their advice, everyone's true feelings are revealed. After Mike is sentenced to a 10-year stint in prison, will Tierra continue to stick by his side, or finally give up on him?

Jane Adams, Not Alone, Bainbridge Island High School
Clara and Denis are on a mission to find extraterrestrial signs of life. However, maybe what they're really looking for is right here on earth.

"I fell in love with the Young Playwrights Program in 2006 when I first began teaching for the program because the YPP is unique, empowering, and it changes students lives," said Director of Education Kristina Sutherland. "Year after year, I see YPP students constantly surprised by what they can do, what they find out about themselves, what they can WRITE! The Young Playwrights Festival not only showcases excellent YPP student work, it is an amazing opportunity for these eight young playwrights to take their work from the page to the stage under the guidance of professional theatre artists. It's a challenging and transformative process."

MariAnna White, a 2010 Young Playwrights Festival participant, said, "YPP taught me, and hundreds of other students, the beauty of endings, of a completed piece of work that reflects something about you for others to see."

YPP offers greater Seattle-area students a high-quality, exciting language arts curriculum based on the art of playwriting. Professional playwright/teaching artists from ACT teach the rudiments of playwriting in participating area schools in the fall quarter of each school year. Concepts taught include dramatic structure, character creation, dialogue, action, subtext, point of view, understanding and developing dramatic conflict, writing a scene, generating ideas through improvisation, the importance of rewrites, and writing for an audience.
Each student playwright completes a 10- to 45-minute original play by the end of the session. The 10-week classroom portion of the YPP runs from September through December each year.
This year, Teaching Artists included: Elizabeth Heffron, Stephanie Timm, K. Brian Neel, Kelleen Conway Blanchard, Todd Jefferson Moore, Juliet Waller Pruzan, Mark Fullerton, Kristina Sutherland, Tracy Vicory-Rosenquest, Bryan Willis, Emily Conbere, and Marcy Rodenborn.

The 2011 Young Playwright Festival also boasts an impressive line-up of professional directors paired to students work, including: Sheila Daniels (former associate artistic director at Intiman and Gregory Award winner for directing 2010), Tim Hyland, Gin Hammond (award winning actress and writer), George Mount (Wooden O founder and former artistic director), Andrew McMasters (artistic director of Wing-it Productions), Kristina Sutherland, Kate Jaeger (currently directing Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog), and Meghan Arnette (artistic director of Live Girls Theatre).

Started in 2002, YPP is a natural extension of ACT's commitment to new plays and playwrights. Since its inception, ACT's YPP has grown from 72 middle and high school students in six schools and an eight-week curriculum to more than 300 students in 14 schools and a 10-week/20-session curriculum.
For more information or to arrange interviews with student playwrights and the directors, please contact Jennifer Rice at (206) 285-5175 or rice1234@yahoo.com.

About ACT: A Theatre of New Ideas - Raising Consciousness Through Theatre
Located in the heart of downtown Seattle and serving a population of curious, open-minded, and brave audiences, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre is the only theatre in Seattle dedicated to producing contemporary work with promising playwrights and local performing artists since 1965. A theatre of new ideas, ACT serves as a cultural engine that makes plays, dance, music, and film that touch us. Because contemporary life demands examination, ACT is driven to inspire and strengthen our diverse community through works that advance our understanding of human life. With more than 100,000 people who attend shows annually, ACT is an interactive community where artists and the public witness, contemplate, and engage in dialogue on today's thought-provoking issues, ideas and art, presented with intelligence, insight, and humor.

The Young Playwrights Program is made possible by Amazon.com, Beim Foundation, Elizabeth George Foundation, Fales Foundation, Harvest Foundation, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Norman Archibald Charitable Trust, PONCHO, Whit Press, and the Wyman Youth Trust.
ACT gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our 2011 Season Sponsors: ACT Foundation, ArtsFund, The Eulalie Bloedel Schneider Artists Fund, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The John Graham Foundation, The Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and The Shubert Foundation.

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