Arena Stage Announces Winners of Student 10-Minute Play Competition

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater today announced eight winners of the 2011/2012 Student Playwrights Project 10-Minute Play Competition–an annual event in which D.C.-area students submit original 10-minute plays into competition. Nearly 800 works were submitted from students in D.C.-area middle and high schools this year.

The eight winning playwrights will receive playwriting master classes and participate in further script development by working with a professional director and dramaturg from Arena Stage. The plays will then be performed by professional actors. All winning playwrights receive $250. Arena Stage will also host readings of the middle school and high school honorable mention plays. All performances and readings take place at the Mead Center (1101 Sixth St. SW).

Winning Play Performances
In the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle
*Each performance features all winning plays
Friday, March 9 – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 10 – 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Honorable Mention Readings
In the Ammerman Rehearsal Hall
High School Readings: Monday, February 27 – 7:30 p.m.
Middle School Readings: Tuesday, February 28 – 7:30 p.m.

Admission to the Student Playwrights Project performances is free, but reservations through the Arena Stage Sales Office are required by calling 202-488-3300.

The Student Playwrights Project is an educational component of Arena Stage's mission to expand the American canon with new work from diverse voices. 

Note: Some of the plays contain mature content and language and are not appropriate for very young children.

The Winning Plays (listed alphabetically by winner)

The Other Side by Scott Bertaut, Grade 12
Kingsbury Day School, Washington, D.C.

Quarantine by Sarah Chaikind, Grade 11
McLean High School, McLean, VA

Snowing in October by Keila Cline, Grade 10
KIPP DC: College Prep, Washington, D.C.

Purgatory or the Counselor's Waiting Room by Zoe Davidson, Grade 12
McLean High School, McLean, VA

Ghost Stories by Steven Duffy, Grade 12
Yorktown High School, Arlington, VA

A Place Called High School by Emoni Matthews, Grade 12
Woodbridge Senior High School, Woodbridge, VA

Not to Be Mentioned by Madeline Pages, Grade 11
Yorktown High School, Arlington, VA

Chocolate Bars and a New Life by Sahana Ramani, Grade 8
Rachel Carson Middle School, Herndon, VA

High School Honorable Mentions

Leaving by Paul Julien Burg, Grade 11
French International School, Bethesda, MD

Paradise Lost by Brian Casey, Grade 12
Community Based Classroom, Bladensburg, MD

The Crystal We All Carry Inside by Thomas Froger-Silva, Grade 10
French International School, Bethesda, MD

Gridlock by Hannah Green, Grade 12
Yorktown High School, Arlington, VA

Standing Up by Damian Leverett, Grade 11
McLean High School, McLean, VA

Trick for a Treat by Ronnell Morris, Grade 12
Ballou Senior High School, Washington, D.C.

Feminine Willies by Betsy Ryan, Grade 12
Falls Church High School, Falls Church, VA

Stones in Heaven by Ambrym Smith, Grade 12
Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Washington, D.C.

Middle School Honorable Mentions

Life Without One by Yasmin Branscomb, Grade 8
Stuart Hobson Middle School, Washington, D.C.

Who You Are Becoming by Sam Cornbrooks, Grade 8
Key Middle School, Springfield, VA

Broken by Christian Ellis, Grade 7
Rippon Middle School, Woodbridge, VA

Hard Times by Ryan Hunt, Grade 7
French International School, Bethesda, MD

Chronicles of the Chronically Ill by Kyrin Jones, Grade 8
Thoreau Middle School, Vienna, VA

Djenge, the Baboon by Yann Messagan, Grade 7
French International School, Bethesda, MD

Cardboard Love by Sabina Whitcomb, Grade 8
Thoreau Middle School, Vienna, VA

T.I.R.E.D.M.O.M. by Nova Zhang, Grade 8
Rachel Carson Middle School, Herndon, VA

The Student Playwrights Project is supported in part by Toni Ritzenberg and other generous donors. Without the extraordinary support of all our donors and grantors, the Student Playwrights Project and our other Community Engagement program offerings would not be possible.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to the production, presentation, development and study of American theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage is the largest company in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights. Arena Stage produces huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its sixth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000.www.arenastage.org.

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