WHEN: Wednesday, April 15, Thursday, April 16, Friday, April 17 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: The Playground at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia

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

ADMISSION: Free. Reservations are required. To reserve seats, please contact Philadelphia Young Playwrights at (215) 665-9226. For more information about PYP visit www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org.

WHAT: From April 15 - 17, Philadelphia Young Playwrights (PYP), in collaboration with Philadelphia's InterAct Theatre Company, will present free staged performances by winning student writers from the 2009 Young Voices High School Monologue Festival. As part of the Festival, Young Playwrights and InterAct asked students to "make theatre out of life" and tell a story through an original monologue. The Festival received 333 monologues from students across the region - students' monologues realized hopes and dreams, took a stand, confronted fears, questioned identities and beliefs, and more. The 3-day Festival will be held at The Playground at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom Street). [A full list of winning students follows below.]

The result of this unique Festival and the ongoing collaboration between PYP and InterAct is rooted in the overwhelming talent which emerged from the young voices who submitted their monologues. Out of 333 submissions, eighteen monologues were selected and the winning students went on to develop their stories in an all-day revision workshop at InterAct in March. During the Festival, these student writers and their peers will see their monologues performed by professional actors from Philadelphia's theatre community including Bi Jean Ngo, Conrad Ricamora, Anjoli Santiago, Wendy Staton, and Davon Williams.

Winning students came from schools throughout the region, including Northeast Philadelphia's Little Flower High School and The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush High School, South Philly's The Academy at Palumbo, Spring Garden's J.R. Masterman School, Olney's Philadelphia High School for Girls, Center City's De La Salle in Town and Science Leadership Academy, Montgomery County's Lower Merion High School, and Mt. Airy's Parkway Peace and Social Justice High School.

Student monologues to be performed include:

Mary Altamuro, Deep Breaths, Science Leadership Academy

Stephanie Arce, Dad + Me= Confusion, Philadelphia High School for Girls

Shannon Atwell, Princess, Little Flower High School

Victoria Czarnik, Admissions of a Socialite, Philadelphia High School for Girls

Laura Danila, The Queen with A Golden Heart, The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush High School

Christina DeCaro, Remembering, Little Flower High School

Kiera Hardy, Basemen, Little Flower High School

Kya Johnson, F.A.T, Little Flower High School

Marshall Johnston, The Way I Think, Science Leadership Academy

Spencer Katz, The Tree, J.R. Masterman School

Aimee Leong, Torn Between, Science Leadership Academy

Taylor Milec, Kate, Little Flower High School

Demetrius Moore, The Last Little Brother, De La Salle in Town

Alexandre Muller, The Last Minute, The Academy at Palumbo

Shaniqua Taylor, At School Around 8th Period, Little Flower High School

Charlotte Weisberg, Kicking the Can, Lower Merion High School

Corey White, Meet the Parent, The Academy at Palumbo

Shanise Williams, His Gun, Parkway Peace and Social Justice High School

The 2009 Young Voices High School Monologue Festival, now in its third year, is made possible in part by the individuals driving the program including: Amy Hodgdon, Director of Education and Programs, Philadelphia Young Playwrights (Co-Producer, Monologue Festival), Dwight Wilkins, Education Director at InterAct Theatre Company (Co-Producer, Monologue Festival; Director and Dramaturg), Becky Wright, Literary Director and Dramaturg, InterAct Theatre Company (Festival Director and Dramaturg), Aaron Oster, Playwright and Director (Festival Director and Dramaturg), Genne Murphy, Program Manager, Philadelphia Young Playwrights (Festival Dramaturg), Kia Feindt and Jessica Hurley, Literary Interns, InterAct Theatre Company (Festival Director and Dramaturg), and Mark Jesse Swanson, Young Playwrights Program Intern, UArts Student (Production Manager, Monologue Festival).

Celebrating 21 years of service, Philadelphia Young Playwrights remains the only theatre arts program in the region promoting literacy through playwriting and supporting the development of each student's distinctive voice. The organization's programs provide students with unique opportunities to advance academic and personal skills, share their stories and be heard by their peers and communities. Young Playwrights offers an antidote to decreasing arts education and places an incredibly compelling learning process in the eager hands of our young people.

About InterAct Theatre Company
InterAct is a theatre for today's world, producing new and contemporary plays that explore the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. Founded in 1988, InterAct's aim is to educate, as well as entertain its audiences, by producing world-class, thought-provoking productions, and by using theatre as a tool to foster positive social change in the school, the workplace and the community. Through its artistic and educational programs, InterAct seeks to make a significant contribution to the cultural life of Philadelphia and to the American theatre. For more information about the company, visit www.interacttheatre.org.

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.

For more information about PYP, visit www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org.