Playwrights Project Headlines

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Playwrights Project's 25th Anniversary
A Celebration in Three Acts

Save the Date
Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 6:00 pm
San Diego Museum of Photographic Art, Balboa Park

Click here for more information.

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Here's your Chance to be a Playwright!

To celebrate Playwrights Project's 25th Anniversary, we're inviting anyone of any age to submit a scene to our 25-line play competition. The script format is based on an exercise used in our classroom programs. The winning scripts will be performed at our 25th Anniversary celebration at the Museum of Photographic Arts, along with new works by professional playwrights who began their playwriting careers with Playwrights Project. Save the date: Saturday, November 6 for the anniversry celebration. Click here for a link to the 25-line play entry form and template.

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Play by Play: Cultivating Emerging Playwrights

Play by Play provides emerging playwrights (ages 19-29) the opportunity to workshop a current play through readings and one-on-one support from a theatre professional. We recently completed our first series of Play by Play. Here's what one writer had to say about the experience:

I sat in the audience anxiously waiting for the staged reading of my play to begin.  Nervous does not do justice to express what I felt at the time.  Fear, perhaps, is a better adjective.  A part of me, an intimate personal part of me, was about to be shared in front of friends and strangers alike.  The reading began, and I found myself having to remind myself to breathe after holding my breath for long periods of time.  I remember feeling awkwardly vulnerable and naked.  Then I found myself having an outer-body experience as I continued to listen to the words.  I found myself laughing and feeling touched and torn with what I heard.  It was as if I was hearing some of the words for the first time.  “Wow,” I remember thinking, “I wrote that?  I wrote that…I wrote that!”

I realized at an early age that there is POWER in words.  It’s a big reason why I became an actor, to be able to speak these amazing words written by others.  It never occurred to me that I could be the one writing them.  And now I am.  And even as an audience member at my own play reading, I felt the power of words…of my words.  And that experience was priceless.

~ Alberto I. Alvarado

Deadline for submissions to Fall Workshop: October 15, 2010
See the Programs page for more information

Play by Play is supported in part by

Irvine


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Telling Stories: Giving a Voice to Foster Youth


Thanks to The San Diego Foundation, foster youth in San Diego are shaping their real life experiences into theatre in
Telling Stories, a program created by Playwrights Project, in collaboration with LEAP (Leadership Empowers All Possibilities), a program of San Diego Foster Youth Initiative. Click on the title above to download a PDF and read all about it.

Join us for a performance of two short plays from Telling Stories followed by a discussion with the audience. The plays are based on real life experiences of youth and adults involved in the foster care system.

Tuesday, October 26 at 7pm
at the Weingart Library in City Heights.

Contact Playwrights Project if you are interested in attending.

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California Young Playwrights Contest

Judges are currently reviewing over 280 script submissions.
Winners will be announced in September.

All Californians under the age of 19 are eligible to enter the contest.
Click here to learn more about our statewide playwriting Contest.

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Videos of Playwrights Project in Action
See Playwrights Project's programs in action in the following videos.

Our Artist in Schools Program 2009-2010 at Keiller Leadership Academy is the focus of this video created by Michael Thomas Tower and Jason Connors. This program is made possible by the California Arts Council, the Sidney E. Frank Foundation and an Anonymous donor.

Got Reality is video created by Mark Weaver of Deep Storyworks. Thanks to program participant Martin Johnson and teaching artist Mabelle Reynoso of Fighting 517 Productions for program footage.

Telling Stories (part 1) and Telling Stories (part 2) provide a look into our Telling Stories program for foster youth and the lives of four brave young women from LEAP - Leadership Empowers All Possibilities. Program funded by The San Diego Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation. Video created by Mabelle Reynoso.

Programs 2008-2009 includes samples of Jan 2009 Plays by Young Writers festival, WINS touring production, and photographs of our teaching artists in the classroom.

Programs 2007-2008 includes samples of our Jan. 2008 festival of Plays by Young Writers, along with footage of our tour and in-school reisdencies. Many thanks to CTN and Joe Solazzo for the footage of Step by Step and interview with James Monroe.

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PLAYWRIGHTS PROJECT makes the news...

FunnyThingOpheliaSchoolChildren
Photos by Donna Rohmer & Ken Jacques

Recent Press

Carmel Valley News (May 2010) article by Karen Billing
Students encouraged to submit work for California Young Playwrights Contest

La Jolla Light (April 21, 2010) article about Artistic Advisor Edward Albee's visit
Edward Albee in town to boost arts education.

Coverage of Plays by Young Writers, February 2010

San Diego Union Tribune Night & Day (Feb. 26, 2010) theatre review by James Hebert
Startling talent on display in Playwrights Project festival

San Diego News Network (Feb. 26, 2010) theatre review by Pat Launer
Out of the Mouths of Babes

San Diego News Network (Mar. 4, 2010) theatre review by Pat Launer Gone but not Forgotten... Plays by Young Writers

Gay & Lesbian Times (Feb, 23, 2010) theatre review by Jean Lowerison
Plays by Young Writers

San Diego Theatre Scene (Mar. 6, 2010) theatre review by Charlene Baldridge News and Views: Brenda in the Basement

San Diego Jewish World (Mar. 5. 2010) article about What All School Children Learn by Sara Appel-Lennon Benjamin Sprung-Keyser addresses school bullying in one act play

San Diego Tribune Night & Day (Feb 14, 2010) article by James Hebert
Grooming theater's new visionaries

San Diego Family Magazine (Jan. 2010) article by Ronni Rowland
Local Student Writers Shine on the Page & on the Stage (for PDF of article)

Coverage of Plays by Young Writers, January 2009

San Diego Union Tribune Night & Day (Jan. 15, 2009) by James Hebert
Chasing a dream: “Plays by Young Writers” is just the most visible part of a project to spark creativity.

Gay & Lesbian Times (Jan. 22, 2009) by Jean Lowerison
Plays by young playwrights

San Diego Jewish World (Jan. 2009) by Sara Appel-Lennon
Playwright Jacob Axelrad on the Right Track

San Diego Jewish World (Jan. 2009) by Sara Appel-Lennon
Leah Salovey, Torah H.S. student, is budding playwright

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Donor Corner

We appreciate the support of each and everyone of our donors. Visit our Donor Corner for a listing of the phenomenal individuals and organizations who make our programs possible. Read the latest news about our current funding successes, including The San Diego Foundation's support of our newest program initiative Telling Stories: Giving Voice to Foster Youth.

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Playwrights Project advances literacy, creativity and communication by empowering individuals to voice their stories
through playwriting programs and theatre productions.

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