New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival

08/14/2024

Hi everyone. My name is Jim DeVivo. For 15 years, I worked in the education department at Writers Theatre of NJ where my favorite part of the job was producing the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. Unfortunately, the festival ceased to exist with the close of the theatre a few years ago, but it holds a special place in my heart and mind. I'm thrilled to begin a new festival for NJ students with a focus on the Jersey Shore counties: Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cape May. I am grateful for the partnership of my wife, Bridget, with whom I've created Stargazer Performing Arts. It is under that umbrella that we launch the first Jersey Shore Young Playwights Festival! Student writers ages 13-18 are encouraged to submit original, one-act plays to the festival when the submission portal opens in October. You can find details and updates on our website at www.stargazerperformingarts.com/playwriting-contest. Thank you!

Stargazer Performing Arts is proud to introduce the JERSEY SHORE YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL!

The festival is seeking original one-act plays from students ages 13-18 from Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cape May counties. Plays will be read by theatre professionals who will select up to six scripts to be performed in a public staged reading on May 3, 2025 at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove. Students can begin submitting their work in October, but all scripts must be received no later than January 31, 2025.

Check out the submission guidelines on our website and get started on your play today!

www.stargazerperformingarts.com/playwriting-contest

11/25/2021

11/19/2021

Join us on December 11th for SaturPLAY! This virtual theatrical event is for the whole family, featuring eight short plays written by Philadelphia-area students!

Join us LIVE as collegiate & professional actors bring these students’ imaginations to life! This event is Pay-What-You-Decide, but free reservations are required. Click the link in our bio for more information and to reserve your ticket!


Reposted from

11/12/2021

https://youngplaywrightsguide.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-impact-of-taking-them-seriously.html?m=1

07/04/2021

Dear Friends and Followers,

As you may have guessed, the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival is no longer in operation. Sadly, Writers Theatre of NJ, the organization that produced the contest/festival since 1989 closed its doors at the end of 2019. I recently discovered that I still had access to this page and felt it was a good time to update you on the status of this program.

I had the privilege of serving the young playwrights of New Jersey as the producer and coordinator of this program from 2002-2018 and saw a number of excellent stories and people pass through the doors. The program was also the subject of my doctoral dissertation and I continue to engage with the wider field of youth playwriting around the world.

While the NJYPF is no longer in service, I encourage you to continue exploring and dreaming in your writing and to seek out avenues to share and develop your work here in the Garden State, and beyond. You can find these programs in the Young Playwrights Guide, a blog that I update semi-annually. You may also enjoy the NJ Young Playwrights Blog, which ran from 2008-2017 and is still accessible at https://njyoungplaywrights.blogspot.com/.

Since I am the administrator of the NJYPF page, and there is no longer anyone left at Writers Theatre to administer the program, I will keep the page open for the continuing future. I wish you all the best in your creative work and look forward to seeing what you create next!

Sincerely,
Dr. Jim DeVivo

For over 30 years, the NJ Young Playwrights Contest has been deepening the writing experience for young artists by providing detailed feedback from theatre professionals. The New Jersey Young Playwrights blog continues that mission to provide discussion, instruction and inspiration to interested you...

11/18/2018

Great opportunity for the high school writers out there!

"Does genius burn, Jo?" By the looks of this photo, it certainly did this morning in Miss Alcott's bedchamber! This year, in honor of Little Women's Sesquicentennial, our first-ever Alcott Writing Contest seeks to encourage the same spirit of creativity and persistence in young modern-day writers that Louisa May Alcott herself exhibited. If you are a high school-aged writer whose genius also burns (or know someone who is), we look forward to receiving submissions of original short stories until 11:59 pm on November 29th.

Cash prizes of $250, $150, and $100 will be awarded to the top finalists determined by our distinguished panel of judges: Pulitzer Prize winners Geraldine Brooks and John Matteson, as well as eminent Alcott scholar Joel Myerson. To find out more about contest eligibility, rules, and the submission process, please visit https://alcottorchardhouse.org/alcott-writing-contest. Good luck to all the entrants!

09/20/2018

Congratulations to Jacob Moskovitz from Burlington Township HS, Troupe 4294. Jacob's work was selected for the reading at NJ Thespian Festival 2018. He then went on to have his play chosen for performance at the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival in June. In addition, he received the Arts and Letter Award. Amazing job Jacob! We are so proud of you!!!!

07/01/2018

Happy Canada Day to our young playwrights friends at Arts Club Theatre Group, Driftwood Players, Manitoba Association of Playwrights, Tarragon Theatre, Young People's Theatre, and at any other programs for young writers in Canada to whom we may not have connected!

06/24/2018

Rehearsing SHOULD HAVE KNOWN by Katelyn Bang at the NJ Young Playwrights Festival.

04/03/2018

UPDATE: We have received script revisions from the 10 finalists in the High School division and will be meeting in the next few days to select the 4 scripts for performance. Also, the Junior HS and Elementary divisions are wrapping up their 2nd round of judging. Finalists will be notified by the end of next week and provided with details for submitting revisions for final consideration. Stay tuned!

03/22/2018

Lin-Manuel Miranda speaks to the man who has consistently remade the American musical over his 60-year career — and who is trying to surprise us one more time.