Dorset Theatre Festival Announces Winners of 5th Annual Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition

Dorset Theatre Festival provides opportunities for regional middle and high school students to learn about playwriting and create a play of their own through its annual Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition. A public reading of this year's winning works will be held on Wednesday, October 3 at 7 pm.

This event will be held at the Manchester Community Library, located at 138 Cemetery Ave., Manchester, VT. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is general admission, and no ticket is required.

The Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition is an annual collaboration between Dorset Theatre Festival and local schools. Each spring, visiting playwrights and Bennington College mentors teach a series of playwrighting workshops at participating schools, after which students are invited to submit a short play for adjudication by a panel of nationally recognized playwrights. Winners are chosen in autumn, and their works are then given a public reading.

Twelve Vermont schools participated in this year's workshops, from which 54 plays were submitted to panel of 12 judges.

This year's high school winners are Katie McCartney from Arlington Memorial School (faculty mentor: Gayna Cross) and Max Harvey Wilson from Long Trail School (faculty mentors: Anna Bean and James Gallen). This year's middle school winners are Cristina Gregory from Stratton Mountain School (faculty mentor: Mary Mangiacotti) and Meredith Haber and Mackenzie Morgan, who co-wrote their submission, from Maple Street School (faculty mentor: Conor Welch).

Annie Considine and Maizy Scarpa were this year's visiting playwrights. Considine is a playwright, director, and actor based in Lenox, Massachusetts, where she is a teaching artist with Shakespeare & Company. She has directed over seventeen educational productions of Shakespeare's plays. Scarpa, whose plays include Pandora Shakes Things Up and Cirque du Dismay, is also a teaching artist at Shakespeare & company, in addition to having taught at Hampton Shakespeare Festival and English as a Foreign Language in Erbil, Kurdistan.

"I was delighted by the creativity and dedication of the students and teachers I met while leading workshops in Vermont schools. I met keen observers, kind people, and talented writers," said Scarpa, adding, "Those who attend the culminating event will no doubt be impressed and inspired."

For more information on the Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Competition, visit dorsettheatrefestival.org.

Photo: Bennington College actors at the 2017 Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights readings