@dramatistsguild @bystephenkaplan

It’s Fall and that means Back-to-School. In honor of students everywhere sharpening their pencils and staring at blank pieces of paper or computer screens, I thought I’d take a look at some of the opportunities for young playwrights in our state. Seeing the amazing work being presented by young artists in our state alone is enough to quash any fear of theatre’s demise.

The New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival was influenced and inspired by Young Playwrights, Inc.’s national competition, founded in 1981 by then DG President Stephen Sondheim. The NJYPC, now in its 31st year, is currently a partnership between Premiere Stages and Playwrights Theatre. The winning plays, submitted by students in 4th-12th grades, receive staged readings at Kean University with the writers invited to work with professional dramaturgs (this year’s included playwrights Pia Wilson and Martyna Majok), directors and actors throughout the rehearsal process. In addition to the elementary, junior high and high school levels, this past year the Festival also added the Revolutionary Plays Category for plays focusing on the 350th anniversary of the founding of New Jersey, and the Living With Disabilities Category for plays written by young playwrights or about characters with disabilities.

Jim DeVivo, the Director of Education for Playwrights Theatre and the coordinator for the New Jersey Writers Project residencies and the statewide and local Young Playwrights Festivals, is actually writing his dissertation for his PhD in Educational Theatre on the impact of arts education participation on former student-writers in the Festival. Probably the biggest impact that Jim has found is how empowering it is for the students.

Talia Green, a winner for her play Ink Never Dulls, talked about how “it was a rather indescribable feeling, watching real people recite my text as serious as though it was a work by a published playwright.” Emily Donegan, a winner for her play Mechanical Advancement, echoed these sentiments: “When I had written my play, I thought it was just a silly little throwaway assignment that wouldn’t get much further than my teacher’s desk. Knowing that other people had read it and liked it enough to work on making it better gave me a sense of confidence in my writing that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

(A side note, but one deserving further exploration is that the majority of former winners (68%) is female – in the 2014 contest, all but one of the thirteen total winners in all categories was female. With so much current discussion on gender parity in plays being produced, this is a startling, but extremely noteworthy statistic).

There are a number of other competitions in the state including those run by Bergen Community College, Cranford’s The Theatre Project and Princeton University’s 10-Minute Play Contest. In addition to the contests, many of our theatres have playwriting residency programs where teaching artists go into schools and work with students on creating new work, including McCarter Theatre’s Youth Ink, Playwrights Theatre’s New Jersey Writer’s Project and New Jersey Rep’s Young Playwrights Project, which highlights students from communities affected by Hurricane Sandy.

So, other than being incredibly inspiring, how does all of this impact those of us over eighteen years old? DeVivo encourages more established playwrights to get involved with younger writers because “even if we’re not training future artists, empowering them with natural creativity is something that sometimes gets lost. I’m surprised by how many young people will come in and say they just don’t have the chance to express themselves creatively. So whether it’s through an organization like Playwrights Theatre or something in your own community, offer your expertise to young people as it has a reach far beyond simply creating new plays.”

Also, be sure to put down Wednesday, October 16th in your calendar for the first NJ Dramatists Meet and Greet hosted by Luna Stage followed by an opportunity to see member Nikkole Salter’s new play Lines in the Dust. More information to follow.

skaplan@dramatistsguild.com

Photo: (above) The High School Winners of the NJ Young Playwrights Festival 

Photo: (above) The winners and actors

Photo: (above) Dan Pellicano and Timothy Regan in Mechanical Advancement

Photo: (above) The Elementary and Junior High School Winners