Pittsburgh's City Theatre to produce winning works by 4 young playwrights

Winners have been chosen from more than 250 submissions for City Theatre Company’s 2021 Young Playwrights Contest.

The regional playwrighting contest for students in grades 7-12 is now in its 22nd year. The winners will have their plays professionally produced by City Theatre and published in the Young Playwrights Anthology.

“Considering all the challenges of the past school year, we were elated to see so many compelling and authentic stories submitted,” said Katie Trupiano, education director for the theater company based in Pittsburgh’s South Side. “This year’s winners really prove that art continues to thrive, even while the world around us is changing.”

The four winning plays are described thus:

• “Spring in the Underworld,” by Shelby Powers, 7th grade, Burgettstown Middle School — When Hades and Zeus hatch a plan to find Hades a goddess, things don’t go quite the way they anticipated. The Underworld has no fury like a mother missing her daughter; and in order to prevent war and pacify the gods, a deal must be made.

• “Bird Without a Nest,” by Sophia Khan, 7th grade, Sewickley Academy — Aisha is trying to figure out who she is; and when she meets a unlikely friend in the park, an interest in the birds around her is sparked. She finds herself opening to the world around her as she begins to see people and places differently.

• “A Boring Street in the Middle of Nowhere,” by Lucy Potts, 9th grade, Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 — Change is never easy, and for Isobel, watching her neighborhood change around her is downright painful. When a new neighbor moves in across the street, Isobel starts to realize that change may not be as bad as she has always thought.

• “Never Too Late to Change,” by Ayanna Bennett, 10th grade, Alumni Theatre Company/Westinghouse Arts Academy — Martin Luther King Jr. Harriet Tubman. Malcolm X. These common Black history figures are not the only people worth learning about during Black History Month. When best friends, Jamila and Elijah, hear these names again, they take it upon themselves to educate their classmates and teacher that there’s a lot more to Black history than slavery and civil rights, and it’s all worth learning.

The plays will be staged in the fall on dates yet to be determined.

Educators interested in sharing the festival with their students this fall, or those interested in bringing City Theatre’s Young Playwrights program to their classrooms, should contact Trupiano at ktrupiano@citytheatrecompany.org.

Founded in 1975, City Theatre produces a season of regional and world premieres, along with festivals and a season-long reading series of new works in progress. Its mission is to provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays that engage and challenge a diverse audience.

Details: citytheatrecompany.org