Arts & Culture

Syracuse Stage announces winners of the 2010 Young Playwrights Festival; winning works to be performed by SU Drama students April 27

Friday, April 23, 2010, By News Staff

Nine area high school students have been chosen as the winners of the 12th 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 on Tuesday, April 27, at 7 p.m. in the Archbold Theatre at Syracuse Stage, 820 East Genesee St. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (315) 442-7755. 

Winners of the 2010 Young Playwrights Festival were chosen from more than 140 submissions by area high school students. A panel at Syracuse Stage chose 17 semi-finalists, who then participated in a series of writing workshops. Nine winning works were then chosen for the staged reading on April 27.  

The winners of the 2010 Young Playwrights Festival are: 

  • J.J. Davis, Jamesville-DeWitt High School, “Adventures in Miscommunication”
  • Amanda Haskell, Christian Brothers Academy, “The Communication Revelation”
  • Drew Jackson, Fayetteville-Manlius High School, “An Interesting Meeting, or AIM”
  • Annie Jaffe, Nottingham High School, “Awkward”
  • Amanda Marci, Christian Brothers Academy, “A Childhood Guarantee”
  • Ray McAndrew, Nottingham High School, “Bread Crumbs”
  • Gabrielle Petrosino, Auburn High School, “Crimes of Innocence”
  • Julia Quigley, Christian Brothers Academy, “Beyond the Grave”
  • Tom Voorheis, Christian Brothers Academy, “The Cure” 

Education programs at Syracuse Stage 

The Young Playwrights Festival is one of Stage’s many educational programs. Stage educational programs serve more than 24 counties in the Central New York Region and engage nearly 30,000 elementary and high school students. Programs are made possible with the support of Alliance Bank, Bank of America, Excellus Bluecross Blueshield, National Grid, Le Moyne College, Wegmans, Bristol Myers-Squibb and the Lockheed Martin Employees Federated Fund. 

Among the educational programs:

  • The Bank of America Children’s Tour brings high-energy, interactive and culturally diverse performances to elementary school audiences.
  • The BACKSTORY Program brings history to life, as professional actors portray historical figures in classrooms and other venues.
  • Lockheed Martin PROJECT BLUEPRINT merges scientific discovery and the arts in classrooms and other venues. 
  • artsEMERGING takes students on an in-depth exploration of our mainstage season using a multicultural, multi-arts lens.
  • The Young Playwrights Festival challenges students to submit original ten-minute plays for a chance to see their work performed at Syracuse Stage.