2001 Playwright Competition Winners
Top honors go to Kelley Pounders of Daphne, for This Oak Tree, a one-act play covering the arc of a woman's life from childhood to old age. The oak tree is her confidant, first when she runs away from home (returning by dinnertime) at age seven and at last at age 65, before the christening of a new grandchild. It is the silent but eloquent witness to her life's story. Ms. Pounders, 17, will be a senior at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile where she studies English with Ms. Fontenot.
The second place winner is Sonny Sledge of Mobile, for L'il Tibeadeau, a dramatization of a Louisiana folktale. Mr. Sledge is also 17 and also studies with Ms. Fontenot at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile.
The third place award goes to Ashley Duggan of Montgomery, for Electric Toilets . Ms. Duggan, 16, will be a junior at Montgomery's Booker T. Washington Magnet High School. Her teacher is Jerry Lawrence.
Full Story
Alabama Shakespeare Festival Literary Manager, Gwen Orel announced today three prize winners and ten finalists in the Young Southern Writers' Project Playwright Competition for Alabama high school students.
"We had a wonderful response from students and teachers across the state," said Ms. Orel. "It was particularly exciting to see the wealth of talent being nurtured in Alabama."
Guidelines for the competition required that all plays address the subject of being a Southerner in some way through the plot, character(s), setting, or theme; all plays must be written in one act, must be original-no adaptations from other authors' works; and no multiple authors. Of the thirteen young playwrights who were honored, seven are from the advanced placement English class of Nancy Fortnenot at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile.
The plays were read "blind" by the competition review committee with Artistic Director Kent Thompson and Playwright-in-Residence Carlyle Brown serving as final judges. A total of 80 plays were submitted from students throughout the state.
The winners, finalists, their families and teachers were honored at an awards reception on Friday, June 29, at 1 p.m. at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival hosted by Artistic Director Kent Thompson and Playwright-in-Residence Carlyle Brown. They alsol attended a performance of the SWP world premiere production of The Negro of Peter the Great.
Top honors go to Kelley Pounders of Daphne, for This Oak Tree, a one-act play covering the arc of a woman's life from childhood to old age. The oak tree is her confidant, first when she runs away from home (returning by dinnertime) at age seven and at last at age 65, before the christening of a new grandchild. It is the silent but eloquent witness to her life's story. Ms. Pounders, 17, will be a senior at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile where she studies English with Ms. Fontenot.
The second place winner is Sonny Sledge of Mobile, for L'il Tibeadeau, a dramatization of a Louisiana folktale. Mr. Sledge is also 17 and also studies with Ms. Fontenot at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile.
The third place award goes to Ashley Duggan of Montgomery, for Electric Toilets . Ms. Duggan, 16, will be a junior at Montgomery's Booker T. Washington Magnet High School. Her teacher is Jerry Lawrence.
Finalists were:
Joseph Halli, 17
The Living Land
Senior at Central High School East, Tuscaloosa. Teacher - Elizabeth Fiveash
Sarah Jane Laurence, 17
Whorehouse Muggins
Senior at McGill-Toolen High School, Mobile. Teacher - Nancy Fontenot
Katy Willis, 17
A Pleasant Weekend
Senior at McGill-Toolen High School, Mobile. Teacher - Nancy Fontenot
Jenna Stark, 17
Les Sentiments Du Couleur
Senior at McGill-Toolen High School, Mobile. Teacher - Nancy Fontenot
Laura Bru, 17
Lee
Senior at McGill-Toolen High School, Mobile. Teacher - Nancy Fontenot
Corwin Stanford, 16
Allen Greenspan, the Savior of Our Economy
Senior at McGill-Toolen High School, Mobile. Teacher - Nancy Fontenot
Ryan C. Tittle, 17
Call Waiting
Recent graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Sumiton. Teacher - Elizabeth Adkisson
Tamay Shannon, 17
It's All About Family
BTW Magnet High School, Montgomery. Teacher - Jerry Lawrence
Jeannette P. Schroeder, 15
Whoever Saves One Life
Sophomore at Vestavia Hills High School, Vestavia Hills. Teacher - Cynthia Glidewell
Keith Robert Claridy, 17
Study the Intentions: Another Guided Trip Through Hell
Senior at Smiths Station High School, Smiths Station. Teacher - Jean Lowther
