A public reading of the winning works will be held October 3rd at 7 pm.
(Dorset, VT – September 25, 2018) Dorset Theatre Festival provides opportunities for regional middle and high school students to learn about playwriting and create a play of their own through its annual Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition. A public reading of this year’s winning works will be held on Wednesday, October 3 at 7 pm.
This event will be held at the Manchester Community Library, located at 138 Cemetery Ave., Manchester, VT. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is general admission, and no ticket is required.
The Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition is an annual collaboration between Dorset Theatre Festival and local schools. Each spring, visiting playwrights and Bennington College mentors teach a series of playwrighting workshops at participating schools, after which students are invited to submit a short play for adjudication by a panel of nationally recognized playwrights. Winners are chosen in autumn, and their works are then given a public reading.
Twelve Vermont schools participated in this year’s workshops, from which 54 plays were submitted to panel of 12 judges.
This year’s high school winners are Katie McCartney from Arlington Memorial School (faculty mentor: Gayna Cross) and Max Harvey Wilson from Long Trail School (faculty mentors: Anna Bean and James Gallen). This year’s middle school winners are Cristina Gregory from Stratton Mountain School (faculty mentor: Mary Mangiacotti) and Meredith Haber and Mackenzie Morgan, who co-wrote their submission, from Maple Street School (faculty mentor: Conor Welch).
Annie Considine and Maizy Scarpa were this year’s visiting playwrights. Considine is a playwright, director, and actor based in Lenox, Massachusetts, where she is a teaching artist with Shakespeare & Company. She has directed over seventeen educational productions of Shakespeare’s plays. Scarpa, whose plays include Pandora Shakes Things Up and Cirque du Dismay, is also a teaching artist at Shakespeare & company, in addition to having taught at Hampton Shakespeare Festival and English as a Foreign Language in Erbil, Kurdistan.
“I was delighted by the creativity and dedication of the students and teachers I met while leading workshops in Vermont schools. I met keen observers, kind people, and talented writers,” said Scarpa, adding, “Those who attend the culminating event will no doubt be impressed and inspired.”
For more information on the Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition, visit dorsettheatrefestival.org.
ABOUT DORSET THEATRE FESTIVAL
Dorset Theatre Festival’s mission is to create bold, innovative, and authentic theatre that engages a diverse, multi-generational community, and economically diverse region: enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring our audience through the celebration of great plays. We aim to redefine the landscape of theatre by presenting thought-provoking productions drawn from the new and classic canon, as well as through the development of new plays, new audiences, and new artists for the future of American theater. We produce theatre that matters.
The Dorset Theatre Festival will return to the Dorset Playhouse in June 2019 for the 42nd annual summer season.
Announcing the Winners of Dorset Theatre Festival’s 5th Annual Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition A public reading of the winning works will be held October 3rd at 7 pm. (Dorset, VT – September 25, 2018) …
