Winning students have the write stuff

Five young writers have been basking in the glow of a golden opportunity. They are the winners of Gorilla Theatre's Young Dramatists' Project, an annual playwriting competition that is open to middle and high school students in the Tampa area. Recipients are awarded a $250 royalty, paid membership to the Dramatists' Guild, mentoring in the theater arts and a full-scale professional production of their play.

It's the proverbial lucky break, and recipient Amanda Buck knows it.

"I have to say, it's amazing to see my text being conceived on stage. Everything that I've seen on stage is how I imagined it," said Buck, a junior at Tampa's Howard W. Blake High School for the Performing Arts. Her work "Sweet Nothings" was one of the five plays selected.

The other winners of YDP '09 are "Gavrilo" by Jonathan Van Gils, a junior at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg; "This One Night in the Warehouse" by Samuel French, a junior at Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg; "Route 64" by Sierra Almengual, a senior at Shorecrest Preparatory School; and "Journey's End" by Courtney Hunter, a junior at Bloomingdale High School in Valrico. Each work follows this year's theme of "Connections."

Gorilla Theatre will premiere the five scripts May 28, closing out its 2008-2009 season.

Gorilla founders Aubrey Hampton and the late Susan Hussey created YDP nine years ago to support budding playwrights. Each year, local dramaturge and YDP artistic director James Rayfield travels to schools and thespian events to announce the competition and scout out new talent. The company accepts entries from Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. Then five plays are selected and brought to the stage with some of the area's best actors, directors and designers.

"This project is encouraging young people to write for the theater," said Rayfield. "We asked the students why they were writing for theater. They all said how magical it is for them and that they're able to do things that are different and unusual. The theater welcomes that kind of thing."

But participating in YDP does not presume a career in writing or theater. French has been writing "ever since I could read" and plans to continue honing his craft, while Hunter, who is interested in marine biology, appreciates writing and theater as extracurricular pursuits. YDP's greatest impact is presenting to young people a real-world situation and showing them what they can accomplish in a creative environment.

"I don't want to make [writing] my job, but I think the project as a whole has inspired me to continue writing. I would have dropped it, but getting the chance to go through the process and realizing that you're good and being around people who understood what I was doing was inspiring," said Hunter.

THEATER PREVIEW

Young Dramatists' Project

WHEN: Thursday through June 7; 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Gorilla Theatre, 4419 N. Hubert Ave., Tampa

HOW MUCH: $20 to $25, depending on date of performance

MORE INFO: (813) 879-2914 or www.gorillatheatre.com