Burning Coal Theatre Announces KIDSWRITE! FESTIVAL 2023, May 27- 28

Burning Coal Theatre Company presents Kidswrite 2023, a festival of new plays written by youngsters from 6th to 12th grades, May 27th and 28th at 2 pm at Burning Coal Theatre, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC 27604. Tickets are $10 and are available at https://burningcoal.org/kidswrite-festival/ or at the door.

Burning Coal Theatre Company's KidsWrite! Festival, which began in 2004, is a celebration of plays written by 6th-12th graders residing in Wake and thirteen surrounding counties. Students submit one-act plays, and with a team of professional theatre makers, Burning Coal produces selected scripts. After reviewing this year's submissions, Burning Coal Theatre Company is pleased to announce accepted scripts and directors for KidsWrite 2023.

Due to the number of scripts received this year, Kidswrite will be divided into 3 acts. Act 1, directed by Josue Ruiz Elizondo starts the festival with 2 pieces, Lost Within One's Own Mind, by Dana Anger, and They Weep for Us, by Emma Briceno. Act 2, directed by Amy Lloyd, will feature 3 pieces, Who Did It, written by Neil Joshi, The Wild Dream, by Jasmine Rigda, and Going Up, by Caleb van Doornewaard. Act 3, under the direction of Allison Nicole Acuff, includes In the Courtyard, by Ellene Warner, Damn Cigarettes, by Izzy Richman, Velious, by Addison Florio, and Overdue, by Nina Ridley Clayton.

The writers for KidsWrite 2023 are Neil Joshi (Davis Drive Middle School), Jasmine Rigda (Franklin Academy), Caleb van Doornewaard (Wake Forest High School) , Ellene Warner (Ravenscroft School), Izzy Richman (Enloe Magnet High School), Addison Florio (Athens Drive Magnet High School), Nina Ridley Clayton (Longleaf School of the Arts), Dana Anger (Panther Creek High School), and Emma Briceno (Wake Forest High School). This year's cohort spans from seventh to 12th grade. A few scripts explored similar genres, including murder mystery, and action adventure. Other pieces share themes of loss and struggling with mental health.

Each act of KidsWrite Festival 2023 has its own director. JOSUE RUIZ ELIZONDO appeared last in Burning Coal Theatre's outdoor production of David Edgar's Galileo. AMY LLOYD is delighted to be directing for Kidswrite for a third year. She first stepped onto stage as an actress in Illuminated Dresses and went on to direct "UnbeliEVE" in 2020. She then directed KidsWrite virtually in 2021. Her work continues as director/ choreographer at Area Children's Theatre and Starbright Players. She has appeared in independent films and web series and her plays have been produced both here in Raleigh and in Los Angeles. ALLISON NICOLE ACUF, a visionary, iconoclastic, and playful director with a Masters in Shakespeare & Creativity from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Allison is a multi-hyphenate creative specializing in Shakespeare, immersive theatre, and film. An off-Broadway, award-winning director, Allison has trained and worked alongside some of the top companies and professionals in the industry, including London's Complicité, the RSC, and Shakespeare's Globe. Allison attended The National Theatre Institute for Advanced Directing and received a bachelor's degree with honors in both English and Theatre. She is excited to be joining the KidsWrite team in her debut production with Burning Coal Theatre Company.

Burning Coal Theatre Company is an intimate, professional theater and an incorporated non-profit (501(c)(3) organization in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Burning Coal's mission is to produce literate, visceral, affecting theater that is experienced, not simply seen. It produces explosive reexaminations of overlooked classic and modern plays, as well as new plays whose themes and issues are of immediate concern to our audience, using the best local, national, and International Artists available. The company works toward a theater of high-energy performances and minimalist production values. Race and gender non-specific casting is an integral component of Burning Coal's perspective, as well as a clear viewpoint. The emphasis is on literate works that are felt and experienced viscerally to create an active role for the audience, unlike more traditional linear plays, at which audiences are most often asked to observe without participating.

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