City Theatre Announces Winners Of The 2023 Young Playwrights Contest

City Theatre has announced the winners of the 2023 Young Playwrights Contest. For the past 24 years, City Theatre has held a regional playwrighting contest for students in grades 7-12. The winners will have their plays professionally produced by City Theatre, as well as published in the Young Playwrights Anthology.  

“City Theatre's Young Playwrights Contest received over 250 submissions in 2023, making it difficult to choose our winners this year!” says Katie Trupiano, Director of Education & Accessibility. “We're elated to be sharing these young playwrights' unique stories with our student and public audiences.” 

The three winning middle school plays include: Change is Challenging by Bella Bischof (7th grade, Keystone Oaks Middle School), Good Soup by Madelyn Koehler (7th grade, Keystone Oaks Middle School), and The Silver Stamped Letters by Tyler Dufalla (8th grade, Belle Vernon Middle School). The three winning high school plays are: Of Birds and Worms by Andrew Hall (10th grade, Westinghouse Arts Academy), One Hell of an Intern by Danielle Swearingen (11th grade, PPS CAPA 6-12), and Trolley by Cherish Erb-White (10th grade, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School).  

Three honorable mention scripts were also announced; these plays will receive a staged reading of their play that is available to the public. Honorable mentions include: Bizarro Pizarro by Max Brown (8th grade, Brentwood), Save Themby Jonathan Pennybaker (9th grade, Alumni Theatre Company), and  The Devil Made Me Do It by Brooke Reiter (10th grade, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School).  

The Young Playwrights Festival will take place October 24 – November 3, 2023 with public performances on October 28th and 29th.  

ABOUT THE PLAYS:  

HIGH SCHOOL 

Of Birds and Worms - Andrew Hall (10th grade, Westinghouse Arts Academy) 

Bird and Worm aren't destined to be friends. So why do they seem to be just what each other needs? This witty play explores their unlikely bond and reminds us how friendship can bloom in the most unexpected places. 

One Hell of an Intern - Danielle Swearingen (11th grade, PPS CAPA 6-12) 

Liam is an intern in Hell, contractually obligated to cause havoc in people's lives. But when doing good seems to happen for him on accident, he starts to realize that this internship may not be allowing him to live up to his full potential. 

Trolley – Cherish Erb-White (10th grade, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School) 

This compelling, thought-provoking play takes us to “The Middle”, a temporary dimension everyone must encounter after they die, where Drea has just woken up unexpectedly. Startled and confused, she must make a decision that will determine far more than just her own fate. 

MIDDLE SCHOOL 

Change is Challenging - Bella Bischof (7th grade, Keystone Oaks Middle School) 

Audrina is a girl who hates change. She hasn't cut her hair since she was a child and still refuses to cut it, even though it is now overwhelmed with dead ends and tangles! As Audrina struggles to accept the need for change, her hair itself might turn out to be just the voice of reason she needs. 

Good Soup - Madelyn Koehler (7th grade, Keystone Oaks Middle School) 

Day in and day out, Waiter serves soup to customers who can't stop raving about how delicious it is. But every day, he is tragically never allowed to try it for himself and enough is enough. How far will he go for a taste? 

The Silver Stamped Letters - Tyler Dufalla (8th grade, Belle Vernon Middle School) 

Loraine has been receiving strange letters, each containing play scripts of her life from the day before. Determined to find out who and what is behind them, she teams up with her friend, Spencer, to uncover puzzling secrets about their town, unaware that what they find could transform reality for good. 

Founded in 1975, City Theatre is in its 49th season as Pittsburgh's home for bold new plays. Located in the historic South Side on its five-building cultural campus, the company produces a season of new works. City Theatre's mission is to provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays that engage and challenge a diverse audience. Its vision is to be the best mid-sized theater in America. Organizational core values are: Community; Collaboration; Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility; and Creativity. With a full-time staff numbering 24 and an annual average operating budget of $3 million, City Theatre is the largest performing arts organization not located in Pittsburgh's downtown Cultural District and is a constituent and core member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), and the National New Play Network (NNPN). In August 2021, City Theatre announced a re-structuring of the artistic director position, elevating current staff members Clare Drobot and Monteze Freeland to Co-Artistic Directors with Marc Masterson, who had held the title of singular artistic director since 2018. The trio join Managing Director James McNeel as co-leaders of the organization. It is governed by a board of 24 community volunteers (Caitlin Green, board president).  

City Theatre has received significant general operating support and/or recent Covid emergency funding from the Allegheny Foundation, Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD), The Heinz Endowments, Hillman Family Foundations, Richard King Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Opportunity Fund, The Pittsburgh Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, the Shubert Foundation, the SBA's Shuttered Venues Operating Grant program, and an anonymous funder.

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