Calling All Parents of That Kid From the Bobby Fischer Movie
Arena Stage wants your children, grades 5-12. Specifically, they want your children’s ten-minute plays. If your child’s play wins, he or she “will receive playwriting master classes and participate in further script development with professional playwrights, directors and dramaturgs,” according to an Arena Stage press release. The winning children will receive $250, to be spent on pogs and therapy.
If pleased by the idea of turning your child into the most serious, self-conscious, over-worked kid in the 8th grade, you can find the guidelines for the competition after the jump.
Guidelines for competition:
Who: Playwrights must be students in 5th through 12th grades. Students must attend school in the District of Columbia, the City of Alexandria or one of the following counties: Loudon, Prince William, Fairfax, Arlington, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, or St. Mary’s. Home-schooled students must be residents of the aforementioned cities and counties.
When: Entries must be received at Arena Stage by Friday, December 4, 2009 to be eligible for competition.
What: Submitted plays must be the original, unpublished work of one playwright. Pieces written by more than one student will not be accepted. Suggested length is 6-10 pages. Plays longer than 12 pages will not be read.
Submission process: All submissions must include an Arena Stage cover sheet, which may be downloaded at www.arenastage.org. Plays will not be accepted without a cover sheet. All plays must be typed, double-spaced, in 12 pt. font, with page numbers. The title of the play and the playwright’s grade should be listed on each page of the play. The playwright’s name, contact information, or school should not appear anywhere on the play except the cover sheet. Submitted scripts will not be returned. Playwrights wishing to confirm receipt of their submission should enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard. Winners will be notified by Arena Stage and the list posted at www.arenastage.org in January.
Three copies of the entered play, with the required cover sheet attached to the top copy, should be mailed to:
Student Playwrights Project
Arena Stage – Community Engagement Division
1101 Sixth Street, SW Washington, DC 20024
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Linked From: November 17th, 2009Arts Morning Roundup: Porn Wins the Day at University of Maryland - Arts Desk - Washington City Paper
9:36 am[...] morning, y’all! Did you miss us yesterday? Bet you did! Especially the theater trolls! Top of the news pile this morning: According to the Student Press Law Center, the University of [...]
12:15 pm
Although I am glad City Paper posted information about this excellent program, was the flip, obnoxious title and tone in the first two paragraphs really necessary? I have had the pleasure of seeing three of the final staged readings of student plays, and I have been continually impressed by the creative talents of the students in this area. And — rather than seeming “over-worked” and early candidates for “therapy,” the students I have seen are proud of their work, excited to see it staged by professional actors, and confident in speaking about their plays and the ways this program helped them hone their abilities and encouraged them to continue to explore their talents in the arts. Since when does City Paper mock programs genuinely interested in encouraging creative outlet? We should be congratulating Arena on their outreach efforts (and not only in this competition) and thank them for providing this fantastic service to students.
12:23 pm
@Korey The program sounds wonderful, and I suspect that parents of wunderkinds (and the wunderkinds themselves!) will be able to see past my flippancy, because honestly, being flippant is one of the few things I’m good at.
1:08 pm
Thank you for your response, Mike. As a periodic reader of City Paper I realize that some of the flippant tone is part of the style of the publication. But my concern is not what the parents of privileged “wunderkinds” will read past. I am concerned about the impressions of parents of students who may not traditionally be considered “wunderkinds.” Part of what is wonderful about this program is that it is available to students across the area — and it opens up theater to students who have been traditionally denied opportunities of this type or who are underrepresented in the arts.
I want to be clear that I am not affiliated with Arena in any way (except as an audience member). I am emailing as a theater professor in the area who believes in the value of programs like the ones Arena provides. I hope students and parents — “wunder” or otherwise — read these comments and realize this is a valuable program worth their consideration.
1:31 pm
Mr. Riggs,
I am a teacher at a school that has participated in this program for the past four years. My Theatre class consists of a few “wunderkinds”, but mostly students who need a fine arts credit, are ESOL students without a strong grasp of the English language, special education students, and kids who kind of like to act. This program gives kids a voice, allows them some creativity in rigid, structured, assessment based curricula, and opens their eyes to the world around them, past their front door. While you may rely on your tone of flippancy and expect people to see past it, many won’t. Your lack of knowledge about this program is obvious, otherwise you would rethink your flippancy and sing this programs praises, the way I and my past students, their families, and my colleagues have been.
