Philadelphia Young Playwrights Saturday Morning Reading Series
Presents Winning Plays at UArts, February 28 @ 11 a.m.
featuring students from Drexel Hill Middle School and Overbrook Educational Center

WHEN: Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: Black Box at the Gershman Y, University of the Arts, 401 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia

WHO: Student playwrights Maria Beltre and Emily Lundari and representatives from Philadelphia Young Playwrights will be available for interviews.

ADMISSION: Free. Content is appropriate for all ages. For more information visit www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org" or call (215) 665-9226.

WHAT: On Saturday, February 28th Philadelphia Young Playwrights (PYP), in collaboration with The University of the Arts School of Theater Arts, will present a free staged reading of One More Chance by Maria Beltre and Sheltered Karma by Emily Lunardi winning middle school plays from the 2008 Annual Playwriting Festival. This Saturday Morning Reading Series event is directed and cast by UArts undergraduate students and hosted by Philadelphia Young Playwrights Board Member Alan Magner and his wife Carol Magner. A post-show discussion with the student playwrights will follow the reading.

Maria Beltre's play, One More Chance, tells the story of a 16 year old girl who travels back in time to alter the present. A resident of North Philadelphia, Beltre wrote her play while in 8th grade at the Overbrook Educational Center. She developed her play with guidance from teacher Patricia Foley-Tuzman and PYP Teaching Artist David O'Connor. Beltre also participated in Philadelphia Young Playwrights 2008 Summer Advanced Playwriting Retreat and attended playwriting retreats throughout the 07-08 school year. She is now a 9th grader at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.

Sheltered Karma by Emily Lunardi follows a poor girl's attempt to hide her family's poverty in order to keep her friends. Lunardi, who is a resident of Drexel Hill, wrote her play while in 8th grade at Drexel Hill Middle School, with guidance from teacher Tim Brown and PYP Teaching Artist Kat Schadt.

The Saturday Morning Reading Series runs throughout 2009 and is part of Young Playwrights' 2008-09 Play Development Series. Readings are directed and performed by professional and university theatre artists, in exciting collaborations with the Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Temple University Theaters and The University of the Arts.

Over 800 students ranging from kindergarten to twelfth grade in city and suburban schools submitted scripts that equaled 600 plays for the 2008 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.

About Philadelphia Young Playwrights
Founded in 1987 by Adele Magner, and led today by Executive Producing Director Glen Knapp, Philadelphia Young Playwrights is an award-winning program that taps the potential of youth and inspires learning through playwriting in up to 50 public and private K-12 schools each year. 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. Since 1987, approximately 60 professional playwrights have led workshops, and nearly all of Philadelphia's professional theater 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. Young Playwrights has been recognized as a Champion in Action by Citizens Bank and is the past recipient of a 2005 Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service, 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.