High school students across the state are invited to submit a one-act play to be juried in the 22nd Annual Young Playwright's Festival (YPF), a collaboration between Wharton Center Institute for Arts & Creativity and the MSU Department of Theatre.
Twelve semi-finalists are chosen, and from those twelve, the jury will select six finalists whose plays will be produced. The six finalists will be assigned a professional theatre mentor who will assist the playwright with revising their play. Each finalist will receive a $200 award and a staged production of their play at Wharton Center performed by the MSU Department of Theatre. The other six semi-finalists will receive a $100 award.
To enter students must complete an applications available online at www.whartoncenter.com/ypf. To be included in this year's festival, all entries must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format by Monday, December 4, 2017.
On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 2 p.m. in Wharton Center's Pasant Theatre, the six finalist's plays will be performed. The performance is free and open to the public with first-come, first-served seating. Doors open at 1:30 p.m.
A second performance is scheduled for Monday, May 14, 2018 at 10 a.m. for high school students. All high schools are invited to attend this free event. Reservations for the Monday school show must be made in advance by contacting Laurie Briseno of Wharton Center's Education Department at laurie.briseno@whartoncenter.com by May 1, 2018.
Professional mentors for 2018 include: Joe Giardiana, theatre artist, New York City; Pam Sterling, Associate Professor of Theatre, Arizona State University; Joe Zettlemaier, Michigan-based playwright; Amanda Ewing, University of Michigan; Ken LaZebnik, playwright and screenwriter; and Randy Wyatt, Aquinas College.
SOURCE: PRESS RELEASE
