Young Playwrights Festival at ETC

Think of the Young Playwrights Festival as a reverse Launch Pad. The springtime program at Ensemble Theatre Company’s New Vic Theater gives aspiring playwrights ages 14-19 the opportunity to create a play that is produced and staged with professional directors and actors, and then presented as a staged reading at the theater. The Young Playwrights Festival this year is led by Michael Bernard, the four-month journey asking participants to craft a short one-act with weekly sessions that cover playwriting fundamentals, the evolution of American theater, and drama’s key principles. The budding writers then receive personalized mentorship from professional playwrights to assist them through the revision process. They then engage in casting, followed by rehearsals and the single performance, set for May 10 at 7 pm. 

This year’s festival features only three new works, the smallest cadre yet under ETC Education Director Brian McDonald, who created the Young Playwrights Festival during his tenure in a similar position at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre before bringing it to Santa Barbara. Fewer works means each piece was able to expand beyond the typical 10 minutes, perhaps twice as long, offering more opportunity for the playwrights to develop their respective voices. 

“It’s a great process for them to write something on their own and then see how people respond, when they often realize that there’s something else there that they themselves didn’t even see,” he said. “That’s when these kids learn how to listen and respond to criticism, and to hear – as writers – how well what they have in their heads gets articulated on the page, so that the director and the actors and other artists who bring it to life know what to do with that. They really get to see the continuing evolution of what an actual new play goes through.” 

The trilogy of new work delves into the hidden anxieties and unspoken truths that define a generation grappling with unprecedented challenges. Society, written by returning YPF participant Zev Vitanza and directed by Matt Tavianini, sees a seemingly innocent school festival become the battleground for power, manipulation and a shocking act of violence, pulling back the curtain on the dark side of academia, where unchecked ambition and ruthless manipulation can have deadly consequences. 

In Fennel Higley’s Captive, directed by Brian Harwell, a picture-perfect wedding day becomes the stage for a family drama after a shocking revelation forces the bride-to-be to confront her parents’ fractured marriage, her fiancé’s cold pragmatism, and the unsettling possibility that she’s walking into a gilded cage. Naomi Farkas’s The Outtakes, directed by Paul Canter, explores the toxic legacy of child stardom and the desperate measures people take to escape their past, in a gripping and provocative thriller about the price of fame, the long shadow of trauma, and the twisted bonds that tie us together. 

A Q&A with the playwright, director and audience follows each piece, McDonald said. 

“That way it’s fresh in everybody’s minds, so the audience can give constructive feedback about the piece and find out a little bit about the playwright and what their inspiration was.” 

Admission to the festival is free, with no tickets required.