Georgetown Patch: DC Students' Plays Produced Off-Broadway

July 13, 2013

DC Student Writers' Plays Produced Off-Broadway, Stories Celebrated at Carnegie Hall

This has been a busy month for Rachel and Gillian Page (Deal Middle School) and Sarah Cooke (Sidwell Friends School). Over the course of three weeks, these talented young writers have given a reading at Politics and Prose, had their plays produced Off-Broadway in New York City, and this Friday will be celebrated at Carnegie Hall as National Medalists in the Scholastic Writing Awards.

All three students are members of a growing community of young writers in Greater Washington formed by the non-profit organization Writopia Lab, which is based locally in Tenleytown. At Writopia Lab, writers ages 8-18 gather in small peer groups to work with published writers on their own short stories, memoirs, and plays.

It was through Writopia Lab's Worldwide Plays Festival in New York City that these writers' plays were produced last week in 59e59 Theater by professional actors and directors. Rachel and Gillian, along with fellow Writopians Eva Shapiro (Deal MS), Sofia Laguarda (Deal MS), and Jen McLish (Maret), wrote and submitted their play as a group to the competition, and their one-act drama about a family going through a divorce was selected for the two-week-long festival. Sarah Cooke's play about a woman saving a man's life was also selected for full production.

Through the Scholastic Writing Awards, administered locally by Writopia Lab, these writers plus ten more from Greater Washington were named National Medalists, meaning that their short stories, plays, poetry, and essays were among the top 1% selected to be honored from over 200,000 submissions nationwide. Locally these writers were celebrated via a reading at Politics and Prose on May 12, and this Friday, June 1, they will be commended in a National Awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Earlier this spring, Writopia Lab honored 225 local teens on the regional level for the Scholastic Writing Awards and published a collection of DC's Best Teen Writing, on sale at Politics and Prose as well as Busboys and Poets.

"We are thrilled to support and encourage these young writers," says Kathy Crutcher, DC Director for Writopia Lab. "We take the writing of kids and teens seriously, and every day we are inspired — and humbled — by the power of their voices."

Congratulations to Rachel, Gillian, and Sarah, as well as the other playwrights and Scholastic Award winners from Greater Washington.

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