5 Questions with Laura Diorio

"5 Questions with a Playwright" concludes with Laura Diorio from Middletown High School South. We asked Laura to answer five questions about her play or about herself and here are her answers:

Laura Diorio
Middletown High School South

1. What inspired you to write Pretty Girl?

Pretty Girl was written with a generation in mind. I had never written a play before, so when I took this on, I knew I wanted it to mean something. The writing process was significantly influenced by different people. I questioned my friends about their beliefs on social beauty standards and experiences they've had. Some lines in the play are even direct quotes! My inspiration for this play was intended for both friends and strangers. My goal was to showcase the reality that young girls experience all of the time, presented in an honest and relatable setting. I wanted to be a voice for those who are too afraid to express how they feel. I wanted them to know that they are not alone, and everyone goes through what the sisters in the play experience. If I could have at least one person in the audience listen to my play and think, "Hey, she sounds just like me" or, "Wow, I've definitely felt like that before," or "Oh my god, she's absolutely right," then I have done what I set out to do.

2. You were also nominated for a Basie Award for Supporting Actress for a play at your school. Please tell us a little about that play and your role.

Kismine Washington was created by F. Scott Fitzgerald in one of his classic short stories "The Diamond as Big as The Ritz." My drama teacher, Mr. Kozak, took on this hundred year old story and adapted it into a full length drama, which we then performed as our fall play this year. I had the extraordinary privilege of playing Kismine alongside some of the most talented people and friends I will ever know. The experience I gained from this show is unparalleled to anything I have ever done. Taking on a show with characters that have never come to life and a story that has never reached a stage is a rare opportunity that I will forever cherish. To top it all off, I was recently nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the Basie Awards, hosted by Count Basie Theatre which honors excellence in high school theatre. The Diamond as Big as The Ritz won Best Overall Drama and Mr. Kozak won Best Director. To be recognized for such a beautiful role is an honor within itself, and I thank Mr. Kozak and my fellow cast members for bringing the world of Kismine and her unique family to life.

3. You mention in your bio that you’ve written and directed before. What role do you prefer to take in a production (actor, director, writer) and what do you like more about that role than the others?

At Middletown High School South, our theatre program gives students the opportunity to thrive in multiple aspects of the art, and challenges them to take on new experiences. I have gotten the chance to be an actor, a director, and a playwright in the three years I have been at South. I have performed in six shows at South thus far, and have been a writer and director for our One Page Play Festival in the fall and our Ten Page Play Festival in the spring, which are both student-produced. I have loved every second of writing and directing, but my heart lies with acting. Since I was young, I have possessed a strong passion for performance. It has made me increasingly self aware and also provoked me to gain a sense of empathy for others. Performing is an exercise of the mind, body, and heart, and that unique experience is incomparable and irreplaceable.

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

I do not have one specific experience in theatre that matters more to me than another. My most memorable theatre experiences are the ones that happen behind closed curtains at South with my favorite people in the world. For me, it is not about the end product. It is about the adventurous process that my cast mates and I take to get there. Theatre is a path that has brought me to some of the greatest people I know, those who have impacted my life for the better. Because of these people, I embrace who I am, and I encourage others to do the same. Every cast is a family, and rehearsals are our quality time together. Sometimes we want to rip each other's hair out, other times we're laughing so hard while foolishly dancing to the YMCA before the start of every show. Because of theatre, the greatest success of all is working with a group to be real under imaginary circumstances. Accomplishing that is the most memorable experience of all.

5. If you could have any super-human power, what would it be, and why?

This was the hardest question of all. After two hours of pondering my options (I wish I was kidding), I have decided that my superpower would be the ability to enter any realm of literature. How cool would it be to jump into the story you're reading? But then... How would I get out? This is why this question took two hours to answer.

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The 2015 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival will take place on June 1st (Junior HS & Elementary plays) and June 2nd (High School plays) on the Florham campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University. You can use these links to make reservations for the June 1 or June 2 performances, or call the PTNJ Education office at 973-514-1787, ext. 21. The Festival is free; however, seating is extremely limited.