2:02 pm
Your response states that, “being flippant is one of the few things I’m good at.” I for one am very glad that you admitted this fact. It will help me to further explain to my daughter how people, even adults, will make wreckless comments without any knowledge base. I dare say that you would have the same comments if you took the time to observe this process in its entirety. Actually go see the children at work. May I suggent Washington Latin Charter School on 16th Street, NW? Take the time to observe the children as they discover what they don’t even realize they possess in both imagination and skill. Maybe you and your readers could visit the Current newpaper from February 2009. A reporter for this publication took a little time to observe this process and his reporting on this very same program doesn’t share any likeness to yours. People have opposing opionins, true. Nevertheless, he investigated before writing. Did you do the same? If not, do you feel any responsibility to the readers to really investigate a topic prior to sitting down to write?
I always knew that my daughter had a great imagiation and with a little extra focus, her writing abilities could be top-notch. I was had pressed to get her to believe. She literally stumbled into this process without having a clue what the Areana Stage 10-Minute Play Writing Workshop was all about. But, in the end, a 10-year old 5th grader wrote a play and placed with students far above her age group. This experience opened her eyes to what I hadn’t been able to achieve. To your surprise, she hasn’t jumped but has a confidence that I love. Arena Stage really has embraced the fact that “it really does take a village to nuture children.”
Having professionals invest their time and effort to this project is mind-blowing to the children and adults as well. I don’t say this simply because of my child. I was equally proud of every child that stood there with her and all those who aspire to do this or anything else that opens their awareness to what “focus and effort” can bring.
So, make your cynical remarks and provide misguided judgment. Those of us who treasure the efforts of others will continue to be supportive. We will also stay mindful that some people truly are best at being flippant as opposed to informed.
2:20 pm
Mr. Riggs,
Imagine that you are an awkward pre-teen who secretly writes poetry or rap songs on scraps of paper during math class, seeks refuge in the library at lunch, and hides your insecurity by calling out spelling words in an operatic tone. You are living in a time when the greatest genius of your generation is Miley Cyrus and when your sole worth is measured by the amount of gigabytes on your iPod.
Maybe your parents think you’re a wunderkind — if you’re lucky — but you just think you’re weird.
Now imagine walking into a room where you are asked — gasp — to think, not just bubble in little circles on a standardized test with a sharpened no. 2 pencil. To tell stories, not just from your own perspective, but maybe from the perspective of someone who is completely foreign to you, maybe even someone you hate. Imagine suddenly being in a room full of kids who were all writing secretly on scraps of paper, but you never knew it, because you thought you were the only one.
Maybe you were that kid, and you’ve turned that raw talent into a marketable skill. Your Miley Cyrus was Shaun Cassidy, or Carrot Top. Good for you. There are kids across DC, and the entire region, who have that same raw talent, but are aching for someone to help coax it out of them. Their teachers do not have the time or sometimes even the inclination to pay attention to it, but for the kids who are able to participate in the Arena Stage program, there is finally someone there who not only pays attention to it — they actually nurture it.
If I sound like a parent of a child who went through the Arena Stage Student Playwright Project, I am. She is a product of a stable home who has been a DCPS student for over 10 years (but, no, not at upper NW schools as is the general assumption). She was fortunate enough to win an honorable mention in the Arena Stage competition two years ago, and was one of the 8 finalists this year. The experience was remarkable and was just about the only thing that kept her going through middle school. She is now a freshman at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the Literary Media and Communications department, where she spends each day with a room full of kids from across the area who have benefited from the Arena Stage program and others like it — where their worth is not measured in gigabytes, but in ideas.
Maybe the City Paper does not cater to parents who will care about this stuff anyway, but it would be a shame if anyone were to callously discount the important services provided by the Arena Stage Community Engagement Program simply because of a few offhand editorial remarks. In a city where school budgets are routinely slashed to the detriment of anything but math and reading, programs like those offered by Arena Stage are both a necessity and a treasure.
3:24 pm
Wow,
I’ve been to past performances of the winning plays that come out of this competition. I’ve seen volunteer actors bring amazing work to life. I’ve seen audiences blown away by the richness and maturity of the pieces. I’ve seen student playwrights bursting with pride that their artistic concepts were actualized.
What I haven’t seen is the “most serious, self-conscious, overworked” kid of any grade. They’ve been passionate, excited kids who seem to have been feeling a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I can’t imagine the experience serving any one of them ill.
I found the first two paragraphs to be a condescending and hostile perspective towards this excellent program. Mr. Riggs, did you ever see a performance of these plays? Have you ever talked to a participant or – better – a student whose play was chosen and performed?
3:28 pm
I’m a little baffled that you decided to post this article at all, given the attitude you exhibit here. I wholeheartedly agree with all of the other comments and wish there could have been examples celebrating the program. If you don’t like it, why the hell are you writing about it. Criticize it if you’re going to criticize it, but the snide remarks just undercut the mission of the program and confuse the reader.
