Pegasus Players Presents Young Playwrights Festival

Pegasus will kick off the New Year with its 26th Annual Young Playwrights Festival; a professional production of winning one-act plays written by Chicago teenagers. The 26th production will be performed at Pegasus home, 4520 N Beacon, January 3-27, 2012, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3pm. For tickets contact the box office at 773-878-8864.

An annual Chicago tradition and the oldest of its kind in the country, the Young Playwrights Festival typically receives more than 700 plays written by high school students throughout Chicago.  The Young Playwrights Festival professionally showcases the next generation of playwrights, encouraging the development of independent, high-level thinking and enhancing an appreciation of reading, writing and cultural diversity.

The winning students will receive $500, a full production of their scripts, and a professional playwriting mentor to work with them during pre-production.  The 26th production will showcase the plays written by 2012 winners:

• Stephanie Chavez – The Queen and Her Cliquedom
  A high school outcast and the new kid team up to try and overthrow the "cliquedom" at their school, and fall in love along the way.
• Liza Farler – The Flood
  Employees of a small town grocery store confront a mysterious rising water.
• Willa Sachs – Pinwheels
  A veteran returns from Iraq and tries to deal with PSTD and his brother's new life and girlfriend.
• Daniel Swanson-Nystrom – Quick and Go
  A slacker cashier reluctantly serves customers in this comic convenience store tale of grief and grift.

Performance and Ticket Information.   The 26th Young Playwrights Festival will be held January 3-27, 2013.  Previews will be Thursday, January 3rd through Saturday, January 7th at 7:30 pm.  Regular performances will be Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 3 p.m. at Pegasus Players, 4520 N. Beacon St., in the Uptown Hull House Center, Chicago.  Tickets are $15 (Students), $18 (Seniors) and $25 (General).  Tickets may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/292755; www.pegasusplayers.org  or by calling the box office at 773.878.8864, ext. 0

 About Pegasus Players.  For 34 years Pegasus Players has been committed to providing high quality, socially-conscious theatrical programming to Chicagoans, especially those who have limited access to the arts.  Pegasus is committed to presenting new and contemporary work that crosses cultural, social, and geographical boundaries and brings communities together by presenting works that provoke conversation.  Through programs such as its annual Young Playwrights Festival and international tours of its productions, Pegasus Players has touched the hearts, minds and futures of thousands of people throughout Chicago and around the world.  Pegasus Players has received 80 non-equity Joseph Jefferson Awards. 

This program is partially supported by grants from the MacArthur Fund at Richard Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and CityArts III.