Plays For New Audiences Announces New Titles By Playwright Anne Negri

Plays for New Audiences (PNA), the script licensing division for the Tony Award-winning Children's Theatre Company (the flagship theatre for young audiences in North America), has announced the availability of new titles by acclaimed playwright Anne Negri (Maddi's Fridge).  

“We are thrilled to welcome Anne Negri and 5 of her incredible plays into the PNA catalogue,” said Karli Twedten, Director of Plays for New Audiences. “With a fresh and unique voice, Anne's work shows a profound understanding of empathy, community, and the universal experiences of young people. We are excited to embark on this creative journey together and look forward to sharing Anne's exceptional work on stages around the world.”  

“I'm always excited for any opportunity to share my original and adapted stories with young people,” said Anne Negri. “Writing theatre for young people is the most rewarding experience because young people are so open and eager to engage with stories. Often my play might be the very first play a young person has ever seen.  With that in mind, I believe my responsibility as a playwright is to write stories that will inspire young people to think, feel, and wrestle with life's big questions.”    

Titles Now Available:  

Maddi's Fridge By Anne Negri

 

Based on the book by Lois Brandt Illustrated by Vin Vogel   Best friends Sofia and Maddi live in the same neighborhood, go to the same school, and play in the same park. But when Sofia learns a secret about Maddi's fridge, she's faced with a difficult decision: to keep her promise or tell her parents about Maddi's empty fridge. Based on the book by Lois Brandt, this heartwarming and hilarious play is a story about honesty, sensitivity and instilling important lessons in friendship, empathy and helping others!  

The World Premiere of Maddi's Fridge took place at Childsplay in Tempe, AZ.  

"Years ago when I opened my best friend, Liz's, refrigerator I felt that the entire world had failed me. What kind of world do we live in where my best friend and her little brother didn't have enough to eat?" writes Lois Brandt, author of the original children's book Maddi's Fridge. "But now, the people at Childsplay have found the story that my eleven-year-old self wanted to shout out to the world. Here, in one of the richest countries in the world, our friends and our neighbors are struggling to feed their children."  

Oz: The Land that Time Forgot

 

By Anne Negri and Craig Kosnik  

It's been almost one hundred years since anyone from the outside world has stepped foot in Oz. In that time, things have changed for the worse….a new ruler, the Demented Dodo, has overthrown the Ozian government, and he cannot be stopped. Meanwhile back on earth, Clea has been elected student council president, and the new principal of Gale Junior High is implementing ridiculous new rules. As a thunderstorm rages on, Clea and the school mascot, Ferret-o, are transported to the land of Oz. Can Clea and her pal Ferret-o save Oz and also make changes for the better at her middle school?   

The World Premiere of Oz: The Land that Time Forgot took place at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix, AZ.

Girls Who Wear Glasses By Anne Negri  

 

Growing up is hard enough, navigating friendship, school and parents. But when Mira has to get glasses, it is the last straw. As she deals with old friends who are suddenly only interested in popularity and new friends who want her to be more like them, Mira has to decide who she really wants to be. With the help of her glasses, she starts to see clearly in more ways than one, as she learns to stand up for herself in this humorous story about fitting in, friendship and frames. 

The World Premiere of Girls Who Wear Glasses took place at Childsplay in Tempe, AZ.

The JunGirl Book By Anne Negri

Based on the story by Rudyard Kipling

This adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's tale puts a fresh twist on an old story with a female protagonist. As Girl navigates the wild jungle, she forges unbreakable bonds with her animal friends, each teaching her invaluable life lessons about friendship, courage, and the importance of respecting nature. Together, they face thrilling challenges, confront the fearsome tiger Shere Khan, and uncover the secrets of the jungle's hidden treasures.

The JunGirl Book celebrates the strength, resilience, and determination of a young girl as she discovers her place in the world and learns to protect the beauty and wonder of the wilderness.

Cave Boys 

 

by Anne Negri

In September of 1940, after Germany's occupation of France, a ragtag group of boys in southern France find a mysterious hole in the ground that leads to an underground cave. Instead of the anticipated treasure, they find strange drawings on the cave walls. As the explore the walls and the powerful paintings, their bonds of friendships are tested a they try to keep the cave a secret. When the boys finally convince their teacher to enter the cave, they learn that they've stumbled upon the most significant site of prehistoric art known to modern humans. 

The World Premiere of Cave Boys took place at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix, AZ.

Anne Negri is a Drama Specialist in the Evanston public schools and a playwright for young audiences.  Anne holds degrees from Ripon College (BA) and Arizona State University (MFA). Negri has written over ten plays for young audiences. Her award-winning play, With Two Wings (Dramatic Publishing), has been produced nationally (Childsplay, Northwestern University, Hangar Theater, The Growing Stage) and internationally (Theatre Ma in Tokyo, Japan,The National University of Tainan, Taiwan). Other world premiere plays include Maddi's Fridge (Childsplay), Girls Who Wear Glasses (Childsplay), and Cave Boys and Oz: The Land That Time Forgot (Paradise Valley Community College). The JunGirl Book has been performed by young people around the country (DC Ranch, The Rose Theatre, PVCC). Other plays include: Robyn Hood, Not a Test, The Transfer Student, The Dancing Dog! Three short plays are published and anthologized: The Case of the Missing Rooster, and A Portal to Fairytale Kingdom (YouthPLAYS) and Stay Peculiar (Dramatic Publishing). 

Plays for New Audiences (PNA) licenses quality scripts for multigenerational audiences and actors. Written by some of the world's most extraordinary playwrights including 4 of the top 10 most-produced Theatre for Young Audiences playwrights, PNA's 300+ show catalog features plays and musicals for any programming need. A division of Children's Theatre Company, PNA offers contemporary stories and reimagined classics that are topical, relevant, and even fantastical. As a non-profit licensing company, all profits are invested back into supporting artists and creating new work. 

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is the nation's largest and most acclaimed theatre for young people and serves a multigenerational audience. It creates theatre experiences that educate, challenge, and inspire for more than 250,000 people annually. CTC is the only theatre focused on young audiences to win the coveted Tony Award for regional theatre and is the only theatre in Minnesota to receive three Tony nominations (for its production of A Year with Frog and Toad). CTC is committed to creating world-class productions at the highest level and to developing new works, more than 200 to date, dramatically changing the canon of work for young audiences.   

CTC's engagement and learning programs annually serve more than 93,000 young people and their communities through Theatre Arts Training, student matinees, and early childhood arts education programs. ACT One is CTC's comprehensive platform for access, diversity, and inclusion in our audiences, programs, staff, and board that strives to ensure the theatre is a home for all people, all families, reflective of our community. childrenstheatre.org.

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