Winners of 2011 Young Playwrights Festival announced

Works performed May 9 by SU drama students

Eight area high school students have been chosen as the winners of the 13th annual Young Playwrights Festival at Syracuse Stage. The winning works will be performed by students from the Department of Drama in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) at a staged reading at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 9, in the Storch Theatre at Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about this event, call 315-443-7755. The Young Playwrights Festival is supported in part by Wegmans.

Each year, Syracuse Stage challenges Central New York high school students to write original 10-minute plays and other performance pieces for entry into our annual Young Playwrights Festival contest.

Our panel of theatrical and literary professionals evaluates each student’s play. Semifinalists are invited to a writing workshop at Syracuse Stage, where their plays are read and critiqued. Finalists are selected and staged readings of their plays are performed by SU Drama students at the annual Young Playwrights Festival. Each student receives a free T-shirt and enjoys a reception after the performances.

Winners of the 2011 Young Playwrights Festival were chosen from more than 100 submissions from area high school students. A panel at Syracuse Stage chose 13 semi-finalists to participate in a writing workshop. Those semi-finalists revised and resubmitted their scripts for final consideration. The following eight works were chosen as the winners:

• “Agony of De Feet” by Kaitlyn Murphy, Jamesville-DeWitt High School, 12th grade
• “As Good As Dead” by Nate Goebel, Christian Brothers Academy, 12th grade
• “The Character Channel” by Erica Fedigan, Auburn High School, 11th grade
• “The Dog Kept Sleeping” by Megan Grosholz, Marcellus High School, 12th grade
• “For Honor” by Anthony Carno, Christian Brothers Academy, 12th grade
• “Love and Sick” by Morgan Pflug, Auburn High School, 11th grade
• “Newlymets” by Kathleen Kennedy, Nottingham High School, 11th grade
• “Noodles” by Joseph M. Hall, Jamesville-DeWitt High School, 12th grade

Semi-finalists include:

• “Unseen Vengeance” by Stephen J Wright, Cortland Jr.-Sr. High School, 12th grade
• “Snowflakes in Spring” by Tevin Martin, Nottingham High School, 12th grade
• “High Cost” by Brianna Suslovic, Jamesville-DeWitt High School, 11th grade
• “Sleepless” by Rhiannon Randall, Christian Brothers Academy, 12th grade
• “Shattered” by Jane Kallmerten, Christian Brothers Academy, 12th grade

Information on participating in the 2012 Young Playwrights Festival will be available at http://www.SyracuseStage.org in November.