5 Questions with Jack Kimber

The 2015 installment of "5 Questions with a Playwright" continues with Jack Kimber from Chatham High School. We asked Jack to answer five questions about his play or about himself and here are his answers:

1. What inspired you to write Listen?

Jack Kimber
Chatham High School

The thing that most inspired me to write Listen was the setting. It may sound a bit out of the ordinary, but as a kid, I have very vivid memories of the nursing home my grandmother resided in Michigan. Every time I visited , everything was always the same; same wall paper, same smell, same furniture and most of all the same people. This enabled me to secure the plot and focus more so on the characters. The hardest part about writing it was putting myself into the characters, but once I figured out the character's voices and all around persona, it was quite simple for me to write the rest. I do not necessarily have any real connection toward the characters but after writing Listen I felt much more of an attachment to the type of personality that both of the characters held. It was important to me to show how a relationship can develop and deepen even between two very unlikely people. In addition, I hope it shows how we have something to learn from everyone.

2. In your bio you mention that you write in other forms including screenwriting and short fiction. In what genre do you most frequently write and what do you like about it?

I really enjoy screenwriting because it allows a lot of freedoms, including the development of characters and the setting.   I have always been a very big enthusiast of the movies and many television shows so as ideas come to me about a certain plot or character, I immediately think about what it would be like in a movie and/or television show.  The thing that mostly lures me to screenwriting is the creative independence that I have when creating a story.

3. You also mention that you are an avid snowboarder, skateboarder, and wakeboarder. How did you start and which of these do you prefer most?

Yes, I guess you could call me somewhat of a “board sport” enthusiast. Snowboarding was the first thing I ever tried when I was four years old and I just loved it so much that I wanted/needed something to take its place in the seasons where there wasn’t any snow. That’s where skateboarding came in. I saw that many of the pro snowboarders were also skateboarding as well.  I just figured why not give it a shot. And, ever since  I have been skateboarding too.  When I was seven years old my family got our first boat and my older brother was the first one who introduced me to wakeboarding. Due to my experiences snowboarding and skating, wakeboarding came quite easy to me and I immediately fell in love with it. I definitely cannot pin-point which one I prefer most considering that it kind of works out that I get to snowboard in the winter, wakeboard in the spring and summer and skateboard all year round. All of these activities have allowed me to experience new things, meet new people and go to some really cool places.

4. What is your most memorable theatre experience to date?

This winter I attended the show The Invisible Hand in New York and one of my favorite actors Justin Kirk had the lead role. Basically the plot of the play, was about a New York investment banker who gets kidnapped by what looks to be Middle Eastern terrorists. The investment banker (Justin Kirk) develops a relationship with the guard who is tending to him and you get to see an insight to the struggles that the guard has, as their relationship turns from captor/guard to  unlikely friends. The Guard struggles trusting his newly found friend and still remaining loyal to his commander.  The thing that I mostly liked about going to this play was the theatre and location. I hadn’t ever been to an off-Broadway show before and it was very interesting to be in such a small yet comfortable theatre and seeing such an amazing show.  It really showed me all the opportunities and insights in which are possible in the playwriting world.

5. If you could have three wishes granted, what would they be?

1. To  go back in time and see the Grateful Dead play in Europe 72’.
2. Play guitar with Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and Mike Rempel all in the same room.
3. Discover the truth about the disappearance of Amerlia Earhart.

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The 2015 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival will take place on June 1st (Junior HS & Elementary plays) and June 2nd (High School plays) on the Florham campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University. You can use these links to make reservations for the June 1 or June 2 performances, or call the PTNJ Education office at 973-514-1787, ext. 21. The Festival is free; however, seating is extremely limited.

