24th Annual Madison Young Playwrights Festival Held 3/6

Playwrights Theatre is pleased to announce the 24th Annual Madison Young Playwrights Festival will be held on Saturday, March 6 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The Madison Young Playwrights Festival brings to life the work of young playwrights who completed a play as part of a 12-week playwriting program conducted by Playwrights Theatre in the Central Avenue School, Kings Road School, Torey J. Sabatini School, Madison Junior School and St. Vincent Martyr School. From the 49 plays written, 16 plays were chosen and these plays will be presented with professional actors and directors.

The Festival is divided into two sessions. Attendees can attend one or both sessions. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students for one session or $15 for adults and $7.50 for students to attend both sessions. For tickets, visit www.ptnj.org or call the box office at 973-514-1787 X34. The Festival will take place at Playwrights Theatre, 33 Green Village Road in Madison, NJ.

"There is a great variety in the plays selected for the Festival this year. These scripts provide a unique insight into the views and imaginations of the young people of Madison," said Jim DeVivo, Director of Education. "I look forward to continued development of these scripts and to the further participation of the playwrights during the rehearsal process."

In addition to the Festival, the plays will be performed at each school during the Festival week. On Thursday, March 4, the plays will be presented at St. Vincent Martyr School at 10am and Central Avenue School at 1:30pm. On Friday, March 5, plays from Torey J. Sabatini School will be presented at 10am and Kings Road School at 1:15pm. The performance at the Madison Junior School will be scheduled at a later date.

On Monday, February 22 at 8:00pm, Mary-Anna Holden, Mayor of Madison, will proclaim March "Madison Young Playwrights Month". The proclamation will be held at the Bayley-Ellard High School, 205 Madison Avenue at the start of the council meeting in Room 320.

"We are very proud of the work these students have done," said John Pietrowski, Artistic Director. "The plays are invariably funny and moving. We hope to see a lot of our community out here supporting the work of these creative writers."

The following student's plays will be presented this year:

The Ocean by Anna Morgan (Central Avenue School)
School President by Ivana Nikodijevic (Central Avenue School)
The Newspaper by Maggie Price (Central Avenue School)
Carl and the Earth by Max Dreitlein (St. Vincent Martyr School)

The Bully Who Was Bullied by Andrew Gannon (St. Vincent Martyr School)
The Haunted House by Sarah Vincent (St. Vincent Martyr School)
The Lollipopman by Rob J. Bazaral (Torey J. Sabatini School)
Ran Out of Time by Lydia Muntone (Torey J. Sabatini School)

One Halloween Night by Kate O'Keefe (Torey J. Sabatini School)
Mission: Impossible by Erin Collett (Kings Road School)
Violet's Life Adventure by Kelly Notine (Kings Road School)
Home...Alone by Chole Youn (Kings Road School)

The Teacher's Pet by Caroline Abruzzo (Madison Junior School)
The Coin by Adam Klein (Madison Junior School)
Our Boat by Brennan Metcalf (Madison Junior School)
A Newsboy, a Time Machine and Mystery by Grace Van Cleef (Madison Junior School)

Carolyn Hunt is currently teaching a playwriting residence at Madison High School. They will present an in school staged reading of select plays when the residency concludes in April.

Throughout the year, Playwrights Theatre placed teaching artists in the aforementioned schools in Madison. At specific points in the residency, parents were invited to listen to the works in progress at roundtable readings. These teaching artists and the program are a part of Playwrights Theatre's Madison Young Playwrights Program, a partnership with the Madison Board of Education and an initiative of the New Jersey Writers Project, Artists-in-the-Schools, a co-sponsored program with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Playwrights Theatre's New Jersey Writers Project brings seasoned teaching artists into the classroom to help students and teachers discover the joy of writing, performing and being creative. Educators and Parent Teacher Organizations have discovered that a professional writer in the classroom greatly enhances skills not only in reading and writing, but across the curriculum as well. In addition to in-school residencies, after-school programs and residencies completely in Spanish are available, as well as Professional Development workshops and seminars for teachers, licensed by the New Jersey Department of Education. Nationally recognized for its achievements, Playwrights Theatre educational programs reaches over 15,000 children annually in all of New Jersey's 21 counties.

For more information about the Madison Young Playwrights Festival, Playwrights Theatre mainstage series, Creative Arts Academy classes for children, teens and adults at the theatre, Summer Camp, in-school residencies or FORUM reading series, please visit www.ptnj.org or call (973) 514-1787 X10.

Funding for the Madison Young Playwrights Festival is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/A Partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the F.M. Kirby Foundation, The Community Foundation of New Jersey, Travelers Foundation, Dalba Goeller and Company, LLP, Investors Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, The Pearsall Family Foundation, Madison Rotary Clubs, and the Madison Board of Education.

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