NJYPFestival playwright part of the Paula Vogel Mentors Project in Philadelphia

Emma Baxter has been a finalist & winning playwright in the NJ Young Playwrights Festival and a student in our summer playwriting workshops for young writers. We were happy to nominate her for the Paula Vogel Mentors Project @ Philadelphia Young Playwrights and look forward to her future work! Congratulations, Emma!

http://www.newjerseyhills.com/randolph_reporter/news/could-next-great-play-writer-be-found-in-randolph-high/article_99624f0c-f68e-52f8-9a7e-404880cb8a17.html

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.

The Young Playwrights Map

As part of his doctoral research, Jim DeVivo (PTNJ's Director of Education) has been compiling information for regional and national young playwrights opportunities in the United States. This past week, Jim published this information via a Google Map on his personal website. You can find it at http://jimdevivo.com/young-playwrights.html

The New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival is just one of many opportunities open to writes ages 19 and younger. As it turns out, many of those programs are right here in the Garden State. There are also at least 10 national programs for which you may be eligible. Take a look at the map and see where you might be able to send your current play, or any future submissions. However, please note that the young playwrights season is coming to a close for many of these programs, so information for next year's programming may not yet be available. Even so, what a great way to prepare for next year!