Touchstone Theatre Announces The 14th Annual Young Playwrights' Festival

Touchstone Theatre presents the fourteenth year of its acclaimed Young Playwrights' Festival. This showcase of new plays written by local elementary, middle, and high school students performs on May 18th at Zoellner Arts Center's Baker Hall. The evening concludes with a post-show gala reception in the Lehigh University Black Box Theatre.

Young Playwrights' Lab is an eight-week arts and literacy residency developed by Touchstone and the Bethlehem Area School District using theatre as a "Trojan Horse" to improve student attitudes toward writing and to provide a platform for creative self-expression. Through theatre improvisation, writing exercises, and collaborative critique, each student writes an original one-act play to be considered for performance in the annual Young Playwrights' Festival. The plays that emerge are a rich indicator of the wide variety and depth of their imaginings, and while they often include light-hearted elements like talking animals, princesses, and cartoon characters, they explore universal themes of love, loyalty, importance of family, and bravery in the face of adversity.

Over 100 plays were submitted from this year's programs with five exceptional scripts chosen for full production in the Festival: Lost Dogs by Samuel Williams of Calypso Elementary School; The Man and the Hawk by Gabrielle Andujar of Fountain Hill Elementary School; The Cloud Princess by Alysha Matias of Marvine Elementary School; Kitty Lachance by Abriana Ferrari of Nitschmann Elementary School; and Clean Up in Aisle 3 by Hunter Fenstermaker of Liberty High School. Directed by Touchstone's ensemble of artists, the plays are performed by Touchstone actors, community performers, and students from area schools.

Select scenes from seven semi-finalist plays will be performed by Touchstone Ensemble Members and Young Playwrights' Lab teaching artists: The Dinosaurs by Noah Rader of Donegan Elementary, Shoe Noodles by Mia De La Rosa-Cordero of Union Terrace Elementary, Don't Give Up! by Meera Johnson-McCormick of Farmersville Elementary, The Goldy and Mom Adventure by Ciaria Guy of Central Elementary, The Adventures of Betsy and the Bum Dum Express by Armando Rivera of Freemansburg Elementary, Loss by Juan Diego Monetero of Lincoln Elementary, and Tim's Journey by Noah Flete of Ramos Elementary.

"For the past fourteen years, the Young Playwrights' Festival has brought Lehigh Valley audiences deep into the hearts and minds of our area's greatest storytellers," says Louis Cinquino, Festival Committee Chair. "It is the most original of original productions-- an evening of literary surprises and memorable performances."

"And the fundraising Gala Reception that follows the performance is a big reason why Touchstone has been able to maintain and expand the Young Playwrights' Lab program in the Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, and other school districts," Cinquino adds. "Until you've attended this festival, you haven't really seen the Lehigh Valley at its best."

After the performance, Zoellner's Black Box Theatre hosts the Festival's ticketed gala dessert reception and auction. Gala attendees get a chance to mingle with the Touchstone Ensemble and enjoy sumptuous desserts, an open bar, and live music while further supporting Touchstone and its arts-in-education programming through a live and silent auction.

Touchstone's season is sponsored by RCN. Media sponsorship is provided by WDIY, and print sponsorship is provided by Working Dog Press. The Young Playwrights' Festival Naming Sponsor is Five 10 Flats.

The Young Playwrights' Lab program is gratefully supported through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program by: Avalon, BB&T Bank, Embassy Bank, Highmark, Inc., Lafayette Ambassador Bank, Merchants Bank of Bangor, Peoples Security Bank and Trust, PPL, Serfass Construction Company, and UGI Utilities and by the following local corporations and foundations: Air Products and Chemicals Foundation, Bethlehem Rotary Foundation, The Century Fund, Crayola, Charles A. & Leona K. Gruber Foundation, and Charles H. Hoch Foundation. The program is also generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

The 14th Annual Young Playwrights' Festival & Gala takes place on Saturday, May 18, 2019. Theatre doors to Baker Hall open at 6:40pm for the 7:00pm festival performance; the Gala follows directly after the Festival until 10:30pm. Festival tickets are $10 for students, $15 for adults, and $75 for the Festival and Gala. Advance tickets may be purchased at 610-867-1689 or online at www.touchstone.org

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