BWW Previews: THINKTANK DEBUTS TYA PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL AND GEN NEXT FESTIVAL at Stageworks Theatre

After sifting through over 300 submissions from the U.S. and Canada, a dedicated, diverse panel of ThinkTank Theatre readers selected two full-length plays by professional playwrights and three short plays by youth writers to debut in the 2021 TYA Playwrights Festival and Gen Next Festival on July 10 at Stageworks Theatre as a free event.

Under Ryan Bernier Festival director and assisted by Maddie Levine, all five shows will debut as active staged readings, with some blocking and scripts in hand. The theatre was gifted a $5000 grant from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Board of Hillsborough County Commissioners to produce this festival. The Gobioff Foundation stepped in to give each playwright an honorarium. Donna and David Smith offered their home to the out-of-state playwrights to be housed during the festival's run.

ThinkTank Theatre is proud to fill a unique niche that allows young audiences to see themselves and their stories reflected on stage in a modern, inspirational way.

"We were looking for plays that were progressive and forward-thinking. It's family-friendly theatre, but not necessarily children's theatre. We do young people, young adults' family theatre," explained artistic director Georgia Guy. "While children's theatre is very well covered in the Tampa Bay area, we feel this is the middle ground that's really missing for middle school and high school students to be able to access on a more consistent basis. Kids live in a much more mature world, and they have to face much more mature things early on. We love to do more mature thematic elements on stage."

Georgia said that a whole world of theatre was being missed by not reaching out to this particular audience.

Directed by Ryan, opening the festival showcase at 1 pm on Saturday is the Gen Next Festival featuring three ten-minute plays written by teen playwrights Ava Shimmel, Noah Perez, and Carly Kuck.

Next Gen Festival features Carly, Noah, Sydney Reddish, Jamey Feshold, Layla Kuck, Maddie Levine, Jadon Milne, and Sofia Pickford in the three productions. Ava's Be Punctual tells the story of a day in the life of a high school student who wants to write what she loves. Her only problem is school. Noah's Strawberry Clouds examines how two families learn to connect after a life-changing accident while navigating loss, love, and strawberry milkshakes. While work is hard, Carly's A Negotiation shows working with someone you're trying to flirt with is even harder.

The first adult-written submission by German Shames debuts at 4 pm and features Kaylee Tupper Miller, Jaime Giangrande-Holcom, Lillian Almodavar, Blake Smallen, and Brittany Bramwell, stage-managed by Ryan Sturm and assisted by Layla.

Directed by Jessy Minson and assisted by Carly, A Year of Thirteen Moons is about an amateur astronomer, Sam Baron, who turns 13 on a year of 13 moons. As each successive moon waxes and wanes, she confronts a new revelation and learns that life on planet Earth may be every bit as awesome and mysterious as a night in outer space. It is a cosmic coming-of-age story about secrets, forgiveness, and the power of even the most mismatched family to re-invent itself.

The festival closes with the 7:30 pm premiere of Exhibits in the Zoo by Matthew Harmon and directed by Brendan Ragan. The play, assistant-directed by Sofia Pickford, features Noah, Emily Belvo, Landon Green, Colleen Cherry, Derrick Phillips, Jadon Milne, and Brilee Gold, staged-managed by Jessie Dorsey and assisted by Caswell Shamblin.

Mendel is an imaginative, bright boy that finds joy in the most unlikely places. The only thing keeping this joy contained is the German occupation of his home city in Warsaw, Poland. When Mendel finds a German soldier's camera while begging in the Plac, a new world is unlocked for him where he sees things as he wishes to see them. However, his parents know this camera, coupled with Mendel's inability to produce vocalized sound, make him a target. As Mendel, his parents, and everyone around them grapple with the dangers of imagination under persecution, Mendel refuses to let his dreams be crushed.

Dramatagures Chelsea Gomez and Brianna Larson will facilitate a talkback with the full-length production playwrights and audience following each production. The goal is to select one of these two full-length plays to be a fully-produced piece in ThinkTank's 2022 season.

"Based on our research, this is one of the only festivals to focus on TYA material. There's a very strange veil that exists in theatre - how do you write more progressive, more mature content for young people and their families and make it approachable in a theatre setting? We think it's a great challenge," said Georgia. "If seeing a play leads to having a discussion at the dinner table in a way that parents and children sometimes don't feel comfortable - what a beautiful way for art to start conversation between young people and their families."

The 2021 TYA Playwrights Festival and Gen Next Festival begins at 1 pm on July 10 at Stageworks Theatre. Though the event is free, registration is required, and donations are accepted. Learn more at https://www.thinktanktya.org and register at https://forms.gle/3einAZeQzbKqhpMr9.

To post a comment, you must register and login.