5 Questions with Gabrielle Poisson

The 2015 installment of "5 Questions with a Playwright" continues with Gabrielle Poisson from Newark Academy in Livingston. We asked Gabi to answer five questions about her play or about herself and here are her answers:

Gabrielle Poisson
Newark Academy, Livingston

1.  What inspired you to write Worn Thin?

At the end of my freshman year of high school I took a two-week play-writing intensive with the goal of writing a one-act play.  On the second or third day of the course, my teachers told us to write about a parent-child relationship.  I knew right away that I wanted to look at a single parent and an only child because I thought those dynamics between two people who relied solely on one another, would be very compelling. Worn Thin’s first draft focused on Melanie and her elementary school son, Jared, as she struggled financially and Jared struggled socially at school.  As the play progressed I wanted to raise the stakes so I went back and rewrote it with Jared a few years older, but on the autism-spectrum as well as suffering from post-traumatic stress.  I thought it would be so devastating for Melanie to not only have to raise a child alone, but for that child to be handicapped and for her to have no resources to protect and nurture him.

2. You’ve won awards for your fiction writing, as well. Please tell us a little more about some of the other things you’ve written.

Ever since I was very young, I’ve always been in love with writing, and I’ve always used it as a way to express my feelings or tell stories through poetry or short fiction.  After taking the playwriting intensive last year, however, I found that while I love all forms of writing, I prefer writing plays because I like to get to know a  character through the way they talk.  This year I took a course in creative writing, in which I wrote several short stories, one about a teenage girl with a wandering soul who befriends a young boy conning people out of their money in a lemonade stand, and another about a young man visiting a graveyard and encountering Death itself.  I think my favorite piece this year, however, was my second play, entitled The Blue Dress, which tells the story of Pamena, a fifteen year old girl and the suffocating relationship with her alcoholic mother, Morgana.

3. In your bio you mention that you also perform in musicals. What do you like most about being a performer and a writer? If you had to pick one as your favorite what would that be?

It’s so hard deciding between performing and writing because they go hand in hand to complete the creative process.  I’ve been singing and acting since I could walk, and it has always been a dream of mine to somehow make a career in performing.  Writing, on the other hand is amazing because it is a way of taking an idea or an image in your head and transforming it into art that people can really relate to.

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

This year I played Little Sally in my school musical, Urinetown, which was just such an incredible experience.  Initially after being cast, I was hesitant to be really excited because Little Sally is a mostly acting role and when she does sing, it is with a nasally character voice.  As a singer I wanted a part to showcase my voice.  Those feelings of hesitation really quickly went away, however, as I fell in love with this part.  Little Sally is this extremely witty quasi-narrator of the show and I’d never felt more creative freedom with a role before.  Unfortunately, the week of the show, I got a really bad cold and was terrified as I found I was losing my voice.  In the end, I was able to participate in the show, not in full health, but the experience taught me that I really can persevere if I power through.  I have never had more fun or more of a positive response than I received in this role.  It really was a once in a lifetime experience.

5. If you were going on an adventure, who would you take as your travel partner and why?​

If I were going on an adventure, I would bring my big brother, Lyle because he is my favorite person in the world.  Ever since the moment I was born, he has been the person that will laugh at my jokes, support me, and stand by my side through the good times and bad.  We’ve been on many adventures together and there’s no one I could imagine that I’d rather see the world with.

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The 2015 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival will take place on June 1st (Junior HS & Elementary plays) and June 2nd (High School plays) on the Florham campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University. You can use these links to make reservations for the June 1 or June 2 performances, or call the PTNJ Education office at 973-514-1787, ext. 21. The Festival is free; however, seating is extremely limited.

5 Questions with Betsy Zaubler

We begin our 2015 series of "5 Questions with a Playwright" focusing on the four playwrights whose plays have been selected in the High School Division of the NJ Young Playwrights Festival. First up, is Betsy Zaubler from Newark Academy in Livingston. We asked Betsy to answer five questions about her play or about herself and here are her answers:

Betsy Zaubler
Newark Academy, Livingston

1. What inspired you to write Thanksgiving Surprise?

I was inspired to write Thanksgiving Surprise because of the stories about teenagers who come out to their families and are not accepted.  Often, it seems as if the coming out is harder on the family than the person actually coming out.  While these stories are a sad reality, they are not they only reality.  What I wanted to show with Thanksgiving Surprise is that coming out (whether it's as gay, lesbian, transgender etc.) is not always a negative family experience, that there are accepting and embracing families.  I wanted to explore the emotional experience of a teenager coming out in that situation, because even with an accepting family, coming out can be a complex and difficult process.

