Madison Young Playwrights Festival

New voices animate the Playhouse

77Square: City Life
Lindsay Christians
May 12, 2009

Mob bosses, star-crossed lovers and toothpick-wielding, murderous water bottles shared the stage on Monday, all straight from the minds of high schoolers.

"Nowadays, it's so hard to be original," the main character complains in Lizzy Snellings' "A Play," a script that centers around a writer's frustration with an assignment.

Lucky for her, the motley crew of characters encourage her constantly to "keep looking!" She discovers that "life is its own performance," a sentiment that sounds more than a little like Shakespeare but is no less true for it.

The Madison Young Playwrights Festival celebrated its third year in the Playhouse this year, despite the demise of the Madison Rep in March.

The Madison Young Playwrights Festival celebrated its third year in the Playhouse this year, despite the demise of the Madison Rep in March. - Madison Young Playwrights Festival

In its third annual incarnation, the Madison Young Playwrights Festival showcased work from eight student playwrights. Aided by a veritable "who's who" of Madison area actors and directors, the plays revealed the imagination (and hard work) of the next generation of local playwrights.

By the numbers, the festival was: four boys, four girls, one student from an alternative high school and one from a middle school, three dramas, one thriller, three comedies, and that slightly absurdist play about writer's block.

First half highlights included Katie Hughes as the stomping, frustrated young writer in "A Play," Jenna Borchert's mischievous, demanding 4-year-old Olivia (she wants heart shaped pancakes with PRINCESS sprinkles!) in "Babysitters Beware" by Bailey Sears and the fantastically deadpan Bob Moccero and Trevin Gay in "Astro Brain" by Eric Anderson (not since "Seinfeld" has boredom been so side-achingly funny).

"Peanut Butter," a back-and-forth between a man and his tapeworm by Matthew Weiss, was a highlight of the second half with some entertaining interplay between Scott Haden, Clare Arena Haden (his real-life wife) and Peter Bissen. Can the tapeworm (its name is Ronny) make Ed famous, like the plant promised in "Little Shop of Horrors?" If it can talk, what else can it do?

Molly Vanderlin lent a welcome note of over-dramatic humor to Giney Rojas' telenovela-style "Blood Always Unites." ("Nobody understands me!" she cried.) Andy Talen (recently Claude in University Theatre's "Hair") embodied the tensions of family loyalty in Matthew Schumacher's "Godfather"-like "Bloodline."

The eight plays chosen for the festival (not a competition) were chosen from more than 100 scripts produced by Edgewood High School, Monona Grove Alternative School, Middleton High School and Sherman Middle School.

The festival started by the Madison Repertory Theatre was thrown in peril when the company closed earlier this year. The show went on through grants (notably one from the Madison Community Foundation) and the work of three Rep volunteers: Shannon Skelton, former Education Coordinator; George Gonzalez, former Marketing Director; and Trevin Gay, former Producing Artistic Director.

Next year, Children's Theater of Madison will manage the festival so it can continue.

In some ways the festival felt like a reminder of great theater on this stage, of Karen Moeller as the persistent reporter in "Permanent Collection" (seen here in Sarah Mueller's wistful "Life and Dreams") or Scott Haden in "The Nerd."

The festival also showcased the breadth of theater quality in Madison. I recalled Pete Bissen from a half dozen University Theatre shows ("Urinetown" in particular), David Neuser from his fine performance in "Apartment 3A" (Strollers), Morey Burnard as a demented lost soul in "Bug" (Mercury Players) and Patricia Whitely as a loving, exasperating grandma in "Over the River and Through the Woods" (Madison Theatre Guild). Nearly the entire cast of Stage Q's "Vamp" were reuinted in "Blood Always Unites."

More than simply showcasing the work of young writers and encouraging them to continue, the Madison Young Playwrights Festival was thus a reflection of community, and a vote of support for fine local talent.