Announcing: The 20th Annual Young Playwrights Festival Chooses Winners

THE BLANK THEATRE’S 20TH ANNUAL
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL CHOOSES WINNERS

12 PLAYS BY THE NATION’S BRIGHTEST YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS
WILL BE PERFORMED AT THE STELLA ADLER THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD
MAY 31 – JUNE 24
FEATURES YOUNGEST PLAYWRIGHT IN YPF’S HISTORY

Now celebrating its 20th Anniversary, The Blank Theatre’s Nationwide Young Playwrights Festival has chosen 12 plays by young playwrights, aged 9 -19, from nine different states. These plays will be presented by professional actors and directors in this year’s festival at The Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, May 31 – June 24.

“Ever since I acted in the first Young Playwrights Festival, I have always had a special place in my heart for these extremely talented teenagers, “ says Blank Artistic Producer Noah Wyle. “The issues tackled, and the depth of emotion and understanding these kids have is remarkable. I wish I knew as much as they do when I was their age!”

This year’s winning plays are: COFFEE TALK by Spencer Opal-Levine, Sarasota, FL, Age 9; DAMMIT! by David Agronin, Owings Mills, MD, Age 17; BEAR IN MIND by Emma Steinkellner, Santa Barbara, CA, Age 17; THE ART OF LOSING by Nicole Acton, Interlochen, MI, Age 18; ARC by Elana Zeltser, Sherman Oaks, CA, Age 16; THE INDEX by Zachary Weaver, Overland Park, KS, Age 19; OTHER PEOPLE’S ORGANS by Paige Roth, San Antonio, TX, Age 18; SCRAPBOOK by Brendan Blaber, Indian Head Park, IL, Age 17; THE GRANT PROPOSAL by Nick Mecikalski, Madison, AL, Age 18; ONE PLUS ONE IS FOUR by Rachel Kaly, Forest Hills, NY, Age 16; PRINCESS by Kate Herzlin, Rockville Centre, NY, Age 19; and THE CARDIOLUTHIER by Dylan Zwickel, Manhattan Beach, CA, Age 19.

This year’s winners join a prestigious club of alumni which includes 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam, who was a three-time festival winner, and Adam Cochran (a two-time winner in YPF), who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in NYC for Outstanding Music in a Play in 2011.

A panel of theatre professionals chose from over 200 plays submitted by teenagers across the nation. Winning playwrights are next assigned a mentor, and then a professional director who will help them hone their scripts for four public performances with professional actors. This year’s mentors include David Rambo (NYC22, V, CSI), John Cariani (Almost Maine), Dave Holstein (Weeds), and Ellen Byron (Just Shoot Me, Wings). Over the past 19 years, The Blank has produced 220 plays by teenaged playwrights.

Eleven of those plays or playwrights have gone on to be presented on The Blank’s mainstage, including Speech & Debate by Stephen Karam. Additionally, many of the plays have been nominated for LA theatre awards, including an Ovation Award for Best Writing—World Premiere, and an LA Weekly Award for Best One-Act Playwriting. Other alumni playwrights are populating the nation’s theatres and sound stages with their work. Many YPF winners have gone on to successful writing careers creating TV shows, filling regional stages, teaching writing to others, and founding regional Young Playwrights Festivals.

In support of the 20th Anniversary YPF, The Blank received its first ever grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. This year’s festival is also made possible by Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The Plum Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Blank Theatre’s 20th Annual Young Playwrights Festival runs May 31 – June 24 at the Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Boulevard, in Hollywood. The performance schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. Each week’s program includes three plays, and admission is $20 for adults and $14 for students. Festival passes, which are good for one ticket each week of the festival, are $65. Tickets may be purchased in advance online at www.TheBlank.com, or via phone by calling (323) 661-9827.

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04-30-12

Announcing: Submission Deadline Nears for Blank Theatre’s 20th Anniversary Young Playwrights Festival

THE BLANK THEATRE’S
20TH ANNIVERSARY NATIONWIDE
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
SUBMISSION DEADLINE NEARS

The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival is seeking submissions nationwide from playwrights 19 years of age and younger. The submission deadline is March 15, 2012. Winning plays will be presented by professional actors and directors from May 31 – June 24, 2012 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, CA.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary year, The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival is a nationwide competition that produces the work of twelve teenaged playwrights each year. Since 1993, the festival has produced 220 plays by playwrights 19 and younger from 27 states.

Each winning play will have four performances in a weekend run. The productions are made possible in part by grants from Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The Plum Foundation, The Rosenthal Family Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Hollywood’s Blank Theatre has had its work featured on MSNBC, CNN Showbiz Today, Entertainment Tonight, BBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, NPR, in Entertainment Weekly magazine, and in the Financial Times of London.

“Every year I am amazed at the depths to which these teenagers go in their writing. They are brave, bold and uninhibited,“ said Noah Wyle (star of television’s ER and Falling Skies), Artistic Producer at The Blank. “The winners are thrilled to see their plays presented by professionals, but these professionals are often given a great gift in return: a renewed sense of artistic purpose. We learn from the playwrights as they learn from us.”

