The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts,” said Oscar Wilde, “but is also the return of art to life.” If this is true then West Windsor-Plainsboro playwrights are providing a hotbed of life to the local theater scene.
At the top of the marquee are West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South students Maggie Marron and Tyler Samardick. Their one-act plays were selected from among 78 entries to receive full production at McCarter Theater’s Youth-Ink Play Festival on Friday and Saturday, June 10 and 11. The plays will be directed and acted by theater professionals.
In addition, four other plays will be performed this Friday through Sunday, May 13 through 15, by Amir Kanpurwala, Anna Jacobson, Jon Kugel, and Alexa Hoyne, as a part of the Senior One-Acts at High School South.
“There is just an amazing amount of playwriting talent in West Windsor-Plainsboro,” says Steve Borowka, the education coordinator at McCarter Theater. He taught an intensive three month residency to WW-P high school students, offering the mechanics of writing a play. “We learned all about structure and what makes a good play from beginning to end,” says Borowka.
This resulted in 78 one-act submissions from WW-P students for inclusion in the One-Act Festival, that will feature works from high school students across New Jersey. “We only chose one script from each of the other schools,” says Borowka. “But because of the exceptional quality of the submissions at WW-P, we chose two.”
“The really wonderful thing about these plays is that they offer us a viewpoint on the world we don’t normally get to see,” says Borowka. “In almost every play, the hero is a teenage student and the villains are adults.”
Plays that will be performed at McCarter the week of June 6: “Eleven to Six,” by Tyler Samardick, is a dream-like fantasy in which a young man, uncertain about what career path to choose, is visited by six different possible future versions of himself. “It’s a very challenging play and Tyler will be collaborating with the director (Rob Kimbro) throughout the rehearsal process,” says Borowka.
“73 September 23rds,” by Maggie Marron, is a more naturalistic drama about a young woman taking care of a older relative suffering from Alzheimers disease, and the emotional consequences that result. It will be directed by Dan Brunet.
Plays that will be performed this weekend at High School South as a part of Senior One-Acts include “Trapped,” by Amir Kanpurwala; “Clyod’s Wholesale Heaven,” by Anna Jacobson; “The Road to Admission,” by Jon Kugel; and “Callback,” by Alexa Hoyne.
In addition, honorable mention for outstanding plays goes out to Mitchell Akselrad, Radwa Ali, Derek Kiernan, Jennifer Lee, Remi Meehan, Maansi Modi, Kelly Nigh, and Grace Philips.
Senior One-Acts will be on stage at High School South Friday and Saturday, May 13 and 14, at 7:30 p.m. $10.
McCarter Theater’s Education Department’s second annual Youth-Ink Play Festival will be performed at “The Room” at McCarter Theater, 91 University Place, Princeton, on Friday, June 10, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, June 11, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Free. Call 609-258-2787 for information and reservations.
