The Blank Theatre Announces Winners of Young Playwrights Festival
The Blank Theatre’s Nationwide Young Playwrights Festival has chosen 12 plays by young playwrights, aged 9 -19, from nine different states. These plays will be presented by professional actors and directors in this year’s festival at The Stella Adler Theatre, May 31 – June 24.
This year’s winning plays are:
Coffee Talk by Spencer Opal-Levine, Sarasota, FL, age 9, Dammit! by David Agronin, Owings Mills, MD, age 17, Bear in Mind by Emma Steinkellner, Santa Barbara, CA, age 17, The Art of Losing by Nicole Acton, Interlochen, MI, age 18, ARC by Elana Zeltser, Sherman Oaks, CA, age 16, The Index by Zachary Weaver, Overland Park, KS, age 19, Other People’s Organs by Paige Roth, San Antonio, TX, age 18, Scrapbook by Brendan Blaber, Indian Head Park, IL, age 17; The Grant Proposal by Nick Mecikalski, Madison, AL, age 18; One Plus One Is Four by Rachel Kaly, Forest Hills, NY, age 16, Princess by Kate Herzlin, Rockville Centre, NY, age 19, and The Cardioluthier by Dylan Zwickel, Manhattan Beach, CA, age 19.
This year’s winners join alumni that includes 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam, and Adam Cochran, who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in NYC for Outstanding Music in a Play in 2011.
A panel of theatre professionals chose from over 200 plays submitted by teenagers across the nation. Winning playwrights are next assigned a mentor, and then a professional director who will help them hone their scripts for four public performances with professional actors. This year’s mentors include David Rambo, John Cariani, Dave Holstein, and Ellen Byron. Over the past 19 years, The Blank has produced 220 plays by teenaged playwrights.
