CA students Kelly Kong, Smile Jiang, Liam O’Brien, Zoe Sachs, Hannah Bodnar, Kyra Lauren, and Eli Morton at the Boston Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.
On March 23, three original plays by Concord Academy students were performed at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre (BPT) as part of the annual Massachusetts Young Playwrights’ Project (MYPP) festival “New Noises.” Congratulations to the students whose works were featured this year: Kyra Lauren ’22, Costumes; Liam O’Brien ’23, Possibilities; and Smile Jiang ’24, As Though That Were Love.
As part of the MYPP process, CA theater teacher Megan Schy Gleeson coordinates with the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre to bring a mentor-playwright to campus to work with the students for two intensive workshops, which culminate with the students each writing their own 10-minute play to submit for inclusion in the festival. Generally one to three plays from each high school are featured.
When the CA student playwrights traveled to Boston for the festival, they worked with professional directors and actors from the Boston area, who presented a staged reading of their plays. The plays were also discussed with Kate Snodgrass, BPT’s artistic director, with the professional actors in the audience. Students whose plays were not being worked on attended workshops with a theater focus.
On the day CA students participated in the festival, Debra Wise, the artistic director of the Underground Railway Theatre at Central Square, gave an inspiring talk about the many hats theater folks wear. Shelley Bolman, a CA theater teacher, joined the group of professional actors to work on new plays during that day too.
Kate Snodgrass, BPT artistic director of BPT, with two CA students, Eli Morton and Kyra Lauren, doing a cold-read of a new play.
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