3:38 pm
All: I’m guessing this made an email list somewhere, and that the original sender was outraged that I dared conjure up the stereotype of a Stephen Glass-like overworked over-achiever.
Y’all have demonstrated through anecdotes that nothing could be further from the truth, and I have zero interest in arguing against that. The lede to my post was a joke. Fine, the kids aren’t overworked, this is a lifesaver for artsy weirdos (of which I was one), etc., etc. Great. I sought to introduce this program to our readers in a way that would not be blatant promotionalism, and thought joking would be the best way to do that. Clearly, my methods don’t sit well with some of you.
Now please, let it go. Y’all are right, and I–despite not actually making any genuine claims about the program–am wrong.
But I’m not changing anything in the post, because I think it’s funny, and so does my mom.
3:59 pm
I appreciate the mea culpa. My limited experience with the end result has given me the impression that the student playwrights thing is a really good program.
I think you’ve thrown a rock through beehive, though. It was too good a troll to have “let it go” work (just before lobbing another rock.)
4:00 pm
@Matt: You’re right. I shouldn’t have thrown another rock.
The reality is this: We can’t change a story just because it’s snarky.
4:05 pm
Fair enough: All’s well in my book.
4:32 pm
I definitely appreciate the fact that it is not the job of the City Paper to engage in blatant promotionalism, and the original idea of the post was most likely meant to be simply informational. However, there are lots of ways to write humorous, or even ironic, leads without sounding like The Onion. It’s fine to want to catch someone’s eye, but it appears to the casual observer that the intent was to make fun of anyone who might encourage their kids to strive and certainly appeared to be taking a swipe at the master classes and other benefits provided to the winners of the competition by Arena Stage.
I would like to point out that the original post by Mr. Riggs has since been edited to exclude the commentary about “wunderkinds” — so obviously someone thought that the story needed to be somewhat modified from its original snarkiness in toto.
4:33 pm
Dear Mr. Riggs,
I am so pleased to see you put such a focus on this wonderful program. However by your flippant comment it appears you don’t understand the importance and necessity of programs such as this, which Arena Stage offers, for students throughout the Washington, DC area.
I have personally seen children with no prior knowledge or interest in theater, grow and thrive as individuals and as new found playwrights. They learned how to create a thorough and thought out story with interesting characters. When the plays were all written and turned in these children who in the beginning had very little interest in the arts, unless it was related to the Jonas Bros; declared that they wanted to be actors, writers, poets and composers, this all due to the creativity and inspiration that the Student Playwrights Project through Arena Stage, helped to awaken within them.
I understand your “funny” comment was a way to get this information out there in a different way but maybe finding another creative method would be best in the future.
4:34 pm
@Kristen: My post never contained the word “wunderkind,” my first comment did:
“The program sounds wonderful, and I suspect that parents of wunderkinds (and the wunderkinds themselves!) will be able to see past my flippancy, because honestly, being flippant is one of the few things I’m good at.”
Thanks for commenting.
4:48 pm
Clearly, you should have just posted the press release verbatim. Why do you HATE the arts, Mr. Riggs?
6:02 pm
Thanks for the correction — after a while, it becomes difficult to see past the flippancy.
11:51 am
As a teaching artist in Georgia, it is disheartening to read such a harsh, seemingly pointless, editorial before what should have been a straightforward press release. Mr. Riggs’ flippancy is obvious and he seems a little bitter. Admittedly, Mr. Riggs was also an “artsy weirdo.” So why the snippy article?
2:08 pm
This is neutral reporting?
4:11 pm
I am assuming we should translate this writer’s snarkiness as fear, because there is no doubt in my mind that an 8 year old child could and would out write Mike Riggs. Theater and creativity are, believe it or not, valuable to a child’s overall development and for you to take a dump all over that idea proves that you are truly a close-minded and cynical waste of space.
4:17 pm
Would someone mind adding me to whatever listserv has spawned this comment string?
7:13 am
Thanx for your well written post. But I had difficulty navigating through your website as I kept getting 502 bad gateway error. Just thought to let you know.
11:31 am
I suppose that someone thinks this post is funny. What concerns me is that any child reading this article will feel discredited for exploring the art of writing – discouraged too.
Go Arena! Keep providing those opportunities for growth among our very young! Thank you for your service!
2:49 pm
In a time when the young people of this country are lost in the glitzy, I’m-the-center-of-my-own-universe self-absorbed lifestyle, many teachers, artists, scholars, and citizens depend (at least partially) on the arts to help challenge audiences’ notions of our place in this world. The arts offer an opportunity for people to refrain from the “me! me! me!” of our world and think more about “what if someone did THIS?” The arts programs at Arena stage and other venues around the county foster a sense of empathy and understanding that some people of our time lack.
Venture on, Arena.