Casting Announced For Weeks Four and Five of The Blank Theatre's 30th Annual Young Playwrights Festival

Casting has been announced for weeks four and five of The Blank Theatre's 30th Annual Young Playwrights Festival. Being presented as digital shorts, the final three of 12 winning plays by young playwrights aged 15-19 will be available to stream on Vimeo July 22- August 11. The plays in week four (July 29-August 4) are Last Will and Testament and Other Wild Frog Facts by Alethea Shirilan-Howlett (age 19, from Jamesville, NY) and Droplets Pellets Bullets by Isabel Beatriz Tongson (age 18, from Winter Park, FL). The YPF Plus (YPF+) play in week five (August 5-11) is Venus, and What Else is Nocturnal by Dylan Malloy (age 18, from Aliso Viejo, CA). This play is nearly ready for professional production and bridges The Blank's YPF and Living Room Series programs.

Last Will and Testament and Other Wild Frog Facts will feature (in alphabetical order) Sunkrish Bala (Silicon Valley, Castle, The Walking Dead, Shameless), Parvesh Cheena (Craig of the Creek, Shining Vale, The Owl House, Melon's House Party, Centaur World), Scott Lowell (Queer as Folk, American Dad!, Bones, Adoptable), Ash Maeda (My Love, On Set), and Meera Rohit Kumbhani (Donny, Weird Loners, Carpe Noctem, This is Us). A writer, a doctor, a science teacher, a student, and a Congresswoman discuss loss and untimely death with an animatronic frog during the reading of a will at a children's themed cafe. The playwright was mentored by Gary Tieche. Directed by Laura Stribling.

Droplets Pellets Bullets will feature (in alphabetical order) Davina Colaco (Ghost of Childhood), Gavin Lewis (Head of the Class, Little Fires Everywhere, Prince of Peoria, Just Jacques), Maddie Nichols (The Resident, The Outsider, 9-1-1), Madylin Sweeten (Everybody Loves Raymond, Gray's Anatomy, Lucifer), and Jeff Torres (The Guardians of Justice, S.W.A.T., Days of Our Lives). The play conceptually explores the phenomenon of false memories as often experienced by students and teachers who witness school shootings and recall vivid memories of the event that conflict with evidentiary accounts. The playwright was mentored by Lee Sherman. Directed by June Carryl.

Venus, and What Else is Nocturnal will feature (in alphabetical order) Lily Dominique, Reina Hardesty (Brockmire, The Flash, Start Up, Greenhouse Academy), Chase Liefeld (Sunnyside Up, Honor Student), and Sloane Morgan Siegel (Dwight in Shining Armor, NCIS, The Goldbergs). Jude has become shut in and isolated following the death of his brother Liam, the hometown hero. Liam and Jude both admired and adored one another so much that Liam's absence drives Jude into an obsession with weather, water, and chat rooms trying to discern if his feelings are rooted in grief, science, or cosmic destiny. The playwright was mentored by Kit Steinkellner. Directed by Victoria Hoffman.

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