For Immediate Release: October 19, 2005
Media Contact: Megan Wendell, for Philadelphia Young Playwrights, 215.242.6393

Following a busy production and program schedule in 2004-2005, an increased level of student involvement, and reception of the 2005 Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service, Philadelphia Young Playwrights will present its annual readings, enhanced workshop productions, and professional productions of elementary, middle school and high school plays throughout the fall.

Young Playwrights remains committed to bringing the work of talented student playwrights to a diverse audience of students, educators, theatre supporters, and community members, some being exposed to theatre for the first time. Young Playwrights received 714 script submissions to its 2005 Annual Playwriting Festival. Winners were chosen at each grade level, and each student who submitted a play received comments from evaluators who read his or her script.

Students from Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware Counties will have their plays presented at various events through December. Winning elementary and middle school plays will be presented through the Saturday Morning Reading Series at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, starting on October 29th, while winning high school and middle school plays will be presented as Enhanced Workshop Productions at Tomlinson Theater in collaboration with Temple University's Department of Theatre from November 3-5, placing the student playwrights at the center of a two-week rehearsal and production process in which they interact directly with the director, dramaturg, actors, and stage crew.

Young Playwrights and Philadelphia Theatre Company will continue their long-standing collaboration to present fully mounted professional productions of winning student plays from December 2-9 at Plays & Players Theater. [See full schedule and performance details below.]

Building upon its primary belief that all students have something important and valuable to say, Philadelphia Young Playwrights has guided thousands of students from the Greater Philadelphia area through the playwriting process since its founding in 1984. As a natural extension of this belief, Young Playwrights has increased the level of student involvement in both its programming and governance.

2004 winning student playwright, Mishel'le Hall, currently a sophomore at Central High School, recently joined the Young Playwrights Board of Directors as its first student member. Her acceptance of this new role coincided with her participation as one of 11 high school students in Express Yourself 2005: Students' Summer Theatre Academy, Young Playwrights' summer collaboration with Philadelphia Theatre Company. For four days in July, students from all over the Greater Philadelphia area gathered at Plays & Players Theater to participate in a series of theatre and leadership workshops that served as the catalyst for a year-long planning process in which students will have central voices in determining the shape, structure, and content of potential summer experiences for future students.

Philadelphia Young Playwrights also welcomed six new North Philadelphia schools to its participating classrooms in 2005. Through "Exploring Ourselves and Our Cultures," a collaborative project among The Clay Studio, Young Playwrights, and Strings for Schools, made possible with the generous support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Community Partners in Arts Access Initiative, four schools managed by the Temple University Office of Partnership Schools and two North Philadelphia high schools joined the organization's list of participating classrooms, now totaling 50 classrooms. This 3-year project encourages students to explore their community's artistic and cultural landscapes while generating their own creations in ceramic art, playwriting, and music.

At the annual Barrymore Awards Ceremony on October 10th, presented by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, Young Playwrights received the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service for its Classic Programming. This was the third consecutive nomination for Young Playwrights. The organization is the past recipient of a 1997 Barrymore Award for Theatre Education, a 2003 George Bartol Award for Excellence in Arts Education, and a 2004 Eastern University Award for Nonprofit Excellence.

Philadelphia Young Playwrights 2005 Fall/Winter Schedule

October 29 & November 19, 11am: Saturday Morning Reading Series at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, located at 1805 Walnut Street. Winning elementary and middle school plays, performed by Temple undergraduate actors. Admission is free.

November 3-5: Enhanced Workshop Productions at Tomlinson Theater, located at 13th and Norris Streets. Winning middle school and high school plays presented in collaboration with Temple University Theater Department, directed by theatre professionals and performed by Temple undergraduate actors. Admission is free.

December 2-9: Professional Productions at Plays & Players Theater, located at 1714 Delancey Street. Winning high school plays presented in collaboration with Philadelphia Theatre Company. Matinees scheduled at 11am, December 5-9 with evening performances at 8pm, Dec 2-3. General admission is $15, students & seniors $12, school groups of 10 or more $6 per ticket, family rate $25 for 5 tickets.

For more information, visit www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org or call 215-665-9226.

Young Playwright's fall productions and events are made possible with support from the William Penn Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and PECO, An Exelon Company.

About Philadelphia Young Playwrights
Founded in 1984, Philadelphia Young Playwrights taps the potential of youth and inspires learning through playwriting in up to 50 public and private K-12 schools each year. Young Playwrights is an intensive arts-education program that pairs a professional teaching artist with a classroom teacher. The two work together as an Artistic Team, guiding and supporting students in the process of writing a play, which concurrently fosters student learning, exploring, and succeeding.

Since 1984, approximately 60 professional playwrights have led workshops, and nearly all of Philadelphia's professional theatre companies have participated by performing, producing, or directing student works. Nearly 55,000 students have seen peers' work produced in class or by professionals. Young Playwrights' Literary Committee includes more than 60 educators, writers, parents, and former Young Playwrights students who read and critique each student script.

For more information and to schedule interviews, please contact: Megan Wendell, Canary Promotion ph: 215-242-6393, e: megan@canarypromo.com

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