Syracuse Stage announces winners of 2008 JPMorgan Chase Young Playwrights Festival; works to be performed April 28 by SU Drama students at staged reading

Syracuse Stage announces winners of 2008 JPMorgan Chase Young Playwrights Festival; works to be performed April 28 by SU Drama students at staged readingApril 22, 2008Patrick Finlonstagepr@syr.edu

Six area high school students have been chosen as the winners of the 10th annual JPMorgan Chase Young Playwrights Festival at Syracuse Stage. Their work will be performed by Syracuse University Drama students at a staged reading hosted by acclaimed Syracuse author and Syracuse Stage board member Bruce Coville on Monday, April 28, at 7 p.m., in the Archbold Theatre at Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St. The event is free and open to the public.

Winners of the 2008 Young Playwrights Festival were chosen from more than 200 submissions by area high school students. A panel at Syracuse Stage chose 16 semifinalists, who presented their work for feedback and rewriting. Six works — a variety of one-act plays and performance pieces — were then chosen to be performed at the staged reading.

The winners of the 2008 Young Playwrights Festival are:

• “Anti-Pink” by Shaina Bienvenue, a junior at Camden High School — This series of monologues that explore our society’s view of beauty won one of two awards for Performance Writing.

• “Odes to a Boy” by Katherine Davis, a senior at Camden High School who plans to major in theater — Her play, which combines classic poetry and performance in a celebration of love’s triumphs and tragedies, won an award for Performance Writing. This is Davis’ third time winning a prize from the Young Playwrights Festival. This year, she will be honored with a $500 scholarship, presented by Susan A. Basile, founder and president of the Syracuse Area Live Theatre Scholarship Incorporated (S.A.L.T. Fund).

• “The Emo-kateers and the Quest for the Magical Neverfade Hair Dye” by Elizabeth Fennessy, a senior at Nottingham High School who will attend Binghamton University in the fall — Her play creates a satirical world that explores the vagaries of high school social networks, winning a prize for Best Comedy.

• “Ghetto Love” by De’Shauna Ferrante, a senior at Liverpool High School who will attend Crouse Hospital’s R.N. program after graduating — Her play about a woman who finds the strength to leave an abusive boyfriend won Best Script Development.

• “Poet’s Disease” by Jake Luttinger, a senior at Liverpool High School who will attend the University at Albany or the University of Massachusetts and major in French — His play, in which a meteor crash has somehow caused the world’s population to speak in rhyme, has won a prize for Best Dialogue.

• “For the Love of Terrance” by Steven Olson, a senior at Fowler High School who will join the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating — His tale of thwarted high school romance won a prize for Best Character.

Syracuse Stage is committed to providing students with rich theatre experiences that connect to and reveal what it is to be human. Research shows that young people who participate in or are exposed to the arts demonstrate higher academic achievement, stronger self-esteem and a greater ability to plan and work toward a goal. Last season, more than 34,000 students from 24 counties attended or participated in in-depth integrated arts partnerships with Syracuse Stage.