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Pegasus Players will kick off the New Year with its 22nd Annual Young Playwrights Festival, a professional production of four selected one-act plays written by Chicago teenagers. This year marks the program’s twenty-second annual showcase at Pegasus Players, 1145 W. Wilson Avenue in the O’Rourke Center at Truman College, Chicago which will be performed January 4-27, 2008.
A Chicago tradition and the oldest of its kind in the country, the Young Playwrights Festival celebrates over twenty years of giving voice to budding young playwrights within the city. Of the 5,000 participants and nearly 1,000 playwright submissions for the 2007-2008 season, four winning plays were chosen to debut on the Pegasus stage. These plays, written by Chicago high school students, provide a window into the thoughts of today’s youth as they explore ideas that matter the most to them.
The Young Playwrights Festival 2008 will again feature the mentorship program made possible by a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant. The mentor program pairs professional playwrights Lisa Dillman, Aaron Carter, Tanya Saracho A., and Marisa Wegrzyn with the student playwrights as they ready their scripts for production.
In addition, there will be staged readings of Pegasus Players’ Global voices plays. Global Voices matches Chicago public high school language classes- In Arabic, French, Mandarin, Spanish, and other languages- with English-language classes in countries abroad. The student’s are taught the basics of playwriting and with the help of the partner school compose a play in the language being studied.
“Pegasus Players takes great pride in shining the theater spotlight on local high school students with this top-caliber program,” states Artistic Director Alex Levy. “For the twenty-second consecutive year, we are working with Chicago students to share their stories with the rest of the world. The Young Playwrights Festival is a unique experience as students share their work and are introduced to the professional world of theatre.” He adds, “It is absolutely thrilling to watch students develop their skills throughout the process- from the first in-school residencies to the professional opening night of the winning plays. It is equally exciting to watch our audiences, often a younger audience, see stories that they can relate to and care about.”
About the Winners:
Laura Fernandez
Blooming Flowers in Weeds
Lane Tech High School
Synopsis: A mysterious youg girl frequents the Pig’s Hut southern diner where she sits by the window and reads. One day, a friendly waitress, Candy, approaches the teenager, gets her to open up and discovers more than she bargained for.
Molly McAndrew
A Rose in the Royal Court
Northside College Prep
Synopsis: One night in Queen Elizabeth’s garden Rosaline secretly waits for her suitor Jacob. Instead she meets and is wooed by William Shakespeare, and becomes his muse.
Claire Rychlewski
Coffee Girl
Von Steuben Metropolitan High School
Synopsis: Margaret, a 9-year-old slave, returns to the “big house” to retrieve her shoes after giving them to the plantation owner’s wife, who promised to have them mended.
Sarah Winters
Daydream Nation
Northside College Prep
Synopsis: Winter’s play is comprised of two short companion pieces centered on “characters” interactions with the indie band Sonic youth’s album, Daydream Nation, and the truth and strains of being teenage.
The 22nd Annual Young Playwrights Festival will be held January 4-27, 2008. The official opening night is January 7, 2008 at 7:30pm. Performances will be Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm at Pegasus Players, 1145 W. Wilson Avenue in the O’Rourke Center at Truman College, Chicago. Tickets are $12 and may be purchased by calling 773-878-9761 or online at www.pegasusplayers.org.