ThinkTank Theatre Hosts 4th Annual TYA Playwrights Festival

In this fourth season of our TYA Playwrights Festival, ThinkTank Theatre seeks to provide a platform for forward-thinking, diverse voices for young people and family audiences. ThinkTank's mission is to produce inspirational, captivating and forward-thinking professional theater with this audience base in mind.

This year's festival will be hosted by the JCC on the Cohn Campus located at 13009 Community Campus Dr, Tampa, FL 33625. The 2024 Playwrights Festival will feature three new plays in staged readings and one main stage production.

ThinkTank will produce the regional premiere of The Amphibians, written by Dan Caffery. The Amphibians, the main stage component of this year's festival, was a 2023 Festival Showcase Finalist. It's directed by Kara Gold-Harris and will feature a cast of local favorites including Jessica Janelle, Sofia Pickford and Young Artists' Ensemble Apprentice Company Members Kylan Cotton and Audrey Daniels.

Set thirteen years in the future, The Amphibians takes place in west central Florida shortly after we've, perhaps, passed the point of no return in the fight against climate change. Two high schoolers unearth a wondrous discovery in the woods, which leads to learning hard lessons about the evolution of friendship and what it means to take care of something at the end of the world. The Amphibians shows audiences the ever-changing landscape of friendship and the world around us.

Performances for The Amphibians take place: Thursday, August 22, at 7:30 pm (Preview), Saturday, August 24, at 7:30 pm (Talkback following the performance), and closes Sunday, August 25, at 6:00 pm. There is no Friday performance and seating is limited. Ticket prices range from $20 for students/artists and $30 for adults. All preview tickets are $20. The Amphibians is recommended for ages 13 and up due to mature themes and language. The run time of the performance is 85 mins with no intermission.

Selected from over 375 initial submissions, this festival is the culmination of a nation-wide search for some of the top rising Theatre for Young Audience plays of today. Three plays were selected as our 2024 Festival Showcase Finalists and will be presented as staged readings on Saturday, August 24, and Sunday, August 25.

Saturday, August 24, at 3:15 pm, we will kick off the 2024 Festival Showcase with the staged reading of The House of Flightless Birds, written by Baylee Shlichtman and directed by John Perez. This play was originally commissioned by Alter Theatre Ensemble (San Rafael, CA) as part of the 2020 First Acts Cohort.

When undiagnosed autistic Manuel tosses a wish to a satellite to make him feel less alone, an injured sparrow crashes from the heavens into his apartment patio. Manuel takes the bird inside to nurse it back to health in secret from his family, but all does not go according to plan. It's an eye-opening play about masculinity, family and care. The reading will feature a mix of local professional actors and YAE Company Members.

The second 2024 Festival Showcase Finalist, In Bloom, will be presented Saturday, August 24, at 5:30 pm. In Bloom is written by Gwyneth Strope and directed by Hannah Hockman. The reading will feature a mix of local professional actors and YAE Company Members.

In Bloom follows the story of Dorothy, who is raising four teenage girls all on her own, but when she meets someone at her mother's wedding, she begins the year-long journey towards her own. Through banter, brawls and journal entries, this play follows a pivotal year for the family and how they must stretch their deep love for one another in order to walk into the next chapter together.

A new addition to this year's festival is the Jewish Play Lab Showcase Finalist. This component of the festival was curated by ThinkTank's Festival Director, Sadie Lockhart, the Arts and Culture Director for the Tampa JCCs & Federation, Brandy Gold, and is sponsored by The Gould Family Philanthropic Fund at TOP Jewish Foundation. The recipient of the inaugural Jewish Play Lab Showcase is A Kreutzer Sonata. The play is written by Larry Rinkel and will be directed by Brandy Gold. A Kreutzer Sonata has been featured nationally at Manhattan Repertory Theatre, Secret Theatre UNFringed Festival (Long Island, NY), Modern Theater Classics of Long Island (Lindenhurst, NY), and Chaos Theatre Collective. The stage reading will be performed on Sunday, August 25, at 3:00 pm.

A Kreutzer Sonata shares the story of David Lindenbaum, a freshman Jewish piano major, who finds himself in a conflicted relationship with Elena Guerriero, the beautiful but volatile Italian-American violinist with whom he has been chosen to perform Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, but who is unwilling to take his religious beliefs seriously. Along the way he must also deal with a lovable but crass roommate, his no-nonsense piano teacher, his doctrinaire mother, and his apparently cold and distant father. Can this Orthodox Jewish student find a way to survive in the modern secular world? The reading will feature a mix of local professional actors and YAE Company Members.

All Festival Showcase readings are recommended for ages 11 and up due to mature themes and language. Each reading runs approximately 85 mins and will be followed by a discussion with the playwright, director and the cast.

Reserve your seat today for any of the 2024 Festival Showcase readings – The House of Flightless Birds, In Bloom and A Kreutzer Sonata. Reservations for the readings are Free/Pay-What-You-Can donation for general seating and $10 for reserved seating. If you purchase a $10 reserved seat for both Saturday, 8/24 readings - The House of Flightless Birds and In Bloom - you will receive a $5.00 concession voucher.

There is also a Playwright's Happy Hour Celebration in honor of our 2024 Festival Main Stage -The Amphibians – and Festival Showcase Readings - The House of Flightless Birds,

Tickets

In Bloom and A Kreutzer Sonata. This is a wonderful opportunity to mix, mingle and ask questions of our visiting playwrights. Tickets are $15 and include a drink voucher (Beer, Wine or Soda) and appetizers. A cash bar will be available as well for additional beverage purchases. Space is limited and the last day to purchase this ticket is Thursday, August 22, at 5:00 pm

ThinkTank and the JCC on the Cohn Campus are also partnering to offer a PlayFest Package for Sunday, August 25, which includes the staged reading of A Kreutzer Sonata (reserved seating at 3:00pm), our Playwright's Happy Hour at 5:00pm and the closing performance of The Amphibians for only $44 - a 20% savings. Space is limited and the last day to purchase this ticket is Thursday, August 22, at 5:00 pm

All tickets and seat reservations can be secured by visiting https://www.thinktanktya.org/season-23-24/2024tyaplayfest.

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