'Young Playwrights Festival' Strong in its 22nd Year at Pegasus Players

The 22nd Young Playwrights Festival at Pegasus Players is currently running in their impressive Truman College Location. Located just off the Wilson redline stop, the theatre is quite the hidden Uptown gem. The premise behind the festival is to take four scripts written by high school students in Chicago and professionally produce them. Over one thousand plays were submitted for the festival this year and the theatre felt alive with excitement for the achievement of the four chosen young playwrights.

The first of our four pieces, Daydream Nation is a very angst driven piece with focus on teenage sex, the passion of art and adolescence and reaction to being a teenager in our nation's current war situation. The energy, flow and direction of this play seemed unfocused and cliché at times. It's difficult to make the necessary character connections, and frequent references to off-stage friends are confusing. When the cast begins talking about the war, the play becomes relatable, interesting and casts a bit of insight to Generation 'High School Musical' and their opinions of the war, but we quickly return to the former anguish-ridden, melodrama.

A Rose in the Royal Court is the second helping in this sampling of one-acts. This piece, written by Northside College Prep's Molly McAndrew is clearly and cleverly crafted. McAndrew makes great use of language in this play set in sixteenth century Britain. With rhyming couplets, asides and many wisely constructed Shakespearean references , this story of how the Bard was inspired by a simple girl named Rosalind keeps the audience smiling and laughing. This is very risky and intellectual writing for a high school student but the piece sometimes wavers too much between comedy and tragedy.

In the second half of the Festival we move from Elizabethan England to the Southern United States during the time of the Civil War. Coffee Girl is the story of a youthful bi-racial slave girl realizing her place in society through the happenings of a pair of shoes. The shoeless, limping Margaret (Aaya McDaniel) finds out she is the daughter of her white plantation owner. All she wants is a pair of shoes so she can work, but when given them by the bitter, resentful mistress of the plantation, she chooses to wrap her feet in cloth rather than to wear the shoes of people who put her beneath them. This boldly written piece has some of the stronger acted and sharply staged scenes in the Festival.

Our final piece keeps us in the south but moves us from a plantation of the past to the modern day greasy spoon "Pig's Hut". Blooming Flowers in Weeds tenders charming characters with identifiable relationships. Weeds follows the story of a recluse and quiet customer of the diner. A victim of domestic abuse, Julia confides in Candy, the eccentric, chatty waitress. Although the writing is appealing, Weeds leaves the audience a bit confused as to the message it is trying to deliver and feels like an episodic portion of a bigger and more stirring story.

The ensemble of the YPF play multiple roles throughout the four-part fete. Aside from the need of a dialect coach (accents ranging from Southern to British and falling many places in between), the actors all bring something unique to this production. Victoria Caciopoli shows great range moving from high school best friend to lovable British muse to loner victim. Taylar, Graham Bennet and Howie Johnson are impressive in a series of supporting roles and Eliza Stoughton is as tasty and sweet as the apple pie she slings as the waitress Candy.

The 22nd Annual Young Playwrights Festival is a great opportunity for young writers in Chicago and with the fine selection of original work chosen for its twenty-second year, a great opportunity for an audience as well. Pegasus Players production value is top-knotch from the fascinating, image-strewn set to the clever and well-placed lighting. Taking us on a ride through different parts of time and history, the YPF is a great way to support young, emerging artists while having an intriguing night of theatre.

22nd Annual Young Playwrights Festival will be held through January 27, 2008. Performances will be Friday and Saturday night at 8:00PM and Sundays at 3:00PM at Pegasus Players, 1145 W. Wilson Avenue in the O'Rourke Center at the Truman College, Chicago. Tickets are twelve dollars and may be purchased by calling 773.878.9761 or online at www.pegasusplayers.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.