Festival Director Clark Sayre

High school playwrights from the Santa Barbara and Ventura area will have their one-acts directed and read by adult professionals in Rubicon Theatre Company's second Young Playwrights Festival. The festival of staged readings under the direction of Broadway veteran and Dos Pueblos High School Theatre Teacher Clark Sayre, will take place in Spring of 2008 and will feature three or four original one-act student plays at each performance.

Each of the young playwrights will be mentored by a professional playwright. Past mentors include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Obie Award-winning actress Pamela Gien (The Syringa Tree); Emmy Award-winning writers Cheri Steinkellner ("Cheers," "Hope and Gloria" and "The Jeffersons" as well as the pre-Broadway musical Princesses) and Robert L. Freedman ("Life with Judy Garland," "Me and My Shadows," "Kind Hearts" and "Coronets,"); feature film writer Ed Soloman ("Men in Black," "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures," "Leaving Normal"); Mark Stein, whose work has been produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, George Street Playhouse and the Ashland Shakespeare Festival and whose Mating Dance of the Werewolf and Bad Apples were presented at Rubicon); Barbara Lebow (best known for her Off-Broadway play A Shayna Maidel); Elaine Kendall, a playwright and a former columnist for New York Times Magazine, whose many works include American Canata, presented at the Lobero in Santa Barbara; Sammy Buck (Like you Like It); and Gib Johnson (Heartbreak and Love in the Eastern Sierras).

 
 

Students will have been working on the fundamentals of playwrighting since October focusing on script analysis, character development, plot elements, structure, tone and dialogue.

The students send drafts of early scenes to their mentors via e-mail. They then expand their pieces to one-acts. First drafts are read by fellow students and second drafts are sent back to their mentors for final feedback. Rubicon will hold auditions for readers for the festival in late April. Directors and actors will be announced at that time.

Young Playwrights' Festival Director Clark Sayre had great success as a young actor before discovering his love for teaching. He appeared on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along and Oliver! with Patty Lupone. His television credits include "It's The Garry Shandling Show" and "The Education of Max Bickford.” He was the Founding Director of youth programs for Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera, Access Theatre and Ensemble Theatre in Santa Barbara. As a director he has produced the World Premieres of Grand Duchy, Grownups and Other Complications, Family Tree and several of his own children's theatre pieces. Clark has taught 2nd through 12th grade for the last fifteen years and enjoys each age. Next year, he is taking a sabbatical from teaching and is returning to New York to pursue performance opportunities.

If you are interested in participating in this program either as a playwright, mentor, director or actor please email Education Outreach Director Brian McDonald at bmcdonald@rubicontheatre.org. Please include in the subject line: Young Playwrights' Festival 2008.

 

To make a donation or to sponsor Rubicon's Education Outreach Programs, please call Development Manager Mychele Dee at (805) 667-2912 ext. 237.