Alley Theatre Stages Works By Teen Playwrights

Alley Theatre is providing young aspiring playwrights the chance to improve and expand their writing skills in its summer program Houston Young Playwrights Exchange (HYPE).

Six plays by local teens have been selected to undergo development in a professional forum guided by the Alley’s staff, with the program culminating in a three-day public showcase of their work as staged readings – Friday, August 3 through Sunday, August 5.

One of the Alley’s Education and Community Engagement Department’s premier programs, HYPE has helped over 50 young playwrights develop their work since the program was started in 1996. The six HYPE participants also had the opportunity to learn from the expertise of C. Denby Swanson, HYPE playwright in residence. C. Denby Swanson is a graduate of Smith College, the National Theatre Institute, and the University of Texas Michener Center for Writers. She has been a William Inge Playwright in Residence, a Jerome Fellow and a McKnight Advancement Grant recipient. She is a Core member of The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, an alumna of the Lark Theater’s Playwrights Week 2005, the Artistic Director of Austin Script Works, and on the faculty at Southwestern University. C. Denby Swanson is a 2007/2008 NEA/TCG Playwright in Residence with Zachary Scott Theatre Center.

This year’s participants have written plays ranging in subject matter, including Adam and Eve, narcolepsy, and nut farmers in a rural Asian village. Their styles very from lighthearted comedy to dramatic thriller.

HYPE is sponsored by Citi and by the generous contributions of over a hundred individual donors. The Alley is supported by Continental Airlines, the official airline of Alley Theatre.

Plays featured in the Alley’s Houston Young Playwrights Exchange 2007 include:

Adam and Eve, By Erik Holm, Age 18 (Magnolia, TX 77355)

Adam and Eve is a modern re-telling of the infamous tragedy of man’s fall in an alternative light with far less dramatics than fire and brimstone. Through lighthearted comedy it is revealed that perhaps Adam was an unfair chauvinist and Eve was merely after the equality she deserved! Adam and Eve suggests that the war of the sexes might have begun with the creation of humankind!

Holm will be attending Sam Houston State University in the fall as a theatre major and recently won the Texas State Thespian Convention’s playwriting competition for his play Romeo and Juliet 2: Tybalt’s Revenge. He was motivated to write his HYPE submission by reading The Bible According to Mark Twain in his high school english class and being inspired to “portray bible stories in my own vision.” Holm instilled his own sense of humor into his characters and he hopes to “improve myself as a playwright, and as an actor” through the HYPE experience.

Hera’s Legacy, By James Canfield, Age 18 (Spring, TX 77382)

In Hera’s Legacy, the manipulative Lilith Williams whips up a whirlwind of mischief at her boarding school until she comes up against her guidance counselor, Miss Camp. A battle of wills ensues that reeks havoc on the structure of the school and those who get in Lilith’s way.

Canfield recently graduated from The Woodlands High School and plans to attend Saint Louis University in the fall. His dream is to someday become a professional playwright and was the 2007 Winner of the Texas Educators Theatre Association’s Playfest competition for his play, Within These Walls. He hopes people take away from his play that “we have to take responsibilities for our actions” and believes that the feelings expressed in his play are ones “a majority of people can really relate to.”

Dream On, By Stephanie Spoleti, Age 18 (Houston, TX 77068)

Davey is a teenager with all the problems of every adolescent and one not-so-normal obstacle: narcolepsy. Unfortunately, Davey begins to slip seamlessly between his perfect reality and nightmarish daydreams. As the line between reality and imagination begin to blur, the truth of Davey’s world suddenly becomes clear in this thriller.

Spoleti is a student in the screenwriting program at the University of Southern California and is also a DJ at the college radio station. She won a Silver Key for Dramatic Script in the 2006 National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Her play was inspired by her interest in “what sort of power the human mind can wield in the creation and division of perceived realities” and she wants audiences to have “a sense of wonderment at their own brains at the conscious and subconscious level” and to “reconsider how much of a role their imaginations play within their lives.”

Robustastan, By Miguel Lavalle, Age 17 (Cypress, TX 77429)

Mitya is disillusioned with his life as a nut farmer in a dissolute, rural Asian village. When he escapes away to visit his brother, Ivan, he is introduced to the glorious coffee ‘Laaatayeh.’ Shenanigans result as Mitya tries to advertise his home as a place that would attract the popular store of “Laatayehs”, only to find the key to advancement in his own farmland.

Lavalle recently graduated from Cy-Fair High School and plans on attending Columbia University. He was encouraged to write Robustastan when his english teacher mentioned the HYPE program. According to Lavalle “when she mentioned that they actually produced the play, I jumped at the chance.” His play was inspired by “the boredom everyone feels due to routine and meaningless repetition.” He hopes the audience will take away from his play a sense of empathy and “the idea that there’s always something bigger.”

Any Change of Light, By Hannah Bisewski, Age 17 (Sugar Land, TX 77478)

The women of Caroline’s family are irrevocably connected to the roots in the garden of her home. The garden has been overgrown since a tragedy four years ago, yet Caroline, her mother and aunt still come back to be comforted by the sheltering darkness the trees provide. In this little grove the woman seek solace and safety from disheartening reality.

Hannah is a senior at Logos Preparatory Academy and was inspired to write Any Change of Light because she wanted to create a play that “left a large portion of the story up to the individual audience member.” She is looking forward to seeing her play developed and especially “the reward of watching it performed.” Her favorite writer is Tennessee Williams because his plays are “always almost poetic, they are so beautifully written, and visually they consistently have a dream-like quality.”

A Gramophone, By Samuel Mayer, Age 16 (Houston, TX 77027)

As soon as he was born, Franklin’s mother left him to live with his grandfather so she could pursue a career as a touring actress. Excited anticipation builds when Franklin’s mother writes to him that she is coming for a visit. The grandfather must balance the difficult task of allowing Franklin the enjoyment of the promise and knowing that his daughter is filling the boy with false hope.

Mayer will be a senior at Lamar High School in the fall and is a member of the Lamar Theatre program. Mayer says his play was inspired by “Ingmar Bergman, Stephen Sondheim and a fascination with the multiple lives an actress lives.” He hopes the HYPE experience will teach him “the art of collaboration” and hopes that “every audience member will take something different and uniquely special” away from the play. -- www.alleytheatre.org

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