FST Announces Winners of 30th Anniversary Youth Playwriting Competition

April 9, 2021 – Sarasota

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to announce the winning plays of this year’s annual youth playwriting competition. Now in its 30th year, FST’s WRITE A PLAY program is an arts-in-education initiative, providing students with the example, the inspiration, and the skills to write their own original plays. Thanks to generous support from individual donors and foundational support from organizations like The Community Foundation of Sarasota, WRITE A PLAY celebrated its 30^th anniversary this year, continuing to inspire the next generation of playwrights. WRITE A PLAY was adapted into a virtual theatre program, including the interactive playwriting experience Zoom Into Playwriting, which streamed directly into classrooms and at-home learning stations across the state and around the world.

Traditionally, the WRITE A PLAY experience culminates on Florida Studio Theatre’s five-theatre campus with Young Playwrights Festival (YPF) Day, an annual celebration of children’s imagination and creativity. Participating students, teachers, and families from across the state of Florida and from as far as Russia, Scotland, and Israel, come together to enjoy live performances of the year’s winning plays. Following these live performances, playwrights are honored in an awards ceremony and are presented with certificates and medals on stage.

FST was forced to postpone last year’s YPF Day to Spring 2021 due to the pandemic. This year’s celebration will be particularly significant as FST will be honoring two years of winning young playwrights—those whose plays were created in the 2019-2020 academic year as well as those whose plays were written in 2020-2021.

Participating playwrights, teachers, and families will enjoy special streamed performances of two-years of winning plays titled The Brave Princess & Other Winning Plays. Medals and certificates will be sent home to the playwrights through their schools. Then, on Saturday, June 5, students, teachers, and families will be invited to come together virtually for a streamed awards ceremony, recognizing each playwright for their creative achievements.

“This year, we received plays that ran the entire creative gamut,” said Adam Ratner, FST’s Young Playwrights Festival Coordinator and Lead Teaching Artist. “Plays ranging from a heartfelt piece about being different and feeling proud of that truth to an ambitious and hilarious attempt to capture some magic in The Tooth Fairy and the Little Girl.  Not only is this year the 30^th anniversary of WRITE A PLAY, but we are honoring the vision and imagination of twice as many playwrights! It’s so exciting to finally be able to celebrate these young artists’ bravery and hard work.”

For more information about FST’s WRITE A PLAY program, and for a full list of winners please contact FST’s Director of Children’s Theatre, Caroline Saldivar, at CSaldivar@floridastudiotheatre.org.