2. Congratulations on your selection as the Poetry Out Loud winner from you school this year. What poems did you perform as part of the POL competition and why did you choose them? 

For my school competition, I performed "John Lennon" by Mary Jo Salter.  I chose this poem because I love music and it explored how even though people can feel so connected to an artist through their music, they really know nothing about them.  For the regional competition, I performed "Solitude" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox and "The Universe as Primal Scream," by Tracy K. Smith.  I chose "Solitude" because it allowed me to use my acting skills more than the other poems, and I chose "The Universe as Primal Scream" because I liked how it contrasted biblical and scientific theories.

3. When did you start studying Spanish and what do you most look forward to doing in Spain?

I started studying Spanish in 6th grade.  This summer, I'm really excited to live with a host family and be fully immersed in Spanish culture.  I'm also excited to visit Barcelona, which everyone tells me is an amazing city.

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

My most memorable theater experience has been directing a children's play at Studio Players, a community theater in Montclair.  It was interesting to see a completely different side of theater and I learned a lot about acting by working with my cast and noticing things that you don't always notice as an actor.  

5.  If you had the opportunity to sit down and have dinner with anyone (living or dead), who would it be and what would be your most burning question?​ 

I would love to have dinner with Billie Joe Armstrong, who is the lead singer and the principal songwriter in Green Day.  I would ask him, specifically with regard to the album American Idiot, how he wrote songs that connected so powerfully to so many people, and how he articulated, with such impact, how people were feeling about America at that time.  

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The 2015 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival will take place on June 1st (Junior HS & Elementary plays) and June 2nd (High School plays) on the Florham campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University. You can use these links to make reservations for the June 1 or June 2 performances, or call the PTNJ Education office at 973-514-1787, ext. 21. The Festival is free; however, seating is extremely limited.

Throwback Thursday - NJYPF 2006

For Throwback Thursday, the High School playwrights from the 2006 NJ Young Playwrights Festival:

l to r: Katie Hathaway, Bonnie Torre, Megan O'Brien, Brittany Wallace

5 Questions with Philip Peker

Our next playwright from 2013 is Philip Peker.

Philip Peker
11th grade, Livingston Senior HS

1. What inspired you to write Blues-Berries?

Blues-Berries is heavily based on my relationship with my grandparents. In fact, Blues-Berries is quasi-auto-biographical play. Being that I spend the majority of every day with both my grandparents, their ever-presence in my life has really influenced me. My grandma and grandpa are the central inspiration for writing Blues-Berries. 

2. What did you enjoy most about writing this play?

This was the first play I have ever written, so everything felt new and different to me. I really enjoyed seeing the words that I punched out at home by my computer literally come to life on stage. The transition between "written word" and "performed word" is terribly fascinating, especially when the work is your own. However, the thing I most enjoyed about writing this play, is that I continue to "write" this play everyday. The scenes in the play are almost exact replicas of what goes on in real life at the dinner table with my grandparents. Seeing my life acted out by actors on a stage, and then coming back home and seeing almost the exact same things being said by the people that the characters are framed after is a very surreal experience. I guess that's the beauty about writing; you can create parallel universes and different copies of yourself through writing. 

3. In your bio you mention that you are a classically trained guitarist who has delved into other musical genres. What are some of your favorites?

