Philadelphia Young Playwrights will launch its 20th Anniversary Celebration on Wednesday, June 6th from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. at World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia) with a benefit entitled Everybody is a Star on Opening Night. The event serves as a fundraiser for Young Playwrights' programs throughout the year, showcases student work, and honors outstanding members of the arts and business communities.

This year's benefit will feature a student inspired show, directed by Young Playwrights' resident director Myra Bazell, highlighting 20 years of winning student plays and inspiring stories, as well as an awards presentation, cocktails and musical entertainment by Jojolo. Tickets start at $125 and can be purchased by calling Young Playwrights at (215) 665-9226. For more information, please visit www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org.

Honorary Chairs for the 20th Anniversary Celebration Committee are Lorene Cary of Art Sanctuary, William Marrazzo of WHYY, James Nevels of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, renowned theater director and producer Harold Prince, and 2001 winning playwright Kevin Robinson of Goldman Sachs in New York.

Patricia del Rio will be honored with the President's Award for Special Achievement, recognizing her commitment as a founding trustee and backbone of Young Playwrights' Literary Committee. Receiving the Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Service in the Greater Philadelphia Community will be Daniel Whelan, former President of Verizon, PA, past Kimmel Center Chair and inaugural member of the School Reform Commission. The Corporate Patron Award will be awarded to PECO, an Exelon Company, a longtime funder and current Presenting Corporate Sponsor of Young Playwrights' Play Development Series. The 2007 Adele Magner Memorial Award will be presented to a student, teacher and teaching artist for their exemplary collaboration, perseverance and transformation in the program.

Founded in 1987 by Adele Magner, and led today by executive producing director Glen Knapp, Philadelphia Young Playwrights is an award-winning program that teaches playwriting to thousands of students annually in more than 40 public, private and parochial K-12 schools. A leader in the region's educational programs for youth and built upon its primary belief that all students have something important and valuable to say, Young Playwrights has enriched the Greater Philadelphia community, touching the lives of thousands of students, teachers and parents for the past twenty years.

One such student is Kevin Robinson, a 2001 Annual Playwriting Festival-winning playwright who now works for Goldman Sachs in New York and who has continued to be involved with Young Playwrights. Now an Honorary Chair for the 20th Anniversary Celebration Committee, Robinson wrote his winning play, The Ghetto Life, as a student at University City High School. "Working closely with my teacher, Dr. Portnoy, and those from Philadelphia Young Playwrights in high school enabled me to communicate effectively the stories of people from diverse backgrounds," says Robinson. "Studying varied situations and developing a story, like that of a religious woman's struggle to live a Christian life and raise a child alone in the Ghetto, enhanced my critical thinking skills. Everyday I use these same skills to think critically about my projects at Goldman Sachs."

Marsha Pincus, a teacher of 33 years who has been involved with the Young Playwrights program since its inception and is now Vice President of the Board, also attests to the profound effects of the program. "Young Playwrights has influenced an entire generation of teachers," she says. "It has transformed our teaching in areas other than playwriting and has influenced our relationships with our students. For the students, the program has a remarkable impact when other people actually listen to what they have to say and look to them for direction and insight."

Executive Producing Director Glen Knapp concurs, saying, "A defining reason for Young Playwrights' success over 20 years is our program's singular capacity to meet each student and teacher where they are, and to provide uniquely tangible opportunities for each participant to move forward in personally defined and constructive ways."

Each year, the Young Playwrights program pairs theater professionals with individual classroom teachers and works closely with them to integrate playwriting into the curriculum. By teaching students to draw on their own personal experiences and imaginations during the creation of their plays, Young Playwrights helps them improve their writing, literacy and problem solving skills while simultaneously strengthening self-expression. For many students, working with Young Playwrights is a life changing experience, shaping new views of themselves as writers, artists and successful individuals. When students write about their lives, they are empowered to change them.

This year, Young Playwrights introduced the Play Development Series, providing student playwrights with unprecedented opportunities to develop their work with local professional and university theaters. Students participated in advanced writing workshops and worked one-on-one with theater professionals, and readings of four winning plays from the Annual Playwriting Festival were presented alongside World Premiere professional productions in the Philadelphia New Play Festival.

Young Playwrights received the 2005 Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service and is the past recipient of a 1997 Barrymore Award for Theatre Education, a 2003 George Bartol Award for Excellence in Arts Education, a national "Points of Light" designation, and a 2004 Eastern University Award for Nonprofit Excellence.

Generous support is provided by event sponsors Beneficial Savings Bank, Boothby Group, Clarion Printing, Community College of Philadelphia, Cozen O'Connor, Design for Social Impact, Harmelin Media, Human Capital Consulting Partners, Independence Foundation, Jones Apparel Group, Philadelphia Media Holdings, PNC, SBK Pictures, Inc, The Haverford Trust Company, The Philadelphia Foundation, The New York Sun Newspaper, Sheehan Events, Verizon, and Wachovia Trust.

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