Cast Revealed For Week Two of the Black Theatre's 31st Annual Young Playwrights Festival

Casting has been announced for week two of The Blank Theatre’s 31st Annual Young Playwrights Festival. The next three of 12 winning plays by young playwrights aged 15–19 will be presented, for the first time since 2019, live on stage July 13–16. The plays are An Actor Recalls by Anna Parker (age 15, from Houston, TX); Dinner on the Champs-Élysées by Sammy Shames (age 16, Toluca Lake, CA), and Life Review by Lola Podolner (age 15, from La Grange, IL).
 
An Actor Recalls will feature (in alphabetical order) Tess Aubert (S.W.A.T., Mr. Mayor, NCIS, Atypical), Kameron J. Brown (S.W.A.T., A Black College Show, Troop 491: The Adventures of Muddy Lions), and Nevin Millan (War Gods and Warrior Saints, Battles BC, Fire Pockets podcast). During a theatre rehearsal, two actors are confronted with the challenges of vulnerability until the director sends them into a spiral as he confronts his own failures. Yes, it’s meta, but it’s also hilarious. The playwright was mentored by Kit Steinkellner. Directed by Cate Caplin.
           
Dinner on the Champs-Élysées will feature (in alphabetical order) Jacquelyn Rosati and Jeff Witzke (The Goldbergs, Henry Danger, Jane the Virgin, Marvel: Runaways, the video game Immortality). The play finds two old friends rekindling in Paris — Danny, a former actor who now prides himself on having a stable, boring career, and Martha, a woman who had a midlife crisis at 35 and now resides in the 5th Arrondissement. They exchange anecdotes and discuss what it means to be friends, begging the question, “Can you change someone after they’ve already decided who they are?” The playwright was mentored by Penelope Lowder. Directed by Carol Jones Potter.
 
Life Review will feature (in alphabetical order) Shalini Bathina (Little Voice, Long Slow Exhale, How I Met Your Father), Cade Holbrook (Romeo and Juliet, Doubt, short film Baby Blues), Helen Madelyn Kim (American Princess, Station 19, Bosch, Marvel’s Runaways), and Pej Vahdat (The Old Man, Bones, Shameless, City on a Hill). What’s it like when your life flashes before your eyes? Ange has fallen off her bike and is about to find out. The playwright was mentored by Jenna Martin. Directed by Michael Shepperd.
 
Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended and may be made online at www.theblank.com. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 N. Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, 90027.

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