Fidelity Investments®, in partnership with Billy Elliot the Musical, the Viertel/Frankel/Baruch/Routh Group, LeAp (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program) and Camp Broadway®, today announced that entertainment icon Queen Latifah will host the Fidelity FutureStage® 2009 Finale on Monday, June 15. The gala event will be held at Broadway's Imperial Theatre, home of the Tony-nominated production of Billy Elliot the Musical.
After months of intensive playwriting and production development, the Fidelity FutureStage Finale marks the Broadway debut of six student-written plays, showcasing the work of over 1,000 NYC area students who participated in the 2009 Fidelity FutureStage theater education program.
"Fidelity FutureStage is giving these students a once in a lifetime opportunity to become Broadway's youngest playwrights," said Queen Latifah. "I am thrilled to help them celebrate a night they'll always remember."
Five of the plays were selected from among the 10 schools participating in the year-long Fidelity FutureStage school program. The sixth play is the winner of the Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest, a joint initiative of Fidelity and Billy Elliot the Musical to encourage young people throughout the NYC metro area to express their creativity through playwriting.
FIDELITY FUTURESTAGE FINALE PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS:
Path to the Throne, by Steven Paul (age 12, 7th grade)
JHS 383K, Phillippa Schuyler (Brooklyn)
Phoenix Kills the Sunset, by Tiffany Blake (age 17, 12th grade)
Hillcrest High School (Queens)
The Baby Project, by Tanai Pirela (age 16, 10th grade)
Fordham High School for the Arts (Bronx)
Break-Down, by Keren Alshanetskey (age 14, 8th grade) & Jessica Fedin (age 13, 8th grade)
Mark Twain School for the Gifted (Brooklyn)
Culpa, by Vivienne Dayao (age 18, 12th grade)
Lower Manhattan Arts Academy (Manhattan)
Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest Winner:
Driver's Education, by MAdeline Hendricks (age 17, 12th grade)
Mamaroneck High School (Westchester)
The 10 New York City schools participating in the year-long Fidelity FutureStage theater program took part in a special Broadway Audition Day earlier this month. The day included a series of educational workshops featuring cast members and creative team of Billy Elliot the Musical and covering disciplines including getting into character and the ABC's of auditioning. Those workshops readied the students from each school for a special audition performance before a judging panel of theater industry insiders.
Following all 10 auditions, the panel, which included David Henry Hwang (Tony Award-winning playwright for M. Butterfly), Megan Larche (casting director: Grease, White Christmas, A Chorus Line), Paul Canaan (actor, theater program educator and Reality Show Judge from MTV's Legally Blonde), Michael Bush (Fidelity FutureStage Finale Director, Artistic Director of Emelin Theater) and Robert Ellman (theater education coordinator for the New York City Department of Education), selected five plays and their casts to move on to the Broadway finale.
