Chicago Young Playwrights Festival

A Chicago tradition and the oldest of its kind in the country, the Chicago Young Playwrights Festival celebrates over twenty years of giving voice to budding young playwrights within the city. Of the 5000 participants and nearly 1,000 playwright submissions for the 2007-2008 season, four winning plays were chosen to debut on the Pegasus stage. These plays, written by Chicago high school students, provide a window into the thoughts of today’s youth as they explore ideas that matter most to them.

THE WINNERS

Laura Fernandez
Blooming Flowers in Weeds
Lane Technical High School
A mysterious young girl frequents the Pig’s Hut southern diner where she sits by the window and reads. One day, a friendly waitress, Candy, approaches the teenager, gets her to open up and discovers more than she bargained for.

Molly McAndrew
A Rose in the Royal Court
Northside College Prep
One night in Queen Elizabeth’s garden Rosaline secretly waits for her suitor Jacob. Instead she meets and is wooed by William Shakespeare, and becomes his muse.

Claire Rychlewski
Coffee Girl
Von Steuben Metropolitan High School
Margaret, a 9-year-old slave, returns to the "big house" to retrieve her shoes after giving them to the plantation owner’s volatile wife, who promised to have them mended.

Sarah Winters
Daydream Nation
Northside College Prep
Winter’s play is comprised of two short companion pieces centered on "characters’ interactions with the indie band Sonic Youth’s album, Daydream Nation, and the truth and strains of being teenage.”