For Immediate Release: March 16, 2007
Media Contact: Amy Watson Bish, Delaware Theatre Company, 302.594.1104 x244

Drum roll please! Delaware Theatre Company (DTC) is proud to announce the award winners for the 2007 Delaware Young Playwrights Festival (DYPF). 2007 marks the 18th anniversary of DYPF and its reach continues to be impressive. This year saw the submission of 550 plays from 725 playwrights. From those epic numbers of first draft submissions, the competition was narrowed down to eight middle school semi- finalists and six high school semi-finalists. From there, three middle school and three high school finalists were chosen. The festival, generously sponsored by ING Direct and the Delaware Humanities Forum, culminates in mid-May with a full-blown celebration of Delaware creativity, including performances of student plays, student artwork and student theatre critics.

"The range of topics and creative thinking seen from the playwrights this year was truly remarkable," says DTC Artistic Associate David Stradley. "When you ask students to share what is important them, they respond with dazzling and heartfelt honesty. We were truly honored to read the 550 plays students submitted and to learn what is on their minds. To pick three middle school and three high school plays to share with our audience was an incredibly difficult task - it just as easily could have been thirty plays."

A reading of the middle school winners' plays on May 8, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. is free and open to the public. The high school winners' plays will be performed on May 17 & 18, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the high school performances are $12 for adults and $6 for children. The High School Gala Performance with an awards ceremony and reception is planned for May 17. All festival events are held at DTC. Call the DTC Box Office at (302) 594-1100 for more information about attending.

Winners of the middle school division include: Oranges by Hilde Alexander of Springer Middle School; The Jump To Enlightenment by Davis Hammond of Newark Center for Creative Learning ; and Love Me For Me by Jessy Horton of Hanby Middle School. Oranges, inspired by real life stories of Holocaust survivors, shows how two seniors living in a managed care facility teach a troubled teen how sometimes the best way to stand up to somebody is by stepping back. The Jump To Enlightenment is a madcap comedy about a down-on-his luck physicist fighting to convince his colleagues to believe in his revolutionary breakthrough that allows human beings to jump from earth to heaven. In Love Me For Me, "goth girl" Alyss is our guide through the minefield of school social systems in this honest and poignant drama about the heartache caused by trying to be yourself and believe in others.

Winners of the high school division include: In a Time of Scoundrels by Anna Galati, Elizabeth Howe, and Nicole Kindbeiter of Padua Academy; The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes by Sudi Green of Newark High School; and American Original by Daniel Jones of Brandywine High School.In a Time of Scoundrels dramatizes events surrounding playwright Lillian Hellman's testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee, with a cast of supporting characters that includes Dashiell Hammett and Dorothy Parker. In The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes, when a grown daughter leaves her elderly mother in the temporary care of the world's looniest shoe salesperson, parental defiance gets turned on its head. A pair of heels sparks a revelation and leads parent to defy child in this comedy about striking out on your own - no matter how late in your life. American Original is a dark, futuristic comedy about a struggling writer who believes that God has made him the recipient of the last original idea on earth. Unfortunately, in this vision of the future, the public is obsessed with celebrity gossip and miracle diets and couldn't care less about the author's new work.

Middle School semi-finalists include: Down With the Narrator by Sydney Blissick, Kelsie Friedkin, and Elana Metz of Hanby Middle School; Uprisal of the Bass Line by Lauren Buzdygon of Talley Middle School; I Have an Idea! by Patrick Glavin, Christian Grossman, and Matt Leone of Hanby Middle School; Caramel by Audrey Walker of Ursuline Academy; Polar Opposites by Bridget Whan Tong of Ursuline Academy. High school semi-finalists include: A Family Legacy by Jennifer Chao of Charter School of Wilmington; Unfinished Pictures by Sean Ryon of Sanford School; What Are The Odds? by Amanda Tenshaw of St. Elizabeth High School.

Middle school honorable mentions go to: Clique Issues by Nora Brennan of Cab Calloway School of the Arts; Life on a Canvas by Vi Bui of Hanby Middle School; Operation: Squirrel by Kyle Ragan of Caravel Academy. High School honorable mentions go to: Growing Up On The Mountain by Jason Agostinelli of Hodgson Vocational Technical High School; The Class is in Session by Phillip Anthony of Christiana High School; Life Is Just One Big Tree by Andrew Bukowski of Cab Calloway School of the Arts; Flopsy The Conqueror by Jennifer Lloyd of Campus Community High School.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the DTC Box Office at (302) 594-1100 or visit our website: www.delawaretheatre.org.

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