At high schools throughout the county, teenage playwrights are gearing up for the competition, choosing their actors and rehearsing during lunch breaks, after school and on weekends.I'm directing a staged reading of the winning script in May at Marin Theatre Company, in conjunction with MTC's New Works series.
"The purpose of the festival is to encourage a focus on playwriting in the high schools," said Josh Costello, MTC's director of expanded programs. "American theater is depending on the next generation of playwrights coming up and writing spectacular plays for the theater."
Thirty students from eight high schools entered the inaugural festival. One of the teen finalists is Jasper Hirose, an 18-year-old Terra Linda High School senior. "It's been a fantastic experience," Hirose said. "To think that a play you wrote at such a young age is going to actually be performed is a real privilege and an honor. Competitions like this are important because they are a testament to the future. What teenagers do now is a promise that good things are on the horizon. You're looking at the playwrights and the actors of the future. I'm proud to be part of it."
Marin Young Playwrights Festival
Article in the Marin IJ about the Marin Young Playwrights Festival, a new program I started this year at Marin Theatre Company.