Oh man, well, I listen to practically anything that makes sound. However, for the past few years, I have been heavily vested in the Jazz genre. Every single thing about Jazz is terribly exciting. The spontaneity, the brilliance of the instrumentation, and the rawness of it really make it incredibly appealing to listen to and play. At the moment, my musical interests branch from the Jazz genre. I have started listening to tons of soul, funk, and old-school hip hop, and then also I continue to listen to a lot of classical, world, and gypsy music. I grew up listening to Russian folk music, and so that gave me a huge base for appreciating all types of musical genres. Oh, and dance music can be pretty sweet, if the occasion is right. I can go on for hours talking about music; darn you for asking this question! 

4. You also have a band, Castles, and compose your own music. What kind of music do you play? What musicians or musical movements influence your work?

Ah yes. Well, we tend to play most of our songs as "jams," and keep them as raw and natural as possible. As genres go, however, we tend be categorized as progressive or math rock. We incorporate tons of different styles, from hard rock/blues, to jazz and funk. For us, music is whatever sounds good, so we tend to throw definitions and genres out the window when we play. As a band we were originally influenced by groups like  King Crimson, Pink Floyd, ELP, and Yes, but we also really dig a lot of modern stuff like Portico Quartet, Minus the Bear, BBNG, Pat Metheny, E.S.T,  and the Mars Volta. 

5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Mocha Chip!

You can find Philip's bio, as well as bios for the other high school playwrights from 2013, on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival at http://www.ptnj.org/miscpage/2013-new-jersey-young-playwrights-high-school-bios

5 Questions with Kelsey Garrett

The second playwright from the 2013 Festival is Kelsey Garrett.

Kelsey Garrett
11th grade, Middletown HS South

1. What inspired you to write Mirror?

The primary inspiration for writing Mirror came from daily life; the books, tv shows, the conversations with friends, and the mirror in front of me. I think it's so easy to fall into this trap of comparing yourself with every body else and no matter what finding reasons why you simply don't measure up. Look at any campaign marketed to a teen demographic, you'll read taglines like "how to lose 10 pounds in three weeks" or "how to get the guy" or "how should you dress for your body shape?" It's so destructive. We're inherently telling our girls that they are not good enough in their natural state, and that they have to spend money and time and effort to make themselves attractive. Intelligence and virtues aren't talked about it, it's all about the looks. Confidence is only talked about in terms of how it relates to sex appeal.  So one night, I couldn't bring myself to pick out an outfit for school because nothing looked right, and I could not stop putting myself down. I grabbed my laptop and just started writing down every typical battle friends have told me about, or that I've had while picking out clothes, and I put in it the form of two different characters. That's what it feels like, when you have this low moment and you're staring at your reflection, trying to justify why it's okay to eat junk food or wear something tight against the angry tirade of this inner voice explaining that your legs aren't long enough for that skirt, your stomach looks huge in that or that maybe you should just stay home because you'll be the ugliest girl at the party. Writing it all down helped me realize how absurd, how hateful I can be to myself, and sharing it with others made me realize I'm not alone with this, nearly every girl and woman who's talked to me about it can relate to at least one line. It's both relieving and terrifying. 

2. Which do you prefer most: acting or writing?

The fantastic thing about acting is that you can explore a whole new realm of emotions and experiences that you may never actually explore any other way. As tough as a decision as that is, writing not only lets you explore this new realm, it lets you create it. Writing is an expression of acting in itself, so I'd definitely pick writing.

3. In your bio you talk about taking your first dance classes when you were nine years old. Do you still dance? What styles of dance do you enjoy?

I stopped taking dance classes in my freshman year, but I still continue to dance in school productions. My experience with dance classes definitely contributed to every one of my performances. I couldn't really narrow down a favorite. Musical theater allows you to experience so many different types of dance and merges them together to create something incredible, that the type of dance doesn't matter nearly as much as the effect the performance has. 

4. You have an impressive record of volunteer and community service. Please tell us a little about the programs with whom you work.

I primarily volunteer with my youth group, Saints by the Sea. We strive to help our communities in different ways, but we mainly work with donating food to our church's food kitchen and sending school supplies to needy children. The experience is absolutely incredible, it's so gratifying to watch a group of people come together with bags of bread and cold cuts or boxes of pencils and notebooks and then a couple hours later be able to pack 50-100 sandwiches in lunch bags and deliver them or receive a letter from a teacher explaining that the school children were thrilled by their new coloring books. 

