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2013 Urban Retreat Young
Playwrights: back row:
Erin Neitzel, Leah Lane, Ari Bell, Sherri M. Goldhirsch
(Artistic Director), Mollie Lipkowitz, Connor Woods, Leah
Bell, Jacqueline Crispino
front row: Candace Hartsuyker, Dahlia Pham, Frank Garland,
Irene Tapert, William Stieglitz
Photo by A. Isadora for Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com
© 2013 |
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Sondheim’s
Young Playwrights, Inc. 2013 Urban Retreat
at Lucille Lortell Theater
In 1981, Stephen
Sondheim brought renowned British director and educator
Gerald Chapman from London’s Royal Court Theatre to New
York to
inspire a new generation of playwrights. Out of this
collaboration came the groundbreaking Young Playwrights,
Inc. Young Playwrights, Inc. is the recipient of two Obies,
the NY Drama Critics Circle Award, Jujamcym Award and many
other educational and cultural awards.
Of the Young
Playwrights, Inc. program, Stephen Sondheim states,” I am
happy to say that Young Playwrights Inc. is now in its 31st
year, under the direction of Artistic Director Sheri M.
Goldhirsch, and our president, David Henry Hwang. We can
take heart in the fact that there are hundreds of young
writers around who have not been totally persuaded that
television and sit-coms and formless movies and their
innumerable (though often numbered) spin-offs represent the
state of the narrative art. Our high hopes for the future,
and your support, bolsters them. Thank you for your interest
in their work. “
This year 14 students
were selected from dozens of applicants from across the United
States to
participate in the 2013 Young Playwrights, Inc. Urban
Retreat. The
Urban Retreat is a nine day intensive in New
York City that
culminates in a staged reading off-broadway at the Lucille
Lortell Theatre. The 2013 Urban Retreat Young Playwrights
are: Ari Bell, Leah Bell, Jacqueline Crispino, Frank
Garland, Jordan Eli Goldberg, Candace Hartsuyker, Leah
Lane, Mollie Lipkowitz, Erin Neitzel, Dahlia
Pham, Melina Schmidt, William Stieglitz, Irene Tapert, and
Connor Woods.
Urban Retreat Young
Playwrights take two to three intensive workshops daily.
These sessions are designed to get a play started, help
create complex characters and distinctive dialogue, offer
solutions to writer’s block, and explore revisions.
Playwrights also attend discussions and lectures by
prominent theater artists and work one-on-one with workshop
leaders on revising and deepening the playwrights' writing;
then collaborate with professional dramaturgs, directors,
and actors on the production of a new play. This year's
Urban Retreat Playwrights were given a commission to write a
play inspired by the word: "Burst". The plays were presented
at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on July 20th and directed by
Christopher Windom, Padraic Lillis and Amanda Junco.
Young Playwrights,
Inc. is the only professional theater in the United States
dedicated to identifying, developing and promoting
playwrights aged 18 and under: on stage, in the classroom
and in the artistic community. The Young Playwrights, Inc.
programs have exposed young people to the art of playwriting
through intensive workshops and collaboration with theater
professionals.
For more information
on Young Playwrights, Inc. see
www.youngplaywrights.org |