Trinity Rep Announces Playwriting Contest Winners

The winners of Trinity Rep's tenth annual playwriting competition for New England high school students, Write Here! Write Now!, have been announced: Ramona Boyd (Lincoln School in Providence, RI), Tosin George (Cranston High School East, Cranston, RI), Charlie Boucher (LaSalle Academy, Cranston, RI), and Philip Byrnes (Dighton Rehoboth High School, Dighton, MA). More information can be found at www.trinityrep.com/whwn.

The winning plays will be showcased online on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 7:30 pm ET on a special episode of the new play development series, The Writer's Room. Each of the four plays will be read by actors and the young writers will discuss their plays. Free registration for this event is available at www.trinityrep.com/whwn.

Write Here! Write Now! is a part of the expansive educational initiatives at Trinity Rep. Creative writing, English, and theater teachers from all high schools in New England are encouraged to incorporate playwriting into their classroom curriculum, and are provided lesson plans by Trinity Rep. Whether they complete their plays as part of a class or independently, students may submit up to two ten-minute plays free of charge to the Write Here! Write Now! competition. Each year, four winners are selected with at least one winner from a Providence, RI school.

Scripts are adjudicated through a blind evaluation process by Trinity Rep's education and artistic staff as well as guests from the community. Every play that is submitted will receive feedback to enhance the playwriting experience and aid in the development of the student's creative voice.

The winning plays receive further feedback as the writers engage in an in-depth dramaturgical look at their scripts. Winners also receive a scholarship towards any Trinity Rep Young Actors Studio afterschool class and 20 free tickets to a Project Discovery student matinee performance during a future season for their school. The four winning students will also be featured in an article in the spring issue of the Trinity Square magazine.

"We've found that giving high school students the opportunity to engage in playwriting has been an exciting opportunity for them to explore a form of expression that can feel more authentic, immediate, and true to their experience," says Matthew Tibbs, associate education director at Trinity Rep.

"This year, these young playwrights broadened their perspectives, even while experiencing unprecedented isolation." Trinity Rep's director of education and accessibility, Jordan Butterfield, adds, "It was a thrill to find human connection through these new works. The winning plays and honorable mentions represent a variety of voices, styles and themes that we haven't produced before."

This year's honorable mentions go to In G-d's Eyes by Samantha Brower (The Lincoln School, Providence, RI); Scratched by Bedros Kevorkian (Cranston HS East, Cranston, RI); and What I do at Night by KK Eydenberg (Applewild School, Groton, MA.)

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