1ST ANNUAL
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
CITY OPERA HOUSE

Date/Time:         Free public performance
                        Sunday, May 20, 2012,
                        1:30 p.m. performance, 1:00 doors
                        City Opera House, Traverse City, MI                                                                        Details:
www.cityoperahouse.org/youngplaywrights.php

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Calling all Playwrights! In a region filled with many
talented writers, the first annual Young Playwright’s Festival, offers a great
opportunity for the creative writers in the region to get involved and be rewarded!
Six one act plays, written by area youth, performed by Traverse City area performers
and directed by local directors in affiliation with Old Town Playhouse will come
alive at the City Opera House, Sunday, May 20th. These talented finalists have been
selected from a juried competition of over 30 entrants. Each finalist will receive a
$100 award and a staged production of their play at the City Opera House. The 1:30
PM performance is free and open to the public.

The Young Playwrights Festival is collaboration between MSU Federal Credit Union
Institute for Arts & Creativity at Wharton Center, City Opera House, Old Town
Playhouse and National Writers Series.  High school students write and submit
one-act scripts to a juried competition in November. Six final scripts are selected
to be produced and performed at City Opera House by local actors and directors.
Finalists, whose plays will be produced, are paired with a theatre mentor, located
locally or out-of-state, from a professional theatre or organization.  For a period
of about four to five weeks, the mentor and student playwright work on the play.
The goal is to teach the students more about the art of playwrighting. The revised
play is then submitted to the directors for production.  Finally, during the
performance weekend, mentors will come to Traverse City and see the play with their
students. Time will be provided for them to meet, talk and reflect.

Professional mentors include:  Melissa Cooper, New York based playwright; Michael
Haney, Associate Director Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Bert Goldstein, Director
of MSU FCU Institute for Arts & Creativity; and Randy Wyatt, Michigan-based
playwright and theatre instructor at Aquinas College.

Congratulations to the City Opera House 2012 Young Playwright finalists:

Playwright                   School                                         
Teacher                               Script Title                

Kelly Clare                  Interlochen Arts Academy           Anne Marie Oomen   
       A Stolen Sort of Blue
Wayne Campbell         Petoskey Highschool                    Stasha Simon         
           2023
Krysta Schaub             TC Preparatory Academy             Minda Nyquist         
        The Toybox
Sella Malin                  Interlochen Arts Academy           Anne Marie Oomen   
       Stones
Clem Turner                Petoskey Highschool                    Stasha Simon     
               Anger Management
Nicole Acton               Interlochen Arts Academy           Anne Marie Oomen     
     LYRA

The 1st Annual Young Playwrights Festival is made possible in part by; Grand
Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; ForeWord Magazine; Arbutus Press;
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs & NorthSky Nonprofit Network;
Meijer and UpNorth TV 97 & 992.