MCC Theater Announces 2021 Youth Company FRESHPLAY FESTIVAL Lineup

MCC Theater announced today the lineup for the 2021 Youth Company FreshPlay Festival, which will be held online for free through MCC's On Demand Portal August 16-21, 2021.

The FreshPlay Festival is a collection of plays written by members of the MCC's Youth Company Playwriting Lab and selected for a full workshop process and staged reading. The Youth Company playwrights work side by side with seasoned directors, designers, dramaturgs, and actors to bring their plays to life in a weekend-long festival. The Festival and creative team is under the leadership of FreshPlay Artistic Director Lucy Thurber and FreshPlay Associate Artistic Director Ren Dara Santiago.

This year, the FreshPlay Festival will focus on the workshop process with five original plays penned by Playwriting Lab writers. These plays give young voices the opportunity to be center stage and reflect on this time where they were challenged and had every right to disengage and disconnect but continued to stick through it.

"If there was ever a time when we need to tune in to what young people have to say, it is right now," said MCC Theater's Director of Public Engagement & Education Tricia Patrick. "The topics that are broached in the plays are very much about connection, vulnerability and self-discovery, as well as deep sadness, loss and conflict. These writers are bold and brave and have not let any of the barriers erected by our current global situation stop them from expressing themselves and creating the worlds we have the privilege to explore during FreshPlay Festival."

The 2021 FreshPlay Festival:

FMK and It's Okay

By Anya Jiménez

Directed by Victor Cervantes Jr.

Fragments of the Mind

By Genesis A. Barthelemy

Directed by Amara Janae Brady

The Butterfly Effect

By Destiny Rivera

Directed by Julissa Contreras

Why We Run

By Christel Robinson

Directed by Ashley C. Turner

The Festival will also include Empowering Youth to Speak Their Truth: MCC Education At Work, a panel discussion on Tuesday August 17, 2021 at 6pm ET featuring current students and alumni, as well as teaching artists, speaking to how the program has impacted their artistry and their lives. The guests will include Will Cantler (MCC Co-Artistic Director), Lucy Thurber (Playwright and FreshPlay Artistic Director), Jodi Schneider (MCC Board Member and Education Committee Chair), Matthew Higgins (Teaching Artist). The panel will be moderated by MCC Theater's Denise Hughes and Tricia Patrick.

This discussion will take an inside look inside MCC's Education Program. MCC Theater continues to build on its 20-year legacy of arts education, meeting every student where they are, while innovating to adapt to the needs of the moment. There is no doubt that theater is a tool for change. As we all navigate the COVID -19 pandemic and how the isolation and loss has affected young people, we will discuss how the theater arts serves youth as a tool to process and create. Hear from current students and alumni of the program as well as teaching artists as to the impact of the program on their artistry and their lives. Hear them speak their truth.

FreshPlay Festival passes are free to the public and grant access to all of the plays and the panel discussion. The festival runs August 16-21, 2021 on MCC's On Demand Portal. For passes and more information, visit: MCCTheater.org/Education.

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