Pegasus Theatre Chicago is proud to announce the authors and plays being presented at the 35th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, streaming Jan. 6 - Feb. 6, 2022 and a virtual opening night ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. CST. This year’s world premieres, written by high school students and given a staged professional production, share at their core, judgement in the material, mundane and mystical worlds. Tickets go on sale December 6 and are $18 - $25 for unlimited viewing over four days, available at www.PegasusTheatreChicago.org or by phone at 773.878.8864. Educators may schedule school day virtual group matinees via ypf@pegasustheatrechicago.org.
The Young Playwrights Festival, the oldest such festival in the United States, has for 35 years engaged and inspired high school students across Chicago by teaching them to craft one-act plays. Under the auspices of Pegasus Theatre Chicago, the winning teen playwrights’ productions are work-shopped and staged by industry professionals. The cast includes John Drea, Sebastien Garbe, Willow James, MarieAnge Louis-Jean, Emma Montoya, Shariba Rivers and William Sebastian Rose, II. The in-school programming that leads to the annual competition enhances language arts, encourages independent, high-level thinking, strong personal values and influences career development for Chicago’s teens.
The competition received 300 submissions in 2021 with this year’s winning selections being Dalya Lessem Elnecave of Lane Tech College Prep and their play Fifteen Minutes, Laylah Freeman of Advanced Arts/Gallery 37 and her play The Little Things; Sarah Lerner of Whitney Young Magnet High School and her play Have Faith.
The 35th YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL includes:
The Little Things
- By Laylah Freeman of Advanced Arts/Gallery 37 teacher Sarah Mostad
- Directed by Christian Helem
It’s Christmas 1950, chestnuts are roasting, but Minerva Spencer is busy dodging her mother’s match-making while she mourns her deceased high school boyfriend, Ben Crawford.
Have Faith
- By Sarah Lerner of Whitney Young Magnet High School-teacher Elizabeth Danesh
- Directed by Ilesa Duncan
While studying a Latin homework assignment, a Catholic University student accidentally summons a demon to her dorm room.
Fifteen Minutes
- By Dalya Lessem Elnecave of Lane Tech College Prep, teacher-Kirsten Hanson
- Directed by Ruben Carrazana
Five people in a park must frantically decide what to do when receiving devastating news.
Cast members include John Drea, Sebastien Garbe, Willow James, MarieAnge Louis-Jean, Emma Marie Montoya, Shariba Rivers and William Anthony Sebastian Rose II.
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
RUBEN CARRAZANA, director, Fifteen Minutes
Ruben Carrazana is an actor, director, writer, producer and teaching artist originally from Miami. He is a recent transplant to Chicago after working professionally in the Dallas theater scene for several years. He has worked with such theatres as Dallas Theater Center, Stage West, Kitchen Dog Theater, Undermain Theatre, Second Thought Theatre and Theatre Three. As a writer, Carrazana has been commissioned by Kitchen Dog Theater and the Danielle Georgiou Dance Group. He is represented by Grossman & Jack Talent and is currently the community engagement manager at Northlight Theatre. He holds a BFA in Theatre from Southern Methodist University.
CHRISTIAN HELEM, DIRECTOR, The Little Things
Christian Helem is a theatre artist primarily directing, playwriting and acting. Directing credits include: The Project(s) (Stage Left), Marcus; or the Secret of the Sweet (Pride Arts), the musical 21 Chump Street (Counter Collective), a queer version of The Glass Menagerie, and assistant directing for Middle Passage (Lifeline) and A View From the Bridge. He is the competition director of the Chicago August Wilson Monologue Competition, associate board president at Jackalope Theater and teaches playwriting at ChiArts High School.
ILESA DUNCAN, DIRECTOR, Have Faith
ILesa Duncan is the executive/producing director at Pegasus Theatre Chicago and the artistic director at Lifeline Theatre. She recently directed for Pegasus Jeff-Nominated productions of Eclipsed, including its remount at Theatre on the Lake in the summer 2019, Shakin the Mess Outta Misery (BTAA-award, Ensemble) and the world premiere of Rutherford’s Travels. Other recent credits include Lifeline’s Middle Passage, (Jeff Award – Scenic; to be remounted in Spring 2022) and Neverwhere, The Nativity with Congo Square and the Jeff Award-winning Jar the Floor at ETA Creative Arts. Duncan has also worked with The Goodman, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists, as well as Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio). The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington DC) and Lincoln Center Theater (New York). Duncan’s creative nonfiction short stories have been published (Columbia College Chicago) and she’s written poems and screenplays. For the stage, she co-adapted Middle Passage from the National Book Award-winning novel, co-wrote and directed Blakk Love: Storeez of A Darker Hue and the devised project Do You See What I’m Saying for Chameleon.
ABOUT PEGASUS THEATRE CHICAGO
Pegasus Theatre Chicago has been a mainstay in the Chicago theater community for more than four decades. Its mission is to champion new, authentic voices and produce boldly imaginative theatre primarily by and about black, indigenous or other people of color (BIPOC). The company promotes cultural equity while celebrating diversity, inclusion and first voice and is committed to initiating important conversations through the arts with strong community engagement and socially relevant programming, including the Young Playwrights Festival for high school-age scribes, which celebrates its 35th year this season. Pegasus Theatre Chicago has received 77 Joseph Jefferson Awards since its inception.
Pegasus Theatre Chicago is proud to announce the authors and plays being presented at the 35th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, streaming January 6 - February 6, 2022 and a virtual opening night ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. CST. This year’s world premieres, written by high school students and given a fully staged professional production, explore judgement in the material, mundane and mystical worlds. Tickets are $18 - $25 for unlimited viewing over four days, available at www.PegasusTheatreChicago.org or by phone at 773.878.8864. Educators may schedule school day virtual group matinees via ypf@pegasustheatrechicago.org.
The 35th Young Playwrights Festival is made possible with the generous support of The MacArthur Fund at the Richard Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The David & Reva Logan Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). The Festival is also made possible in part by an Illinois Arts Council Agency grant.
Top row (l to r) John Drea, Sebastien Garbe, MarieAnge Louis-Jean
Bottom row (l to r) Willow James, Emma Marie Montoya, William Anthony Sebastian Rose II and Shariba Rivers