FF Playwrighting Contest Winner's Play Produced By BILLY ELLIOT Creatives 6/15

Fidelity FutureStage® Playwriting Contest winner MAdeline Hendricks is headed to Broadway's Imperial Theatre on June 15 to see her play produced by the Tony Award® winning creative team of Billy Elliot the Musical. Hendricks had the opportunity to celebrate by meeting Elton John, Billy Elliot the Musical composer and honorary chairperson of Fidelity FutureStage.

The Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest, a joint initiative of Fidelity Investments® and Billy Elliot the Musical, was created to give students throughout the NYC metro area encouragement and opportunity to participate in the theater arts. 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 contest was open to all high school students attending school in the NYC and surrounding counties in NY and NJ.

Hendricks, a 17-year old junior at Mamaronack High School in Westchester, NY, won the competition with Driver's Education, a comedic character study about a chatty cab driver, his daughter, and some interesting passengers who teach them important life lessons. Driver's Education will be performed at the Imperial Theatre, home of Billy Elliot the Musical, on June 15, as part of the Fidelity FutureStage Finale event, hosted by entertainment icon Queen Latifah.

"I can't imagine what it's going to be like to see my play on Broadway. I might fall over in the theater," said Hendricks.

Hendricks' play was actually inspired by a cab ride en route to see her older sister perform in a play at New York's Tisch School of the Arts. Hendricks will also be attending college for theater this fall.

More than 500 plays were submitted to the Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest 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.

Hendrick's 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 Award winner Gregory Jbara, who plays the character of 'Dad'. Rounding out the judges was Fidelity FutureStage Finale Director Michael Bush.

Leading up to the June 15 Fidelity FutureStage Finale, Hendricks will work with B.T. McNicholl (Resident Director of Billy Elliot the Musical), Nora Brennan (Children's Casting Director for Billy Elliot the Musical) and other members of the Billy Elliot the Musical creative team to ready her play for the Broadway stage. The world premiere of Hendrick's play, Driver's Education, will feature Tony-nominee Gregg Edelman (Wonderful Town), Georgi James (A Tale of Two cities), Heidi Blickenstaff (Title of Show) and Heather Ayers (Young Frankenstein).

Fidelity and Billy Elliot the Musical worked with education partner Camp Broadway® to manage the Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest. The contest is a new extension this year of Fidelity FutureStage, an arts education program that brings 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. For more information, visit www.FutureStage.com.

Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of nearly $2.7 trillion, including managed assets of $1.3 trillion as of April 30, 2009. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and human resources and benefits outsourcing services to over 20 million individuals and institutions as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms. The firm is the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, the largest mutual fund supermarket and a leading online brokerage firm. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.

Billy Elliot the Musical opened to rave reviews at Broadway's Imperial Theatre (240 West 45th Street) in November 2008 and has since gone on to win 10 Tony Awards including the award for best musical and a joint best actor award for the three young boys who share the title role of 'Billy Elliot' - David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish. Based on the critically acclaimed film of 2000, Billy Elliot is the funny, heart-warming tale of a young boy with a dream, and a celebration of his triumph against the odds. Set against the historic British miners' strike of the 1980s, the story follows Billy's journey as a boy in a small mining town who, after stumbling across a ballet class while on his way to a boxing lesson, realizes that his future lays not in the boxing ring but on stage as a dancer. Billy Elliot is brought to life by the film's original creative team - director Stephen Daldry, choreographer Peter Darling, and writer Lee Hall - joined by music legend Elton John who wrote the score. The show has played to over 3.5 million people worldwide since its London premiere in 2005. Billy Elliot the Musical is presented by Universal Pictures Stage productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions in association with Weinstein Live Entertainment, based on the Universal Pictures/Studio Canal film. In support of the Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest, Billy Elliot the Musical is offering a special discount ticket rate for students, starting at $40. Group rates for classes are also available. For more information, visit www.billyelliotbroadway.com.

 

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