Trinity Rep’s 11th annual playwriting competition for New England high school students, Write Here! Write Now!, announces its four winning playwrights: William Derby (Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Arts in Pawtucket, RI), MJ Kirsche (East Catholic High School in Manchester, CT), Lucas Manso (North Attleborough High School in North Attleborough, MA), and Tosin George (Cranston High School East in Cranston, RI). Winning plays will be performed at Trinity Rep during a free public reading featuring Brown/Trinity MFA students and resident acting company members on May 10, 2022.
“We are very excited about this year’s festival,” Trinity Rep’s Associate Director of Education Matthew Tibbs said. “Our four selected plays each highlight the vibrant ideas and strong voice of our high school community. The plays this year are wildly creative and original. They are standouts through their humor and thought-provoking approach to some of life’s big questions. We can’t wait to share them.”
ABOUT THE WINNERS
William Derby is a student at Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Arts in Pawtucket, RI. His play The Great, Great Outdoors follows a group of friends on a camping trip where their overreliance on technology get them into various hijinks. The Great, Great Outdoors is witty, well-constructed, and playfully pokes fun at our addiction to technology.
MJ Kirsche, a student at East Catholic High School in Manchester, CT, wrote La Vie Perdue. Featuring a protagonist with the ability to know when people will die, La Vie Perdue examines the moral and ethical dilemmas that come with this “gift” as it intersects with personal responsibility. This play was a standout because of the originality in its approach to big ideas.
An absurdly funny and irreverent take on death and the family politics that no one talks about, Grandma is Dying stars a fun-loving grandmother who rents time on the Game Show Network to divide up her remaining assets to select family. This play was written by North Attleborough High School student Lucas Manso.
Finally, An Unwritten Love Story is about a teen reporter tired of writing hard-hitting stories and instead longs to write a romantic comedy. With an authentic teenage voice, this play was funny and sweet with a relatable streak of loneliness throughout. Cranston High School East student Tosin George wrote this play, and was also one of last year’s winners for her play The Ally’s Burden.
This year’s honorable mentions go to Stuckby Brandon Potrzeba (East Providence High School, East Providence, RI) and You Say You Want a Revolution by Ava Milukas (Tiverton High School, Tiverton, RI).
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Write Here! Write Now! is a part of the expansive educational initiatives at Trinity Rep. Creative writing, English, and theater teachers from all high schools in New England are encouraged to incorporate playwriting into their classroom curriculum and are provided lesson plans by Trinity Rep. Whether they complete their plays as part of a class or independently, students may submit up to two ten-minute plays free of charge to the Write Here! Write Now! competition. Each year, four winners are selected. Resources for teachers, including a guide for bringing the Write Here! Write Now! curriculum into the classroom, are available on Trinity Rep’s website.
Scripts are adjudicated through a blind evaluation process by Trinity Rep’s education and artistic staff as well as guests from the community. Every play that is submitted will receive feedback to enhance the playwriting experience and aid in the development of the student’s creative voice.
The four winning plays receive further feedback as the writers engage in an in-depth dramaturgical look at their scripts. Winners also receive a scholarship towards any Trinity Rep Young Actors Studio afterschool class and 20 free tickets to a Project Discovery student matinee performance during the 2022-23 Season for their school. Each award-winning student will have their ten-minute play presented by professional actors at a staged reading at Trinity Rep on May 10, 2022.
TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY
Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater, Trinity Rep has created unparalleled professional theater for and with its community since its founding in 1963. Trinity Rep strives to facilitate human connection and has been a driving force behind the creativity that fuels and defines the region for more than 50 years. Trinity Rep is committed to reinventing the public square and inspiring dialogue by creating emotionally stimulating live productions that range from classical to contemporary and innovative education programs for all ages and abilities. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol has brought families together for more than four decades and made memories for over a million audience members. The 2021-22 Season launched in November with the holiday classic and continues with four subscription series productions which will run January through June, 2022: Tiny Beautiful Things, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, Sueño, and Fairview. For more information on the 2021-22 Season, visit Trinity Rep’s website at www.TrinityRep.com