5. If you could tour with any band or celebrity, who would it be?

Scarlet Johansson. She's just an incredible role model and actress. At ComicCon one year, an interviewer was bombarding the males of the Avengers cast with questions concerning redemption arcs and character development, and the reporter turns to Scarlet and asks her about her workout regime and how much weight she had to lose, and she simply refused to answer, saying to her fellow castmate "How come you get the really interesting existential question and I get the like, 'rabbit food' question?" I love that she refuses to release her weight or her diet plan because she wants to encourage confidence rather than a two-week plan. To see a woman like that, who is respected in Hollywood and across the country and still able to shut down anything suggesting sexism or promoting weight loss for the sake of weight loss, isn't exactly common. I'm a huge fan of her, and I'd love to see more men and woman follow in her example.


You can find Kelsey's bio, as well as bios for the other high school playwrights from 2013, on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival at http://www.ptnj.org/miscpage/2013-new-jersey-young-playwrights-high-school-bios

5 Questions with Emma Iacometta

After the Festival in 2013 we asked the four playwrights from the High School division to answer 5 questions about their plays and about themselves. It turns out that those responses were never published, so we are happy to share them with you in the days leading up to the submission deadlines for the 2014 Festival.

We begin with our first playwright, Emma Iacometta.

Emma Iacometta
11th grade, Bergen County Academies

1. What inspired you to write You Definitely Got All That from Your Mother?

I decided to take a playwriting elective at school and, what came with that, was the assignment to write a play. For years, my mother and I have discussed how interesting my life background was, thus I decided to write a play based of my personal family situation. Of course, not every detail is the same, but I wanted the basic outline of the play to be like that of mine to get the word out that "modern" and "progress" families are cool!  

2. What else have you written?

Following the assignment to write a play came the assignment to write a screenplay. I just finished writing a draft of a short film. Other than school assignments, however, I do not write often.

3. In your bio you mention that you are planning a career in stage management. What do you like about being a stage manager?

First of all, I love being organized. To me, there is something so beautiful about a Stage Manager's binder; script, rehearsal reports, lists, cues, all perfectly placed. There is also an important balance that needs to be maintained with friendly authority and professional authority. For a good chunk of the time, you get to be the person who people come to for information and to chat about the show, but there are some moments where you have to lay down the line. The constant shift is exciting. I prefer it to being on stage because, at that point, you have control of the ship. You get the exhilarating feeling of performing in front of people through the cues you call and the set pieces you direct.

4. What other aspects of theatre do you enjoy?

All of them! Everything from set crew to assistant director. I love the little specific, yet incredibly important jobs, such as a dresser and light board operator. In future studies, I hope to learn more about the actual technical parts, such as programming a moving light or understanding a microphone pack. Though I have studied the on-stage things (dance, acting, singing) for years, I want to move on to a pursue everything about the backstage.

5. If you could have three wishes granted, what would they be?
          1. A Boston University acceptance letter.

          2. More cats.

          3. My boyfriend to go to college closer than Chicago.

You can find Emma's bio, as well as bios for the other high school playwrights from 2013, on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival website (linked here).

Former NJ Young Playwright is Valedictorian

Congratulations to Emma Hathway, a 2012 winner in the high school division of the NJ Young Playwrights Festival. She is a Valedictorian of her class at Bergen County Academies!

http://www.northjersey.com/news/210357361_Valedictorians__Emma_Hathaway.html

NJYPF 30-year history project

This week, Playwrights Theatre of NJ begins a project to catalogue the plays from the 30 year history of the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. We will be reaching out to winning playwrights from throughout that history. If you are a past NJYPF winner, or know of someone who was, please have them get in touch with us at njypf@ptnj.org. We look forward to reconnecting!

Recognize anyone in the pictures below?

NJ Young Playwrights Festival 1994



NJ Young Playwrights Festival 1998