TWO LOCAL TEENS WIN TARGET® ONE ACTS FESTIVAL Shows will be staged at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre in April WHO: Bay Area teens and theatre lovers WHAT: Target® Teen Council One Acts Festival WHERE: Berkeley Rep School of Theatre / 2071 Addison Street / Downtown Berkeley WHEN: Fridays and Saturdays, April 1–2 and 8–9, 2005, 8 PM HOW MUCH: $5 for students, $10 for adults INFO: 510.647.2972 or www.berkeleyrep.org BERKELEY CA, FEBRUARY 16, 2005 Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s School of Theatre is pleased to announce the winning playwrights for the third annual Target® Teen Council One Acts Festival: 16-year-old Liz Phelps of Piedmont and 17-year-old Kelly Stevens of San Leandro. Their plays will be performed on April 1–2 and 8–9 at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, 2071 Addison Street in downtown Berkeley. Now in its third year, the festival features plays written, directed, acted and produced entirely by Bay Area teens. This year’s theme is “Social Barriers: Destroying the Concept.” Tickets, available only at the door, are $5 for students and $10 for adults. “Every year, teens select two original plays penned by Bay Area students to be staged, directed and performed by their peers,” said Rachel Fink, director of the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. “This year we had many fine submissions, and we congratulate the winners for their creativity.” Phelps wrote High School in Four Letters, a series of scenes and monologues about adolescent life. Each one has a four-letter title, including universal concerns like Life, Love and Hate and distinctly teenage matters such as Test, Cute and Dump. Phelps is a junior at Piedmont High School and has studied theatre at the California State Summer School for the Arts. Her script will be directed by 17-year-old Sarah Rose Leonard of Berkeley, a senior at the Athenian School in Danville who has been active with the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre for four years. Stevens’ play is a comedy entitled Rocking in the Free World. It explores a young piano player’s struggle to survive in a city that discriminates against those who don’t play conventional rock-and-roll instruments. A junior at San Leandro High School, Stevens has been studying theatre since the age of eight. Rocking in the Free World will be directed by 17-year-old Claire Bianchi of Berkeley, a Berkeley High senior who has been active with the School of Theatre for three years. “A committee of 10 Teen Council members selected the winners under the guidance of Berkeley Rep staff,” Fink explained. “The committee evaluated submissions on three criteria: use of the theme, the play’s relevance to local teens and whether a production could realize the playwright’s vision with a cast comprised entirely of teens. The directors are now rehearsing the shows, which will play to an audience of hundreds.” 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 allows 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, e-mail teencouncil@berkeleyrep.org or call 510.647.2972. Media contact: Terence Keane 510.647.2917, tkeane@berkeleyrep.org BACK TO TOP