Come enjoy an afternoon of youth theater and support the Upper Valley's newest playwrights!

The Project Playwright 2010 performance will be held Saturday, Nov. 13 at 2:00 p.m. at the Briggs Opera House.

The performance, open to the public, will run for about an hour and a half, with an intermission, and admission is free. Reservations are not necessary.

The audience will enjoy seven plays written and performed by fifth and sixth graders from State Street School in Windsor, Tunbridge Central School in Tunbridge and Barre City Elementary School in Barre.

Project Playwright, funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Jane's Trust, sent two professional playwrights (Karla Estela Rivera and Angela Santillo) into each of the three schools once per week for eight weeks. Karla and Angela helped each of the 140 students in the fifth and sixth grades write their own short plays.

Seven plays were chosen to be produced and performed. Under the direction of Karla and Angela, students designed the sets and costumes, do all of the acting, and serve as the backstage "run crew" for all of the plays. In all, 80 young artists are involved in the production.

Plays include "The Great Adventures of Gabby Grape" by Rowan Kelly of State Street, "A Trip in the Park" by Grace Pease of Tunbridge, "Imagine" by Carli Harris of Barre, "Little Red Mishap" by Vincent Moeykens of State Street, "The Lesson of a Name" by Natalee Connolly of State Street, "The Canoe Adventure" by Josh Griep of State Street, and "Friends in Newtown" by Eleanor Frost of Tunbridge.

The Project Playwright 2010 performance will be a treat for all! We hope you'll support these budding writers, actors, designers and stagehands as they bring these plays to life on stage!

PROJECT PLAYWRIGHT is a literacy program that sends professional playwrights into schools 8 weeks each year to increase reading, writing and public speaking skills to fifth and sixth graders The playwrights guide students in reading and writing plays, the best of which are performed at Northern Stage and each of the participating schools.

See Project Playwright in the news:

* Northern Stage's Project Playwright In Action on WCAX-TV
* To view our Podcasts from past Project Playwright Programs, click here.