Tuesday, January 15, 2008

ACT Sets the Stage for

Amazing Talent, Amazing Opportunities with its

Sixth Annual Young Playwrights Festival

Eight Writers Age 14-18 Receive Staged Readings of Their Plays

ACT’s Sixth Annual Young Playwrights Festival

March 6-8, 2008

Tickets

$5 for students and seniors

$10 for adults

Special tax-deductable Festival Sponsorship tickets are available for $100

ACT Theatre

Ticket Office: (206) 292-7676

700 Union Street, Seattle WA 98101

www.acttheatre.org

Seattle, WA – January 15, 2008 – ACT’s annual Young Playwrights Festival returns March 6 through 8 for a sixth year, featuring a wonderful mix of dramatic and comedic new works from talented student writers ages 14 to 18.

ACT will present staged readings of eight new plays developed through ACT’s Young Playwrights Program (YPP) serving upwards of 225 middle and high school students from King, Kitsap, and Pierce counties throughout 14 greater Seattle-area schools. Plays were selected by an artistic panel at ACT from approximately 250 plays by participating students. To prepare for the staged readings, each student playwright is partnered with a professional director, dramaturge, 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 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 8 at 12:00 noon

The Kindness of Strangers

by Hannah Atlas, TOPS, 8th grade

Directed by Shana Bestock

The Tragic Tale of Mrs. Tate, or How I Learned to Enjoy the Taste of Burnt Mint

by Sam Gray, Garfield High School, 12th grade

Directed by Kristina Sutherland

Man and Dog

by Erin Handley, Seattle Academy, 11th grade

Directed by Aimee Bruneau

Death and Jeff

by Nathan Weisman, Bellevue High School, 11th grade

Directed by Andy Jensen

Program B
Friday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Sat
urday, March 8 at 4:00 p.m.

The Game Show

by Lesley Grace, Garfield High School, 12th grade

Directed by Beverly Thompson

Moving Martha

by Cara Groden, Lakeside School, 12th grade

directed by Dawson Nichols

A Plastic Affair

by Lena Weber, Bainbridge High School, 12th grade

directed by Anita Montgomery

The Queen of No Man's Land

by Dan Rector, Ballard High School, 12th grade

directed by Anthony Winkler

“The eight young playwrights chosen for our Festival – some of the strongest, most creative voices from the ACT’s YPP – are given an authentic experience of the next phase of the playwriting process; rehearsing and putting a play in front of an audience,” said Literary Manager &
Director of Education Anita Montgomery. “It is enormously exciting to watch these students step into the role of working playwright, and the work that appears on the stage is simply stunning!”

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 20-minute original play by the end of the session. The 10-week classroom portion of the YPP runs from September through December each year.

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 225 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 Jacquelyn Rardin at (206) 292-7660 ext. 1327 or jacquelyn.rardin@acttheatre.org.

No comments: