by Jeff Jenkins
Jeff Jenkins is a Chicago-based playwright. He and Newman serve as co-chairs of the AATE Playwriting Network. Jenkins has come to Utah for multiple projects that Newman has led at UVU and through the AATE Playwrights In Our Schools Project and UVU Old Miner Children’s Playwriting Contest.
TIMMON AND THE MAGIC SHOES
This play for younger audiences was developed in a one-week residency at Utah Valley University as the winner of the Old Miner Children’s Playwriting Contest. It was mounted as the fall 2020 touring show before the pandemic took the university and all of its theatre productions online. The play was directed as a “recorded stream” online touring production under the direction of Teresa Love, with puppetry and fully-designed costumes and scenery, with recorded in an acting classroom with only one actor and the camera operator in the room at the same time.
Dangers lurk around every corner on the African Savannah as dogs and lions are out hunting. Wandering away from home, Timmon, a young giraffe born with a noticeably short neck, stumbles into threatening territory. While finding a safe path, Timmon meets a grasshopper who can’t jump, and a dog who is vision impaired. Trouble finds these three travelers in the form of a rival pack of dogs. Will these three new acquaintances band together, or will they let their differences continue to keep them apart? This is a good play for elementary (K-6). Themes: Diversity and Inclusion, Disability, Community, and Friendship.
The video of the full play is available on the UVU TYE Center website, http://www.uvu.edu/tyecenter under the media and scripts page.
KAYKO’S GARDEN
Struggling with acceptance at school and taunted by the most popular kid, Calum destroys the garden of outsider Kayko Yoshida in a fit of anger. Tasked to restore the “place of peace,” the garden reveals it’s magic. Exploring this new world, he is challenged to see himself and the world differently. The play celebrates a character with a disability and promotes empathy, understanding, and resilience.
The play was developed at the Liahona Preparatory School through an AATE Playwrights In Our Schools residency in 2023. The script is available through Plays for New Audiences, a service of the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis. Follow the link below for more information.
https://playsfornewaudiences.org/products/kaykos-garden?_pos=1&_sid=0f46b3a67&_ss=r
THE DAY STARBUCKS STOOD STILL
It’s a caffeinated comedy invasion! Two adolescent extraterrestrial visitors to Earth become the herald of upheaval when they pick a local Starbucks to deliver an important message. What ensues is pure, Frappuccino-fueled chaos!
This comedy was developed through an AATE Playwrights In Our Schools residency at Payson High School in Payson, Utah under the direction of drama teacher Rock White in May 2024. The play was mounted the next year as Payson High’s entry in the one-act play competition. The script is now available through Plays for New Audiences. Follow the link below for more information.
Newman Plays 