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Promising Playwrights
Each month, YPT profiles a new Promising Playwright in our electronic newsletter, the Wire. As our playwrights grow in accomplishments we add updates to this page. March 2007 brought us new updates for Irene Wu, Josie Guevara-Torres and Fernando Romero. See below for their updates.
Julius Johnson
Promising Playwright, June 2008
 Julius Johnson will be the first male in his family to go to college. He is humble when asked if he thinks of himself as a role model. "My little brothers can’t wait for me to leave already," he says. "They want my room." Then he adds, "I know they’ll miss me."
This self-deprecating humor is typical for Julius. "I just love to laugh and have fun," he says. "That’s my thing. Separate the balance between fun and work."
Tiara Parker
Promising Playwright, May 2008
I Am 
I am the earthquake that quivers the ground
but yet I don’t make a sound.
I am the reflection of the moon and stars
on the sun’s face!
I am the twinkle in the eye of
the less fortunate,
yet with laughter and grace.
And I am the speed of the track star’s run
but never counting my pace.
And I am the rich man’s daughter
but in my mansion there’s no quiet place.
Gerson Blanco
Promising Playwright April 2008
 At fourteen, Gerson Blanco is a YPT veteran. His first play, Renny vs. Javier was produced as part of New Writers Now! in 2007. His latest work, The Black Sheep was just featured in the 2008 New Play Festival.
"I thought the Festival would be like the first time," Gerson says, "like just a small place. But then, when I saw how big it was and all the people arrived I got kind of scared. But then, when I got up on stage, I don't feel nothing. I was confident," Gerson says, smiling broadly. He smiles too as he remembers the actors. "That last guy! He was so funny. His face was so funny," Gerson grins, recalling Cesar Guadamuz's performance.
Engedasew Menkir
Promising Playwright March 2008
"It's really hard for a person to realize the truly precious things in life as they are living it. Sometimes it is not until you're about to lose everything, not until that moment when it all becomes clear," says Engedasew Menkir. He is speaking of a key moment from his play Puzzle.
As a student who immigrated from Adis Ababa, Ethiopia only three years ago Enge has had the opportunity to consider what really matters from multiple perspectives. He is currently a student in the 11th grade at Bell Multicultural High School.
Sophie ReVeal
Promising Playwright February 2008
 Sophie Reveal’s ideas flow faster than her words. She is bursting with creative energy and trips over herself to get the words out fast enough. She examines each idea from all perspectives, telling the story over again to make sure she said it the right way.
In her play A Chocolate Covered Adventure the miniature candies who make up her cast of characters are similarly snappy with their repartee:
DARK CHOCOLATE: Curses! Foiled again. Get it? Foiled? We’re candies...wrapped in foil? I crack myself up.
Sophie cracks herself up regularly.
Jane Stirling
Promising Playwright January 2008
 "You can be friends with anyone, no matter who you are."
This is the moral of Jane Stirling’s play, The True Power of Friendship. A third grader at Key Elementary, Jane has been working with Young Playwrights’ Theater as part of her arts programming at Fillmore Arts Center.
Her play will be featured at this month’s New Writer’s Now! on January 28th. When her parents heard her play had been chosen to be featured at our event, her mother wrote, "We’re so happy to see that her abilities are finally catching up with her imagination."
Eronmwon Oviasogie and Diamond Miales
Promising Playwrights December 2007
  "You may shoot me with your words. You may cut me with your eyes. You may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise."
- Maya Angelou
Sitting in the front row as their play is performed, Elmo and Diamond cannot help but join in and speak the rhythmic pulsing words along with the performers. They giggle and tap each other on the shoulder at key moments.
Eronmwom "Elmo" Oviasogie and Diamond Miales are the honored guests of YPT’s November edition of the staged reading series, New Writers Now! Working with a group of seven other girls in YPT’s After-school program at Kelly Miller Middle School in the Spring of 2007, Diamond and Elmo created I Rise. Their play was based on Maya Angelou’s poem "Still I Rise." Now Diamond and Elmo sit in the front row of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre and watch as professional actors enact the roles.
Ayrricka Street
Promising Playwright November 2007
 "I could write a sitcom," 11-year-old Ayrricka Street says with characteristic easy confidence. "I was watching That’s So Raven and I thought I could do that." And so she did.
Ayrricka has filled a notebook with original episodes of a show she’s calling The Jacksons, loosely based on the famous family of Michael and the Jackson 5.
Destiny Jackson
Promising Playwright October 2007
 Destiny Jackson wants to be the first African American woman president of the United States of America.
If this 11-year-old does eventually assume the highest office in our land, she may feel right at home in the White House. Last year, with YPT, Destiny took a private tour of our nation’s first home guided by the head curator of the White House Historical Association.
"We met Barney, the White House dog, " Destiny remembers, "and we got to see all the different rooms. The place was huge. Colossal. You could get lost there!"
Nicole Jost
Promising Playwright September 2007
 Nicole Jost writes strong female characters who advocate fiercely for their rights and desires.
The power of her voice first became apparent to YPT in 2002 when she wrote The Fear and The Pope as a sophomore in the In-School Playwriting Program at Wilson High School. That play featured the exploits of two criminal masterminds as they balanced the promise of love against the possibility of a life of wealth and power.
Berta Gonzalez
Promising Playwright August 2007
"I can achieve any goal I set my mind to. Yes, I can. I know I can."
