2017 Young Playwrights Project
PlayGround is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2017 Young Playwrights Contest – a second consecutive sweep for San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA)! PlayGround invited aspiring writers and theatre artists at the high school level to write and submit their own 10-minute plays inspired by the topic: WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT…. The four selected plays will each receive a professional staged reading, presented as a “curtain raiser” before select performances of the 21st Best of PlayGround Festival (https://playground-sf.org//bestof) at the newly-renovated Potrero Stage this week, May 18-21, 2017. PlayGround invites audiences to join in welcoming these bold new voices to the stage.
The selected plays/ finalists are: BARE ALL, BEAR ARMS by Camilla Dwyer (SOTA ’17), CRASH by Annais Guerroro (SOTA ‘19), PARLIAMENT by Cicely Henderson (SOTA ‘19), and ASSUMPTIONS by Chava Novogrodsky-Godt (SOTA ’20). This year’s honorable mention goes to Eric Tang (Galileo High School) for his play Sneaker Addict. Join us May 18-21 as we celebrate the work of these emerging young writers as a part of this year’s Best of PlayGround. For more info, visit https://playground-sf.org//youngplaywrights.
WHAT: Young Playwrights Contest Staged Readings
WHEN:
Thursday, May 18 @ 8pm / CRASH by Annais Naylor Guerrero
Friday, May 19 @ 8pm / PARLIAMENT by Cicely Henderson
Saturday, May 20 @ 8pm / ASSUMPTIONS by Chava Novogrodsky-Godt
Sunday, May 21 @ 7pm / BARE ALL, BEAR ARMS by Camilla Dwyer
WHERE: Potrero Stage, 1695 18th Street, San Francisco, CA
INFO: https://playground-sf.org//youngplaywrights
CONTACT: Jim Kleinmann, Artistic Director; 415.992.6677;
youngplaywrights@box5865.temp.domains; www.playground-sf.org
About the Playwrights:
Camilla Dwyer (Playwright, Bare All, Bear Arms) is a student at the Asawa School of the Arts in the classical theatre program. She is a three-time PlayGround Young Playwrights Contest finalist. She would like to thank PlayGround for this amazing opportunity, as well as her friends and family for all of their support.
Annais Naylor Guerrero (Playwright, Crash) is a 15 year-old at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in the theatre department where she studies playwriting as a part of the curriculum. She loves theatre, and enjoys acting as well as playwriting and directing.
Cicely Henderson (Playwright, Parliament) is a sophomore in the SF School of the Arts Theatre Department, where she has found a love for both Shakespeare and playwriting. She especially enjoys playwriting, because it allows her to express and discover new perspectives. Cicely is honored to be a finalist for her second PlayGround Young Playwrights Contest
Chava Novogrodsky-Godt (Playwright, Assumptions) is a freshman at Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts’ theatre department. Her play Assumptions shows how people tend to make assumptions whether they know it or not, and the impact assumption-making can have. She really enjoys writing, especially about issues that are relevant to our times.
About the Young Playwrights Project:
High school students from the Bay Area nine counties were invited to submit original short scripts inspired by the assigned topic, Mistaken Identity. This year marks the eighth year of the Bay Area-wide Young Playwrights Contest, through which PlayGround has identified and honored twenty-eight up-and-coming young writers. “Through the Young Playwrights Project, PlayGround and Bay Area high schools partner to enable young writers to find their own expressive voice through the creation, development, and production of short plays,” stated PlayGround Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann. A tremendous opportunity for creatively-inclined high school students to experiment with writing for theatre in the ten minute theatre form, the finalists gain immeasurable confidence and accomplishment from seeing their works staged by Bay Area theatre professionals, alongside the adult professional playwrights at Best of PlayGround.
About PlayGround:
PlayGround, the Bay Area’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s best new playwrights, including the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual Best of PlayGround Festival, full-length play commissions and support for the production of new plays by local playwrights through the New Play Production Fund and, PlayGround’s newest initiative, the PlayGround Film Festival. To date, PlayGround has supported more than 200 local playwrights in the development and staging of over 850 original short plays and 71 new full-length plays, including more than twenty-three that have since premiered in the Bay Area. For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/.
For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/. For more information on the Young Playwrights Project, visit https://playground-sf.org//youngplaywrights.