Newman Plays

Playwrights In Our Schools

2016 UTAH PLAYWRIGHTS IN OUR SCHOOLS RESIDENCY

The American Alliance for Theatre and Education is seeking a Utah secondary school to host the 2016 Playwrights In Our Schools Residency with a national award-winning writer of plays for young people.  The residency will take place between January and May of 2016 in a Utah public school.  Applying playwrights must be current members of AATE and must have won at least one of five national distinctions in playwriting for young people.  Applications for both playwrights and schools are due to john.newman@uvu.edu by December 1, 2015.

During the three-day residency, the host school will rehearse and present a staged reading of the playwright’s latest play.  While at the school, the writer will visit drama and creative writing classes and will mentor student playwrights at the school.  The program, supported by Broadway Across American Utah, will provide the playwright with airfare, lodging, per diem and stipend.  The school will provide photocopying and ground transportation if required by the writer.  The residency will take place during about three days at a time agreed upon by the school and the playwright.  Dr. John Newman from Utah Valley University, who chairs the Playwrights In Our Schools Project, will make himself available for consulting and coaching during the preparation and the residency

Application for Utah Secondary Schools:

PIOS 2016 Call for Utah Host Schools D1

Application for Qualifying AATE Member Playwrights

PIOS10 2016 Call for Playwrights D1.1

ARTICLE ON “PLAYWRIGHTS IN OUR SCHOOLS” RIC AVERILL AT DAVINCI ACADEMY IN OGDEN

This article from AATE’s Incite/Insight paints a clear picture of what a Playwrights In Our Schools residency looks like.  It depicts the development of Ric Averill’s Escape from the Labyrinth at DaVinci Academy in Ogden, UT under the direction of Adam Slee.  Utah high school teachers:  you could have this kind of experience in your own school.  Apply below for the 2015 residency, applications due December 1.

http://incite-insight.org/2014/02/03/mything-it-up/

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE “PIOS” PROJECT

The Playwrights In Our Schools Project grew out of a dinner conversation between John Dilworth Newman and Sandra Fenichel Asher after Newman had directed Asher’s ARK 5 at Highland High School.  The two of them wanted to find a way to promote the kind of new play development and production opportunity they had just completed in other schools around the country.  Newman proposed such a project to the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and applied for a grant from the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America which funded the first year of the project.

In 2003, the Playwrights In Our Schools Project, run by the AATE Playwriting Network and coordinated by Newman, provided five matching grants to secondary schools across the nation to develop new works by award-winning writers of plays for young people.  In 2005, a second grant from the Children’s Theatre Foundation enabled three high school teachers to observe new play development projects in three venues (the Bonderman National Youth Playwriting Symposium in Indianapolis, NYU’s New Plays for Young Audiences series at the Provincetown Playhouse, and Pollyanna Theatre Company in Austin.  In 2007, a third grant connected eight high school playwrights with an award-winning playwright mentor who guided the young writers through three drafts of their own one-act plays.

In 2009, Newman was approached by the CEO of New Space Entertainment (now Magic Space Entertainment) and Broadway Across America: Utah to create “PIOS” residencies, like the five that happened in 2003, in Utah high schools.  Broadway Across America Utah’s Education Foundation sponsored one or two such residencies a year in Utah schools since 2009.  An additional residency, sponsored by Broadway Across America’s Hawaii affiliate and hosted by the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, was created in 2013.  The AATE project is currently talking with sponsors in other states to fund a PIOS residency in one or more of their schools and is currently seeking a national sponsor to make the program available to any secondary schools in the United States.

2003 PLAYWRIGHT RESIDENCIES (sponsored by the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America)

Creating Haley’s World by Brian Guehring, developed by Rachel Prouty and Stacey Ardelean at St. Joseph’s School in Atherton, CA http://www.brianguehring.com/?cat=47&search_type=and&order=title

Dis/Troy by Yokanaan Kearns, developed by Toni Smith Wilson at Buffalo Seminary High School in Buffalo, NY http://beta.playscripts.com/play/1429

ARK 5 by Sandra Fenichel Asher, developed by Tracy Harrison at Eagle High School in Eagle, ID http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p3685/ARK-5/product_info.html

The Man She Was by Ric Averill, developed by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce at McCallum Fine Arts Academy in Austin, TX

Voices from the Shore by Max Bush, developed by Michael A. Pearl at Grandview High School in Aurora, CO http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p1658/Voices-From-the-Shore/product_info.html

2005 TEACHER RESDIENCIES (sponsored by the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America)

Lynda Sharpe of Middleton, WI at Pollyanna Theatre Company in Austin http://pollyannatheatrecompany.org/

Ellen Klein Cerling of Evansville, IN at the Bonderman National Youth Playwriting Symposium in Indianapolis

Holly McNeill of West Dundee, IN at NYU’s New Plays for Young Audiences series at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City

2007 PLAYWRIGHT MENTORS (Sponsored by the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America)

Ric Averill   *  Lindsay Price  *  Jose Casas  *  Elise Forier Edie

Jennifer Cameron  *  Sarah Meyers  *  Joey Madia  *  Barry Kornhauser

2009-2014 RESIDENCIES (sponsored by Broadway Across America Utah/Magic Space Entertainment)

There’s an Eyeball In My Soup by Ric Averill, developed by Nicole Madison at Park City High School in Park City, UT http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p2774/There%27s-an-Eyeball-in-My-Soup/product_info.html

Precious Jade by Carol Korty, developed by Rett Neale at West High School in Salt Lake City, UT http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p2751/Precious-Jade/product_info.html

Salvation Road by D.W. Gregory, developed by Penelope Caywood at the University of Utah Youth Theatre, with workshops at West High School and Rowland Hall St. Marks School in Salt Lake City, UT http://www.dwgregory.com/plays/dramas/salvation-road.php

Under a Midsummer Moon by Claudia Haas, developed by Mindy Young at Meridian School in Orem, UT http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p3687/Under-a-Midsummer-Moon/product_info.html

The Misfits by Brian Geuhring, developed by D’Arcy Benincoas at Park City High School in Park City, UT http://www.brianguehring.com/?cat=66&search_type=and&order=title

The Devil’s Arithmetic by Barry Kornhauser, developed by Rosanna Ungerman at Independence High School in Provo, UT

Escape from the Labyrinth by Ric Averill, developed by Adam Slee at DaVinci Academy in Ogden, UT

Icarus by Yokanaan Kearns, developed by Eric Johnson at the Honolulu Youth Theatre in Hawaii

What Remains by Max Bush, developed by Adam Slee at DaVinci Academy in Ogden, UT .

BLU by Gloria Bond Clunie, developed by Kyle Lewis at Tuachan High School near St. George, UT