Berta Gonzalez wrote this line for the character Javier in her play Learning to Say Goodbye. Javier uses these words to summon his strength and confidence as he leaves his family for the first time to go to college far from home.
It is with equal courage and assurance that Berta prepares to make her own journey to Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida this fall. Although she is not the first child in her family to go to college, she is the first to leave home to attend school and she anticipates that the change will be a challenging one.
Aaron Boose
Promising Playwright July 2007
"Man, you don’t even write no more," Aaron Boose’s friend said to him on the day he was suspended from Wilson Senior High School back in 2002. His friend’s words were a sharp indictment. Aaron had always written poetry and, in 2001, through work with YPT, he had become a playwright. His play, From Da Bricks to Wall Street, co-written with classmate Johnny Burton was performed at Woolly Mammoth in the fall of 2002 as part of the New Play Festival.
"It was so good because I had my family there. Everybody loved it. We met the actors before that. It was so good," Aaron remembers. "Before YPT, I never thought of writing that way. I never thought I could write anything that maybe children would watch actors perform out in the schools."
Cecelia Jenkins
Promising Playwright June 2007
 In 1999, YPT made a big impression on Cecelia Jenkins. She was a shy 6th Grader at Hardy Middle School when she started the After-School Playwriting Program at Fillmore Arts Center with Karen Zacarias. Cecelia says of her first impression of Karen, "She was very very nice and she was easy to talk to. With writing, if someone is that way, it’s so much easier. Anything you write is personal so if someone is nice and respects you it makes it a whole lot easier."
Cecelia’s play Friendship: The Wonka Wonka Cool Girls Club was selected to be part of the 1999 Tour, and was performed city wide. Cecelia recalls the day when the play came to her school. "Everybody loved the play. They were laughing and couldn’t believe it was me who wrote it because I was a little shy girl. The whole school liked it," she remembers.
Sheralyn Saunders
Promising Playwright May 2007
 Sheralyn Saunders is the picture of confidence and creativity. Her play, Say Goodbye, was featured on March 26th at New Writers Now. At Busboys and Poets after the show, she is all light and energy, flashing hands and bright smiles. Yet, as a dramatist, she’s not afraid to work in darker tones.
"Don’t be afraid to be different when you write. You can’t go wrong. It’s self expression. It’s you and the pen. You can bring anything to life," Sheralyn says.
Christian Blanco
Promising Playwright April 2007
In his play, Who’s the Big Bad Wolf? Christian Blanco takes an all-too typical domestic abuse situation and raises the stakes to fantastical new heights. The protagonist, Brian, watches in terror as his stepfather transforms into a werewolf, complete with claws and teeth. The violence he experiences in his home drives Brian to find a creative outlet.
Kyle Sumner
Promising Playwright March 2007
 (Rubble-strewn streets. Six soldiers are cautiously moving through the debris, guns raised. Explosions can be heard in the background. A block of cinder falls off a building and slams into the ground next to one of the soldiers.)
This is how Kyle Sumner’s play Impasse begins. A tale of friendship and war in Iraq, it is exceptional not only for its emotional candor and depth but also for the specific detail with which Kyle vividly renders the world of his play.
Lyndsey Newsome
Promising Playwright February 2007
Beneath her quiet, composed exterior, Lyndsey Newsome’s mind is busy churning out detailed scenes of unexpected comedy. “I’ve never been the type of girl to fit in. A lot of the kids at school bore me, so I just go into la la land and make stuff up.”
Irene Wu
Promising Playwright January 2007
Irene Wu is a young woman of strong opinions and great ambition. Like the determined protagonist of her play, All’s Fair in Love and War, who’d rather live the life of a dashing knight than a cloistered princess, Irene will not be underestimated.
Josie Guevara Torres
Promising Playwright December 2006
Josie Guevara Torres is an 8th grader at Capitol City Public Charter School. Her play Trouble Quinceañera was featured in November 2006’s New Writers Now! "I was nervous at first but then when I saw the play it actually made me feel better," Josie said.
Trouble Quinceañera is the story of a latina girl, Cindy, on the eve of her 15th birthday. Cindy hopes to have a big, traditional celebration for her "quince" but has to face the sad reality of her father’s unemployment. In the end, her friend Alejandro finds a way to make Cindy’s 15th birthday truly special.
Kyrtham Franco
Promising Playwright November 2006
Kyrtham Franco is a sixth grader at Capitol City Public Charter School and the author of Magnet Dude, featured in the Fall 2006 Express Tour.
In Magnet Dude, the title character faces the trials and tribulations of life as a super hero. Kyrtham’s comedy was inspired by his love of cartoons. He advises other aspiring writers "Just plan and write all your ideas down. Then do a final one and present it in front of an audience so they can critique it."
Fernando Romero
Promising Playwright October 2006
Fernando Romero graduated in May 2006 from Antioch College with a major in theatre. His life as an actor is one he could have little imagined as a young boy growing up in a mountain village without water or electricity in El Salvador.
The transition from his childhood in El Salvador to his adolescence in Washington was the topic of a play My Story Fernando wrote with YPT. Fernando first became acquainted with YPT while he was a student at Bell Multicultural High School. After graduation, YPT offered Fernando a job, first as a receptionist and then as a Program Coordinator from 1999-2002. Founder Karen Zacarias gave him his first acting job with YPT’s Express Tour.
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© Copyright 2008
Young Playwrights' Theater. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2008
Demosphere International, Inc. All rights reserved.
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