TWO LOCAL STUDENTS WIN TARGET® TEEN ONE ACTS FESTIVAL Local youth selected to write, direct, produce and act in shows at Berkeley Rep this April BERKELEY CA, FEBRUARY 13, 2006 Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s School of Theatre is pleased to announce the winning plays for its fourth annual Target® Teen One Acts Festival: the scripts are Synesthesia, written by Liz Phelps of Piedmont, and Joey Buttafuoco Eats a Pastrami Sandwich, or Louis Fleischman Learns to Walk, penned by Lauren D. Yee of San Francisco. The plays will be performed on March 31, April 1–2 and April 7–8 at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, which is located at 2071 Addison Street in downtown Berkeley. Tickets, available only at the door, are $5 for students and $10 for adults. “I’m thrilled by the diversity of this year’s participants,” remarks Rachel Fink, director of the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. “Working on stage and behind the scenes, we have teens from Albany, Berkeley, Danville, Oakland, Orinda, Piedmont and San Francisco. The Target® Teen One Acts Festival is a celebration of teen theatre—featuring plays written, directed, acted and produced entirely by Bay Area youth—and the fourth year promises to be a huge success.” Joey Buttafuoco Eats a Pastrami Sandwich, or Louis Fleischman Learns to Walk tells the tale of a college student who competes on Teen Jeopardy! only to have his dreams shattered on national television. Yee, the author, graduated from Lowell High School and has gone on to study drama and English at Yale University. Her script will be directed by 17-year-old Genevieve Michel of Albany, a junior at Albany High; produced by 17-year-old Jonathan Simrin of Berkeley, a senior at Berkeley High; and stage managed by 15-year-old Patrick Fitzgerald of Oakland, a freshman at St. Mary’s College High School. A 17-year-old senior at Piedmont High School, Phelps also won last year’s contest: her previous play, High School in Four Letters, was a hit at the 2005 festival. Synesthesia is both the title of her new script and the syndrome faced by its protagonist, a teenage girl who struggles with familiar adolescent challenges while experiencing the world through an unusual condition that confuses her senses. Her script will be directed by 17-year-old Blake Longfellow of Danville, a junior at San Ramon Valley High; produced by 16-year-old Chrissie Grover-Roybal of San Francisco, a junior at Lick-Wilmerding High School; and stage managed by 16-year-old Leslie Ribovich of Albany, a junior at Albany High. The shows will also be performed entirely by local teens. The cast for Joey Buttafuoco is as follows: 17-year-old Kim Fischer of Oakland, a junior at Lick-Wilmerding High; 15-year-old Spencer Fortin of Albany, a sophomore at Albany High; 15-year-old Amalia Mesa-Gustin of Oakland, a freshman at Oakland Technical High School; and 16-year-old Hallie Sekoff of Berkeley, a sophomore at Berkeley High. Synesthesia will be performed by 15-year-old Kacey Berry of Berkeley, a sophomore at Berkeley High; 15-year-old Jenny Leon of Orinda, a sophomore at Miramonte High; 18-year-old York Ng of Piedmont, a senior at Piedmont High; 14-year-old Ulysses Popple of Albany, a freshman at Albany High; and 15-year-old Elena Wagoner of Berkeley, a sophomore at Berkeley High. The Berkeley Rep Teen Council is a theatre youth group organized by teens for teens. Its goal is to foster the theatre audiences and theatre professionals of tomorrow by opening channels of communication between teens, theatre professionals and the community at large. The Teen Council provides the opportunity for youth to participate in all aspects of the dramatic process: on stage, backstage and in front of the stage through an affiliation with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Activities include poetry slams, improv nights, theatre workshops, a festival of one-act plays and a theatre trip to New York City. For more information, visit www.berkeleyrep.org, e-mail teencouncil@berkeleyrep.org or call 510.647.2972. ATTENTION CALENDAR EDITORS WHO: Local teens write, direct, act and produce their own plays WHAT: Target® Teen Council One Acts Festival / featuring Joey Buttafuoco Eats a Pastrami Sandwich by Lauren D. Yee and Synesthesia by Liz Phelps WHEN: Friday, March 31, 8 PM / Saturday, April 1, 8 PM / Sunday, April 2, 2 PM / Friday, April 7, 8 PM / Saturday, April 8, 8 PM WHERE: Berkeley Rep School of Theatre / 2071 Addison Street at Shattuck / Downtown Berkeley HOW MUCH: $5 for students / $10 for adults INFO: 510.647.2972 / www.berkeleyrep.org For photos, interviews, etc. contact: Terence Keane, Director of Public Relations 510.647.2917, tkeane@berkeleyrep.org BACK TO TOP