Students from High School South participated in McCarter Theater’s ninth annual Youth Ink! Festival of Plays, Playwrights, and Playwriting. Two sections of AP language and composition classes taught by Don Gilpin were involved in the process. A one-act play festival featuring seven 10 minute student performances will be presented by the students at High School South’s Playhouse on Saturday, June 2, at 3 and 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey high school students from High School South, South Hunterdon Regional High School, and Neptune High School, along with their teachers, will gather at McCarter Theater on Thursday, May 31. The program, conducted across the state for more than 100 high school students annually, aims to expose students to playwriting as a form of artistic express and to empower them as young playwrights. Through the residencies, students are introduced to the basic elements of playwriting through play-reading, scene writing, play-going, and guided discussions.
The festival is co-produced by Paula T. Alekson, McCarter’s director of high school programs and the festival’s artistic director, and Jim Murtha, education program manager. A culmination of the year-long residency, the event brings together every student and educator who participated in a residency or workshop during the school year, for a day-long playwrights’ party.
“We had a new approach to the festival this year,” says Alekson. “We put our energies into presenting the plays as readings to hear the play as written.”
The celebration will include a number of professional playwrights and creators of theater who will celebrate the work of the playwright and provide additional out-of-the-residency-box educational opportunities in the form of workshops and continue the conversation on the craft of playwriting in an open forum.
This year’s special guests includes Emily Mann, McCarter’s artistic director and resident playwright; and David Thompson, Tony Award nominated book writer. They will be on the panel, Playwrights in Conversation, moderated by Christopher T. Parks, McCarter’s director of education.
Youth Ink! participant plays were selected by members of McCarter’s education and artistic staff for professional readings. “For You I Sing” by Aini Sun, a junior at High School South, will be presented by professional actors in the afternoon and the evening. Students from High School South give a reading of “The Minute Differences” by Gujri Singh, also a junior at South, in the afternoon.
Youth Ink Festival, McCarter Theater (The Room at Berlind), 91 University Place, Princeton. Thursday, May 31, 7 p.m. Register by E-mail to palekson@mccarter.org. Free. 609-258-8288 or www.mccarter.org.
One Act Festival, High School South, 346 Clarksville Road, West Windsor. Saturday, June 2, 3 and 7:30 p.m. 609-716-5050.