The rules for the festival competition are as follows: playwrights must be 19 years of age or younger on March 15, 2012; original plays and musicals can be any length, on any subject. Scripts must be legible; pages must be numbered and unbound; submissions must be postmarked or emailed by March 15, 2012. There is a limit of three (3) plays per playwright. All plays must include a cover sheet with the play’s title, playwright’s name, date of birth, school (if any), mailing address, contact phone number, e-mail address and the play’s production history (if any). Visit www.YoungPlaywrights.com for further information.

Each playwright whose work is accepted will be assigned a mentor: professional writers who will help the youngsters hone their work for performance. Past mentors have included Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally, Tony Award-nominated composer Michael John LaChiusa, writer Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace), Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), television and film director Garry Marshall, among many others. The playwrights then experience the thrill of seeing their plays performed by industry professionals in fully staged productions.

Past festivals have featured well known actors such as Jeremy Sisto (Law & Order), Chris Pine (Star Trek), Noah Wyle, Molly Shannon, Tiffani Thiessen (White Collar), Michael Welch (The Twilight Saga), Tom Lenk, Nicholas Brendon, and Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Josh Radnor and Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother), Sherri Shepherd (The View), Kelly Lynch, Debra Messing, Mark Valley, Constance Zimmer (Boston Legal), Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), Jerry O’Connell, Tony Award-winning actress Daisy Eagan, Emmy Award-winning actor Edward Asner, and many others.

In past years, some winning plays have gone on to have a life on The Blank’s mainstage for full-scale production. Should this happen, the playwright is treated as a full professional, from signing an option agreement to being paid royalties for his/her play. The Why, a play by 19-year-old Victor Kaufold, received a Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award nomination for ‘Best Writing – World Premiere’ as a result of The Blank’s production. Kaufold is the youngest nominee in his category in 22 years of Ovation Award history.

For more information, visit the festival’s website at www.YoungPlaywrights.com or The Blank Theatre’s website at www.TheBlank.com.

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02-24-12

Announcing: Paolo Andino will Star in All New Production of “The Santaland Diaries” Beginning November 19

 PAOLO ANDINO SET TO STAR IN “THE SANTALAND DIARIES”
FOR HOLLYWOOD’S BLANK THEATRE
ALL NEW PRODUCTION BEGINS PERFORMANCES NOVEMBER 19
AT THE STELLA ADLER THEATRE

Hollywood’s newest holiday tradition, The Blank Theatre’s production of The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, this year will star Paolo Andino and once again be directed by Michael Matthews.  Santaland begins preview performances on Saturday, November 19, and opening night is set for Saturday, November 26 at 8:00 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood.

The Santaland Diaries is an outrageously funny solo play by NPR’s well-loved humorist David Sedaris, about his experiences as an unemployed writer who takes a job as a Christmas elf at Macy’s in New York City. At first, the job is simply humiliating, but once thousands of visitors start pouring through Santa’s workshop, David (or, as his alter ego is known, Crumpet the Elf) becomes battle weary and bitter, occasionally taking out his frustrations on the parents and children alike.

Paolo Andino is best known for his two seasons on LOGO’s “Big Gay Sketch Show.” He has also appeared on such television shows as “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Ed,” “Army Wives,” “One Life to Live,” “Guiding Light,” “As The World Turns,” and “All My Children.” On stage, Andino has been seen in “Anna in the Tropics,” “The 39 Steps,” and “The Food Chain,” among others.

Michael Matthews is the winner of two 2011 NAACP image Awards for his direction of “The Women of Brewster Place” and “Take Me Out,” both at Celebration Theatre. Also in Los Angeles, he directed The Blank’s productions of “The Jazz Age” and “The Temperamentals” as well as “Haram! Iran!,” “Three Tall Women,” “Stupid Kids,” “Beautiful Thing,” and, most recently, the critically acclaimed and Ovation Recommended production of “What’s Wrong With Angry?” at Celebration Theatre, to name only a few. He also served as assistant director on “Dead End” at the Ahmanson Theatre and “The Cherry Orchard” at the Mark Taper Forum.

For those who like a little spice with their Christmas sugar, this tale of mass marketing, stressed out sales clerks, drunk Santas, screaming kids and the general insanity of the holidays is hilarious, witty, sardonic and unpredictable; mercilessly cutting through the Christmas spirit to point out what crazy things we do as human beings during the holidays.

A new set for The Santaland Diaries will be designed by Sean Vasquez. The lighting design is by Tim Swiss, costume design is by Michael Mullen and sound design is by Warren Davis. The stage manager is Sarah A. Bauer, and the show is being produced for The Blank by Daniel Henning, Matthew Graber, and Noah Wyle.

Preview performances begin Saturday, November 19 at 8pm, and continue on Sunday, November 20 at 2pm, Tuesday, November 22 at 8pm and Friday, November 25 at 8pm. Opening night is set for Saturday, November 26 at 8:00. There will be no performance on Sunday, November 27. The regular running schedule is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm through December 18 only. All tickets are $30 and may be purchased by visiting www.TheBlank.com or by calling (323) 661-9827. The Stella Adler Theatre is located at 6773 Hollywood Boulevard, on the corner of Hollywood and Highland.

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10-24-11