Profiles
An interview with two-time alum Jesse Bernstein
Listen in as alum Jesse Bernstein shares his playwriting advice, why you should never judge yourself and how to stay involved with Philadelphia Young Playwrights. Interview by General and Program Manager Genne Murphy.
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Meet two-time winning playwright alum Marquis Herring!
Alum and General and Program Manager Genne Murphy interviews alum Marquis Herring on the revision process, seeing his words come to life and an unexpected friendship with another Young Playwright.
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Interview with Quiara Alegría Hudes
Quiara is a 1993 winner of the Annual Festival, Tony-nominated author for the book for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “In the Heights,” and a finalist for the 2007 and 2009 Pulitzer Prizes.
Here, winning student playwright and Youth Council member Haley Gordon interviews Quiara during the Paula Vogel Playwriting Bootcamp. The Bootcamp, which took place over January 15 and 16, 2011, engaged a group of students, playwrights and theatre artists from across Philadelphia in conversations on playwriting form, the current state of theater and the craft of writing. The participants engaged in a number of collective and individual writing challenges led by Paula Vogel. To read more about the Bootcamp, click HERE.
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Interview with Dashiya Wallace
Our General and Program Manager Genne Murphy sat down with alumna Dashiya Wallace to chat about college, playwriting and how theater can make an impact on a young person’s life. Dashiya is now in her second year at Penn State University where she is majoring in Psychology with a minor in Theater.
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Alum Marquis Herring profiled by Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
Click HERE to read his story!
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2007 and 2010 PYP Winner Elyse Pitock Profiled in Main Line Media News
Click HERE to read the article!
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Interview with Kevin Robinson
Our General and Program Manager Genne Murphy, a 1999 alum of the program herself, spent some time chatting with 2001 alum and Board Member Kevin Robinson about how Young Playwrights has influenced him over the past decade.
Kevin, a West Philly native and University City High School alum, graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine with a B.A. in History and English. He spent some time as an analyst for Goldman Sachs on Wall Street before working at a hedge fund in Boston. In the fall, Kevin will be attending the MBA program at Dartmouth College. He credits Young Playwrights with providing him the tools necessary to succeed not only onstage but off, as well.
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Q&A with Quiara Alegría Hudes
Quiara is a 1993 winner of the Annual Festival, Tony-nominated author for the book for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “In the Heights,” and a finalist for the 2007 and 2009 Pulitzer Prizes.
After all these years, you continue to stay involved with Philadelphia Young Playwrights - what is one thing you have gained from your work with Young Playwrights that you feel is invaluable?
A sense of community. Writing has always been about community to me. The earliest things I wrote grappled with Philadelphia—its people, its struggles, its eccentricities. Philadelphia Young Playwrights is my theatrical home in my hometown. I carry that wherever I go. I know when I worked on my 10th grade play with PYP, I felt less alone in the world. I was working with other young writers and thinkers and intellectuals, and I can tell now, when I return to teach students at PYP, that the sense of community through writing and storytelling persists.
How has being involved in Young Playwrights helped you in your field as a professional playwright?
By grounding me. They are in my core, forever. When I am alone, in a room, deciding what play to write, what story to bring to the world, they are deep in my core whispering, “Don’t forget where you come from.” Also, they did give me my first production, so they got my hands wet with collaboration in all its messy overwhelming glory.
What advice would you offer to a student who is considering participating in the Philadelphia Young Playwrights program, writing a play and submitting their work to the Annual Playwriting Festival?
Go for it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Playwriting is so much fun and can be very empowering. Tell your story. Be creative. Think outside the box. Tell the story like it’s never been told before. Eavesdrop on conversations in public, too. How do people talk? It’s fascinating! Become a student of human beings: observe them at all times and take mental notes.
For a more in-depth interview with Quiara, check out our feature in Teachers and Writers Magazine.
Read a profile of Quiara in The Philadelphia Inquirer!
For more information on Quiara, please visit her website.
