23nd Annual Young Playwrights Competition Now Accepting Entries

The Theater Project is encouraging New Jersey’s creative young people to enter its 23rd annual Young Playwrights Competition. The deadline for submissions is January 24.
 
 “We want to make sure that young playwrights know their creative efforts are valued by showcasing them for the community,” said Kevin Carver, program coordinator. “Making it an online event allows them to share their work with friends anywhere around the country and beyond. Arts education sometimes gets short-changed as schools struggle to meet so many demands. But when students lose out on arts experiences, they miss opportunities to develop critical thinking skills that are needed now more than ever.”
 
First-, second-, and third-prize winners will receive cash awards and see their work performed by professional actors at the Zoom awards ceremony in the spring. Playwrights earning an honorable mention will receive gift certificates. The Joseph Curka Award, which the annual winners receive, was named for her late husband by Marion Curka, one of the earliest supporters of The Theater Project. The Young Playwrights Competition is made possible in part by grants from the Lillian Schenck Foundation and Citizens Bank.
 
Interested students and teachers may find submission guidelines, videos, and podcasts with last year’s winners at www.TheTheaterProject.org.
  
The Theater Project works with its “alumni” winners to find other venues for their work, such as sponsoring them in other competitions, like the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival in New York City. Several past winners of the Young Playwrights Competition have gone on to pursue degrees in theater and playwriting, and they often return to The Theater Project’s event to present prizes and share their journeys with the newest honorees. The judges, all members of The Theater Project’s Adult Playwrights Workshop, offer half-hour tutorials to any interested contest entrant.
 
The honorees at last year’s event were as follows:

First Prize:
August Sullivan, Communications High School, Wall Township
 
Second Prize (a tie): 
Karma Beech-Wilson, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy, Elizabeth,
and
Merinrose Cheriyan, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack
 
Third Prize:
Jaylen Mingo, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy, Elizabeth

Honorable Mentions:
Everett Bologna, West Morris Mendham High School
Elena Gergis, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack
Jack LaRocca, Communications High School, Wall Township
Allison Lee, East Brunswick High School
Kirsten Marcelin, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack
Katrina Migliore, Communications High School, Wall Township
Allison Quinn, Communications High School, Wall Township
Mia Ulrich, Governor Livingston High School, Berkeley Heights

Founded in 1994 and based in Union, The Theater Project introduces New Jersey audiences to new plays and supports rising playwrights and theater artists. It develops new audiences for theater by service to the community, providing programs for children, and using theater as a forum to address current issues.

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