The winner of the Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest is the sixth play to be included in the June 15 finale event. Participants of the contest were invited to write a ten-minute play reflecting the themes of Billy Elliot. More than 500 plays were submitted from students from across the NYC metro area, representing NYC, Westchester and Richmond counties outside of the city, Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, as well as Bergen and Hudson counties in New Jersey.
The winning play was selected by a panel representing Billy Elliot the Musical including Lee Hall (Book), Jon Finn (Producer), B.T. McNicholl (Resident Director) and 2009 Tony-nominated Actor Gregory Jbara (Dad). Rounding out the judges was Fidelity FutureStage Finale Director Michael Bush. Leading up to the June 15 Fidelity FutureStage Finale, winning student playwright MAdeline Hendricks will work with B.T. McNicholl and other members of the Billy Elliot the Musical creative team to ready her play for the Broadway stage.
All of the plays featured in the June 15 finale will be published by Samuel French, the premier play and musical publishing and licensing company serving the Broadway community since 1830.
Fidelity FutureStage, now in its third year, is designed to bring theater to life for 600+ NYC students, representing 10 inner-city schools. The year-long theater education curriculum affords students the opportunity to learn from leading playwrights, directors, designers and actors, and ultimately experience the thrill of bringing their own creativity to life on a professional stage.
More than 1,000 hours of classroom work over the course of the school year includes instruction in theater arts disciplines ranging from playwriting and editing to casting, auditioning, set and costume design, directing and final stage production, coordinated by LeAp teaching artists in the classrooms. Some of the Broadway artists lending their time and support to the Fidelity FutureStage program have included: Kathleen Marshall (GREASE!), William Ivey Long (Grey Gardens, Hairspray), David Hyde Pierce (Accent on Youth, Curtains), Charles Strouse (Annie, Bye Bye Birdie), Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid), Jerry Zaks (Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Little Shop of Horrors), Raúl Esparza (Company, Speed the Plow), Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights), Charles Dutton (The Piano Lesson) David Strathairn (Goodnight and Goodluck) and Chazz Palmintari (A Bronx Tale). Students in the Fidelity FutureStage classes also have the opportunity to attend Broadway shows throughout the school year. The guest artist school visits and Broadway field trips are coordinated with the help of the Viertel/Frankel/Baruch/Routh Group.
The Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest is a new extension of the program this year, created to give additional students throughout the NYC metro area encouragement and opportunity to participate in the theater arts. The contest was open to all high school students attending school in the NYC and surrounding counties in NY and NJ. Students were invited to write a 10-minute, one-act play reflecting one of the themes from the story of Billy Elliot: fulfilling a dream, discovering a special talent or overcoming adversity. The grand prize winner, Madeleine Hendricks, has the opportunity to work directly with the Billy Elliot the Musical creative team to develop and produce her play for the Broadway stage. The Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest was administered by educational partner and contest manager Camp Broadway.
For more information, visit www.FutureStage.com.
