Nine High Schoolers Chosen for Victory Gardens' Summer Playwriting Program

On June 25, 2008, the Victory Gardens Theater Arts Education Department announced its selection of nine Chicago-area high school students to participate in its free, summer youth playwriting intensive program, titled "Sound Off: Your Words/Your Voice 2008." Now in its 6th year, Sound Off is designed for high school students to receive mentoring from a professional playwright while learning the mechanics of writing a play and having it produced for the stage, according to the theater's press release issue that day.

The Candidates were nominated by their teachers and displayed an interest in theater, creative writing, and self-expression.

The talented students selected from a pool of more than 50 candidates to work with Victory' Gardens' resident playwright Douglas Post are:

Alexandra Anderson, Chicago, Taft Academic Center
Christina Courtney, Arlington Heights, Elk Grove High School
Caroline Donnelly, Chicago, Lincoln Park High School
Breanna Lucas, Arlington Heights, Prospect High School
Robert Walker, Chicago, Fenger High School
Latasha Hoard, Chicago, Kenwood Academy
Gabriella Martinez, Chicago, Kenwood Academy
Melissa Renee Smith, Chicago, Kenwood Academy
Ayanna Wimberly, Chicago, Kenwood Academy

The young writers will meet twice a week from June 24 through July 31 at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater "to work on developing their original plays."

"The program concludes with each nominee holding auditions for their play, which will be subsequently performed on the Biograph main stage Sunday, August 3 at 4 pm, allowing the young playwrights to see their work performed Readers Theater-style by working actors in front of a live audience," the press release added. Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago's #1 presenter of new plays, was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as "the nation's most important incubator of new playwrights."

Victory Gardens Theater is also designated an Established Regional Arts Institution by the Illinois Arts Council (IAC). For more information, visit the Victory Gardens Theatre web site.