FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                

Stephen Sondheim Introduces 
America's Most Talented Teen Playwrights  

- America’s Top Young Playwrights Bound for NYC 
and Their Official Welcome To The American Theater -

(August 1, 2005) – Young Playwrights Inc. (YPI), 24-year-old brainchild of Stephen Sondheim and producer of the acclaimed Young Playwrights Festival, is pleased to announce the winners of the 2005 Young Playwrights Festival National Playwriting Competition. The winning plays were selected from the works of over 1,200 young playwrights across the country vying for honors. The finalists’ plays were read and evaluated by a committee of distinguished dramatists, including Lynn Ahrens, Madeleine George, and Kate Moira Ryan, that identified nine extraordinary writers for national recognition. And the winners are…

  (*age as of 12/01/04 deadline)
 

Assemblage by Emily Herzlin, 17*, Rockville Centre NY. Directed by Kimberly Kefgen

Three Pawed Rabbits by Joseph M. Quigley, 17*, Brooklyn NY. Directed by Bob E. Gasper

The Wall by David Watson, 14*, New York NY. Directed by Tricia McDermott

Men Exploding by Chris Arp, 18*, Princeton NJ. Directed by Mark Schneider

Qualis Vita by Alexandria Symonds, 15*, Schwenksville PA. Directed by Valentina Fratti

Freezeframe by Deborah Yarchun, 18*, Austin TX. Directed by Kevin Newbury

Penny by Eric Levitz, 16*, Glastonbury CT. Directed by Rob Milazzo

With A Side of Mary by Katherine E. Morton, 18*, Henderson KY. Directed by Claire Lundberg

Los Angeles Lullaby by Kit Steinkellner, 18*, Santa Barbara CA. Directed by Beth Milles

The winning writers will arrive in NYC on August 4^th for the Young Playwrights Writers Conference, a week of intensive playwright development that will culminate in staged readings of the winning plays. This remarkable introduction to the professional theater is more than a prize. Past winners have found the all-expenses-paid immersion into the profession of playwriting to be inspirational and life-altering. In addition to meeting and working with their peers, the winners participate in daily workshops and seminars with artists such as YPI Board member David Henry Hwang. Each night the young dramatists attend performances of Broadway and Off Broadway’s hottest shows, followed by after-play discussions with members of the creative team. Also on the schedule is the annual Chinese dinner at the home of YPI board chairman Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy, Last Night Of Ballyhoo, Parade), where the young playwrights get a good look at Mr. Uhry’s Oscar, Tony, and Pulitzer.

The staged readings of the winning plays will be presented on August 8^th at 2 PM and August 9^th and 10^th at 4 PM at the Abingdon Theater, 312 West 36^th Street, NYC at 2PM. From these readings—each one brought to life by professional directors, actors, dramaturgs, and stage managers—YPI will choose the plays to be produced in the next Young Playwrights Festival. Winners are also awarded a complimentary membership to the Dramatists Guild Inc., America’s professional association for playwrights, composers, and lyricists.  

With their winning plays and subsequent works produced at nearly every major theater institution in the nation, YPI playwrights have changed the landscape of the American theater. Past participants include Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count On Me, This Is Our Youth, Lobby Hero), Rebecca Gilman (Glory Of Living, Spinning Into Butter, Boy Gets Girl), Keith Glover (Thunder Knocking At The Door), and Jonathan Marc Sherman (Women And Wallace, Sophistry), among others.

For more information about the Writers Conference, to set up an interview with one of the winning playwrights, or to request a photo, call Amy Gargan at (212) 594-5440, or visit youngplaywrights.org.

Send mail to [email protected] with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © Young Playwrights Inc.
Last modified:  December 18, 2007 04:01 PM