Announcing the 2017 NJ Young Playwrights Festival plays

We are pleased to announce the plays and playwrights whose work will be presented at the 2017 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on June 26 & 27:

High School (grades 10-12)

Hot Dogs and Feminism by Jasmine Sharma, Bergen County Academies

Learn Your ABCs by Elijah Gaines, Lindenwold HS & Jaleel Lindsey

Packing by Michael Villanueva, Middlesex County Acedemy for Performing Arts

Smile by Kianni Keys, Newark Academy

Trust No One by Gabrielle Poisson, Newark Academy

Junior HS (grades 7-9)

Chow Chow by Marra Finkelstein, Eisenhower Middle School (Wyckoff)

Dog Sitters by Lena Shmitt, Frelinghuysen Middle School (Morristown)

"My Extraordinary World" by Charlie McLace by Maya Levenstein, Green Meadow Middle School (Hackettstown)

Elementary (grades 4-6)

Girl World, Boy World by Isabella Cerciello, St. Vincent Martyr School (Madison)

Robot House by Luke Sherman, Torey J. Sabatini School (Madison)

Techno Takeover by Darren Van Pelt, Manasquan Elementary School

Read more about these plays/playwrights on the Writers Theatre blog at https://www.wtnj.org/thirty-fourth-annual-new-jersey-young…/

Congratulations to four of our NJ Young Playwrights

A scene from Good News! by Philip Anastassiou (2013)

This month we are thrilled to congratulate four young playwrights from New Jersey who have achieved regional and national recognition for their work.

Alexa Derman (NJYPF 2014) and Philip Anastassiou (NJYPF 2013) wrote plays that were selected for production in the 2016 National Playwriting Competition at Young Playwrights, Inc. This is a repeat honor for Alexa who received this award in 2015, as well.

Emma Q. Baxter (NJYPF 2012) was selected for a fellowship in the third annual Paula Vogel Mentors Project at Philadelphia Young Playwrights for 2016. Emma had a series of plays honored in the NJ Young Playwrights Festivals since 2011, but has also been a student at Playwrights Theatre during our summer playwriting courses.

Emma Q. Baxter at work in the Playwriting Workshop (Summer 2013)

Last year, Rebecca Lewis wrote the play BLIND FAITH during an in-school residency taught by a teaching artist from Playwrights Theatre. This play was chosen as a winning script in the Junior High School Division of the national Playwright Discovery Competition run by VSA at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Becca's play will also be produced in a new festival of student-written work at her school this December.

You can read more about these four playwrights and their awards here.