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
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.
Saturday, 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.
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