CENTERSTAGE Presents 25th Annual Young Playwrights Festival Honorees

CENTERSTAGE announces the award recipients for the 25th Annual Young Playwrights Festival. Six honorees will workshop their plays with professional theater artists, leading up to staged readings of the plays at the Festival on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 7 pm. A dozen playwrights will receive a workshop and a reading of their play at their school, while others receive an Honorable Mention.

All members of the community are invited to CENTERSTAGE for the annual awards ceremony, including the staged readings of selected plays and a reception in honor of all of the students who submitted scripts. The event is free; however, a $5 donation is suggested at the door. Groups up to 10 can reserve their tickets online.

The following plays will receive a Staged Reading at CENTERSTAGE:

Together We Can Make Beautiful Music by Rebecca Hewitt
Grade 5, Waugh Chapel Elementary, Anne Arundel County
With little dialogue and an original duet composition for piano, this innovative play shows how music can bring people together to brighten their day.

There Came Sadness Before Happiness by Naya Gibson
Grade 5, Cherry Hill Elementary & Middle School, Baltimore City
Naya dreams of becoming a doctor. Her mother worries that this dream may not become a reality-after all, she works two jobs and is dealing with the aftermath of Naya's dad abandoning them. Maybe mother and daughter have something to teach each other.

Shine! By The students of The Maryland School for the Deaf
Grades 6 - 8, Howard County
Everyone knows the story of Cinderella. But the students from the Maryland School for the Deaf have taken this classic fairy tale and spun it on its head, creating a modern version with both magic and remarkable poignancy.

The True Story of Why the Chicken Crossed the Road by Kendall Archer
Grade 6, Harford Day School, Harford County
This play tells the story of Jerry, an unathletic young chicken who needs to up his courage. He tries to run with the roosters in a game of soccer-and accidentally knocks the ball right into the school bully's beak. The bully dares Jerry to do something unimaginable...and the classic joke is retold.

The Multiple Calls by Adriahna Rochelle Conway
Grade 8, City Neighbors Charter School, Baltimore City
The Broadstein family is fantastically rich...and fantastically rude. When their new maid Maria arrives, she decides to seek revenge for their cruelty, with hilarious results.

Black, No Cream, No Sugar by Alexander Blinkoff
Grade 11, Towson High School, Baltimore County
Jason Mahakala gets more than he orders when he spends the afternoon in his local coffee shop. This play serves up an extra-caffeinated twist that you won't soon forget.

End of the Line by Ady Pié
Grade 12, Roland Park Country School, Baltimore City
When Dawn, a young woman still trying to figure out her life, spots an old woman sitting at an abandoned train station day after day, she gets curious. Then, when the woman disappears, Dawn faces a decision that could change her entire future.

In school reading honorees

Tea Trouble by Fiona Caulfied
Grade 3, Bullis School, Montgomery County

The Comic Book by Sean Silvia
Grade 5, Chevy Chase Elementary School, Montgomery County

One Weird Dream by Mackenzie Durner & Olivia Simmons
Grade 6, Montessori International Children's House, Anne Arundel County

The Baltimore Bird by Riley P. Martin
Grade 6, Harford Day School, Harford County

Real Love by Antoinette Holmes
Grade 7, Sisters Academy of Baltimore, Baltimore City

What Happened on the Seventeenth by Charlotte Glenn Molali
Grade 8, Harford Day School, Harford County

Bloody Miami by Soloman Turner and BrenNan Turner
Grade 8, St. Ignatius Academy, Baltimore City

Stall by Nick Anstett
Grade 11, Loyola Blakefield, Baltimore County

Sisterhood by Kathleen Whitby
Grade 11, Governor Thomas Johnson High School, Frederick County

Monsters in the Closet by Jeanette Brown
Grade 12, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Prince George County

The Seat of Life by Jacob McDonald
Grade 12, Governor Thomas Johnson High School, Frederick County

Icarus Fell by Christine Prevas
Grade 12, St Paul's School for Girls, Baltimore County

Young Playwrights Festival is presented by CENTERSTAGE's Department of Community Programs & Education, under the direction of Julianne Franz. The Festival is made possible through the generous support of our many community partners, including Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, M&T Bank, Verizon, Procter & Gamble, VSA arts and MetLife Foundation, Maryland State Arts Council, and Eggspectation.

CENTERSTAGE is a proud recipient of an "Arts Connect All" grant, made possible through a partnership with VSA arts and MetLife Foundation. This grant supports deaf student participation in our Playwrights in Schools program, including the creation of an original script submission to be performed in the 2011 Young Playwrights Festival.

For more information on the Young Playwrights Festival, contact the Department of Community Programs & Education at either 410.986.4050 or education@centerstage.org.

Since 1963, CENTERSTAGE has been committed to producing and developing an eclectic repertory of challenging, bold, and thought-provoking work, representing a varied array of theatrical styles and forms, in collaboration with leading artists. Each year, a consistently broad range of productions in two intimate performing spaces attracts highly diverse audiences of more than 100,000 people-including thousands of fiercely loyal subscriber members, many of whom have been with the theater during its entire history. Additionally, CENTERSTAGE offers a variety of dramaturgical, community, and educational programs to broaden access and enhance the theatergoing experience, earning its honorary designation as the official State Theater of Maryland.

To post a comment, you must register and login.