GROTON, Conn. – Fitch High Schoolers to participate in a play script writing competition hosted by the Young Playwrights Festival.
The Young Playwrights Festival submissions are an opportunity for middle schoolers and high schoolers to submit play scripts that they have personally written in hopes of receiving word that their play was decided to be performed by professional actors.
Festival applications were accepted from Jan. 11 to Feb. 14, with results becoming available in May. The competition is run by the Eugene O’Neill Theater in Waterford. that students are able to submit scripts to. Those chosen for the program, Young Playwrights, are granted the ability to see, participate, and explore the workshopping, directing, and rehearsals of plays to further understanding of theater firsthand.
Students at Fitch High School have drafted plays in Creative Writing classes with Mr. Giovinazzo, and are encouraged to submit them to the theater.
“I think that the more opportunities you can give students to make something real out of their writing [through the Young Playwrights Festival], the more meaningful it is for the teacher and hopefully for the student as well,” Giovinazzo said of the competition “It gives writing a value other than it just being words on a page that are handed to a teacher that are graded and put on PowerSchool and thrown in the recycling bin.”
Amphora, a Fitch club on art, poetry, and theater, hosted by Giovinazzo, often gets involved with the process, submitting several scripts themselves. Members of the club host events within the school, such as the Poet Laureate Contest, Spooktober, and more.
Events like these work to incorporate student ideas to further the literary diversity of modern theater and empower the next generation of playwrights. Those interested in further information for next year’s should navigate to the Young Playwrights Festival webpage from the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
