Budding playwrights have their words put to life

A 13-year-old North Hills Middle School student who wrote a play about a woman who lost her memory was among the winners of the Young Playwrights Contest sponsored by the Pittsburgh City Theatre.

Middle school winner Michelle Do wrote “Cologne.” She described the play as a love story about a woman who “is madly in love” with her husband who goes to war. “In the meantime, her father dies, she moves in with her mother and gets into a car accident that causes her to lose her memory. Her husband comes back and helps her to remember again.”

Michelle said she got the idea to enter the contest from participating in a club at her school called Liberati.

“My words are being put to life,” she said. “That is one of the greatest gifts a writer is given.”

Out of a record-breaking 305 submissions, the theater selected six winning plays that will be performed Sept. 30-Oct. 10 during the 15th Young Playwrights Festival.

The winning middle school and high school students will collaborate with 10 theater professionals to bring their plays to life later this year in the theater‘‍s Hamburg Studio on the South Side.

Kristen Link, theater director of education, said the contest was open to students in grades seven to 12 in Western Pennsylvania and the northern portion of West Virginia. Winners were selected in the middle school and high school groups.

“Every play was read by members of a literacy committee comprised of 60 theater professionals from across the country,” Ms. Link said. “The committee gives us an evaluation and we then create a student-friendly format summary where each student receives one page of professional written feedback.”

Over the course of the summer, the winners will be paired with a dramaturg, a theater professional who strengthens scripts. 

Ten professional actors, directors and designers will go through a two-week rehearsal, where students will make their last-minute revisions.

“Then we will hold the festival, which is two weeks of performances held Tuesdays through Fridays for student matinee audiences,” Ms. Link said.

During the weekend of Oct. 4 and 5, performances will be open to the public. On Oct. 10, a public reading of all the plays will be held by professional actors.

Tickets are $15 and $10 for students, and are available Sept. 2 at the theater’‍s box office, 412-431-2489.

The other middle school winners were “Attack of the Psycho Geese from Outer Space!” by Weston Custer, Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 and “The Bat Boy” by Joseph Bornes, Sharpsville Middle School.

The high school winners were “The Cellar” by Casey Zadinski, South Fayette High School; “Conflict” by Michael Kelly, Moon Area High School; and “Dream House” by Drew Praskovich, Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12

The deadline to submit original, one-act plays for the 2015 Young Playwrights Contest is March 31.

Details: Kristen Link at 412-431-4400, ext. 225 or citytheatrecompany.org.

Chasity Capasso, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.