Photos by Jessica Lutz from 8th Annual One-Act Play Performance.
8TH ANNUAL ONE-ACT PLAY PERFORMANCE
Co-presented with Marfa Independent School District
Wednesday, May 1 2019
7pm (doors at 6:30)
Crowley Theater
Free
This electrifying, standing room only night of theater was the culminating event to our weeklong 8th Annual Playwriting Workshops with the Marfa High School held in April. We presented four award-winning student one-act plays written by students with our 2019 Playwright in residence Mónica Sánchez.
Under Sánchez tutelage, each student penned their own original one-act play. One winning play and one honorable mention was chosen from each grade and awarded prizes. The winning plays were presented to the public with actors from the community. Last year, nearly eighty plays were written during the writing workshop by students and submitted for consideration for final selection. Since the program launched in 2011, students have written almost 900 plays.
The annual Playwriting Workshop and One-Act Plays support the Marfa Live Arts’ mission of bringing the performing arts to West Texas, educating the area’s youth, and bringing the community together. This program has become the cornerstone of Marfa Live Arts’ education program and exemplifies the mission of our organization.
As part of participating in the playwriting program, Sánchez will also serve as a judge in reviewing the student written plays. Playwriting classes are offered to the school at no cost and the public performance will be free and open to the community.
The 2019 winning playwrights are:
9th grade: Uriel Torres — Stuck in Multiverse
10th grade: Andrea Torres — Twin Size Mattress
11th grade: Ruben D. Watts-Ortiz — Reality
12th grade: Georgina Brugette — They Are Here
Community Actors include: Yoseff Ben-Yehuda, Crystal Catano, Lizzy Wetzel, Jared Menane, Willy Somma, Lena Spurgin, Arthur Ruiz, Tyler Spurgin, Jackson Wisdorf, and members of the Dresden Collective: Hope Lafferty, Jonathan “JB” Fields, Alyssa Longoria, Gabrielle Rule, Callie Joe Jones, Michael B. Amerson, and David DeLaO.
The winning student artist who made this year’s poster artwork is Angelica Quiñonez, 11th grade.
“All of the plays this year are exceptional. The students went above and beyond in honing and crafting rich narrative, complex subtext, descriptive settings and, most importantly, character transformation.” Marfa Live Arts director Jennie Hamilton shares. “We are incredibly proud of these students. The quality of their work speaks to this workshop being taught annually. Student’s writing voices have really matured and developed. They are able to write a play! It’s a big accomplishment for anyone and these kids feel really good about having done it.”
Photos from 8th Annual One-Act Play Performance by Jessica Lutz:
THANKS:
Marfa Live Arts' Playwriting Workshops & High School One-Act Plays are generously supported by the Marfa Education Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Permian Basin Area Foundation and Still Water Foundation Fund of Permian Basin Area Foundation. This program could not be realized without the collaboration of Marfa Independent School District’s Superintendent Oscar Aguero, Principal John Sherrill, PhD and educators Linda Ojeda, Sabra Laviers, Mary Mois, Josh Steinberg, and the Marfa Welding Class. Special thanks to Mónica Sánchez, Tim Crowley & Emily Williams of Crowley Theater, Rob Crowley, Mayor Ann Marie Nafziger, Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa Public Radio, and Minerva & Delfin Lopez.
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