SAN DIEGO — If you’ve been feeling like we just can’t catch a break from the weight of this oppressive year, I’m here to tell you that Playwrights Project has given us a holiday gift that will provide light, love, good tidings, comfort, and joy. Once again, we tip our hat to the Sheila and Jeffrey Lipinsky Family Fund, the Mandell Weiss Charitable Trust, and the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture for making this festival possible.
The California Young Playwrights Contest, celebrating its 36 wonderful years, encouraged young people, ages 13-19, to submit original scripts for a competition. The four finalists will get to see their plays produced and one will receive a reading by professional actors. This past Saturday night, the winners were announced and we were served appeteasers, snippets of the top-ranking plays, to whet our appetite for the full production which will stream virtually March 2021.
The readers and judges were culled from San Diego’s best and brightest actors, dramaturgs, theater founders, and directors. Lest you think a little thing like closed theaters, inconsistent school openings, or Zoom would quell the human spirit, the sponsors received 243 plays submitted by California’s creative youth!
Rachel Van Wormer, Contest Coordinator, and gifted actor, reviewed all 243 scripts blindly. The top 50 selections were then passed along to Cecelia Kouma, Executive Producer, and eventually, 10 finalists were evaluated by Final Judges: Peter Cirino, Jacole Kitchen, Josefina Lopez, Annie Weisman, and Ruff Yeager. Many of these folk are also alumni of this very festival and have written plays that won awards in years past. Yeager also served as the Festival Artistic Director and introduced us to each of the winning playwrights with brief interviews about how they conceived their scripts.
The judges were looking for creative, fresh ideas that would be producible on Zoom, as well as scripts that would “benefit from further development.” Each playwright who requested critique received feedback on his piece! Read that sentence again. That’s amazing! Why do they do this? Because, “Playwrights Project is committed to bringing playwriting programs and quality theatrical productions to all members of our community, including those who may not see themselves as writers or conventional theatergoers.”
While I could go on spouting accolades for the project coordinators, judges and founders, I want to get to the meat of the act…the scripts and the brave contestants who shared their stories with the Playwrights Project. The winners are a marvelous cross-section of California’s diverse population and are truly representative of the states’ youth.
From City Heights, thirteen-year-old Arely Gomes Hernandez created The Fight for a Dream. A young girl is met with derision and jealousy by her brother, and a reality rub by her parents when she shares her dream of becoming a professional singer. Though the family is less than encouraging, in a follow-up interview, Arely tells Yeager that ”I inspired myself” to write this play. Her abiding message is clear: Never give up on your dreams. A staged reading will reveal how Arely copes with her struggle.
The youngest playwright ever to receive a full production in this festival, Declan Kallberg, wrote a topical and sensitive play evoked by the COVID-19 restrictions and their attendant fears. The articulate and thoughtful Temecula-based playwright explained that while he has lived with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder much of his life, it intensified during the spring lockdown. With great sophistication this 13-year-old educated viewers on the dual purpose of OCD. Declan stated that while it may be a hindrance, it also serves as a protector. In Dub Thee Fear, the playwright demonstrates how Fear, the antagonist, wants only to shield the protagonist from harm.
San Diegan, Jordan Marie Finley, a two-time contest winner, merits having The Love Project made into a full production. As an 18-year-old Jordan wrote this insightful and humorous play which was inspired by her senior year Victorian literature class. The plot explores teen sexuality and identity through clever dialogue and authentic situations. The author hopes her play “will help young people who are finding themselves feel seen, heard, and understood.”
Controversy in the Comments Section pinpoints the trouble with online communication and how it can be imbued with tone, causing discomfort and hurt.
Playwright Sarina Hegli, of Carmel Valley, provided us with a heated social media exchange between mother and son, demonstrating the tendency for online conversations to lead to harsh words. Her dialogue is realistic allowing the viewer to relate to both Jackson and his mother. The sixteen-year-old writer was a semifinalist in the 2018 California’s Playwright Project competition.
The final full production will be granted to San Francisco’s Kaya Dierks, for her intensely emotional play that plumbs the depths of how a family moves past a tragic event. Forward is filled with biting dialogue while navigating the precarious relationship between a father and daughter who are coping with loss, each in his own way. The seventeen-year-old is currently writing a novel!
Tickets will be available for virtual streaming March 11-19th, $20 per household: $30 for Closing Celebration and Pay What You Can Options are available. The program is free to schools. Your purchase will ensure that this competition and the Playwrights Project can continue to offer these incredible creative opportunities to California’s youth even during a pandemic. Please visit www.playwrightsproject.org/productions/pbyw.
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Eva Trieger is a freelance writer based in Solana Beach, California