Blueberry Pond Theatre Ensemble Young People’s Program

2007 / 2008 Season
The Young People’s Program at Blueberry Pond is dedicated to the development and presentation of new works for young audiences.  Nurturing young playwrights, young actors and adult playwrights interested in writing for young audiences is our mission.  We offer a special opportunity, which goes beyond an acting class; to engage young theatre artists in the process of the creation of a new works, as writers and actors, and ultimately as designers and directors in the creation of new works.  TheYoung People’s Program is distinctive in that it supports and develops young artists who have an interest in writing for the stage. All Young People’s Program Labs are designated for particular grade levels. There is no Lab fee. For a complete schedule of all Youth Activities please click on our current season tab.

Teen Labs
Beginning this summer we offer Labs for teenagers who wish to have a unique opportunity for personal growth in the theatrical arts. Aspiring playwrights and hopeful actors are welcome to this exciting Teen Labs program.  The Teen Labs will develop work to a public audience.
Playwrights are encouraged to bring in original scripts, and actors will make up the casting ensemble. During the Labs, writing exercises will be explored, and young writers will have a chance to have their works read by fellow actors and critiqued by all Labs attendees.

TheYoung People’s Program is distinctive in that it supports and develops young artists who have an interest in writing for the stage.

Thespians who are interested in attending Labs should contact Jennifer Siciliano for workshop scheduling at wings4jen@yahoo.com or call 914 374 4532. 

Young People’s Program Labs
Move your acting skills, your dramatic ideas and your comic impulses from your imagination to the stage in Youth Labs. We offer Saturday and Sunday workshops for students in grades 5 - 8 beginning early fall 2007. Development of original scripts will be the focus for young actors and writers. Those interested in Youth Labs should contact Gayle Hudson at gaylehudson@optonline.net or blueberryyoungpeopleprogram@earthlink.net.

Young Playwrights Short Play Competition
Blueberry Pond Theatre Ensemble awarded finalists for its 2007 Young Playwrights Short Play Competition on June 3, 2007. Plays were submitted by high school students from Westchester and the surrounding lower Hudson Valley area. Jennifer Siciliano directed this year’s competition, and prominent members of the theatrical community judged the scripts. This year’s winners are Juliana Leghorn for her Things Could Be Worseand Sophie Hirsh for her It’s A Secret. Both winners are part of the PAVE program at New Rochelle High School.   The winners were awarded cash prizes through the generous support of

Commerce Bank
The Young Playwrights Short Play Competition was inaugurated in 2005 by Gayle Hudson.  The goal of the Young Playwrights Competition is to support and develop young people who have an interest in theatre and in writing for the stage.   All local public and private schools are contacted and encouraged to recommend the competition to their students.  The directors of the Young People’s Program are available to work in tandem with English, Drama and Theatre teachers to nurture young playwrights.

Information for the 2008 Young Playwrights Short Play Competition will be released in December 2007 and posted on this site. Information from our past competition can be referenced in the Young People’s Program archives on this page.
For further information about the Young Playwrights Short Play Competition please contact Gayle Hudson at (914) 629 4206, or Jennifer Siciliano at (914) 374 4532. 

Young People’s Program History
Young People’s Program began in 2002 with the offering of Creative Labs, Saturday and Sunday workshops for young thespians where acting and writing workshops were attended by elementary and middle school students. 

Opportunities for young and adult playwrights writing for young audiences to have their new works read aloud and critiqued have been offered many times.  Results of this process included a full production of Albi Gorn’s Tell Me A Story, directed by Gayle Hudson for Blueberry Pond’s Gala Event at Marymount College in 2003. 

The Young People’s Program was included in Blueberry Pond’s mainstage season in 2005 with a critically acclaimed production of Outloud, a new musical about the challenges of growing up female, developed and directed by Gayle Hudson.

Young actors involved with Young People’s Program have graced the stages of several of Blueberry Pond’s adults program including informal readings, staged readings and mainstage productions.

The Young Playwrights Short Play Competition has been a cornerstone of Blueberry Pond’s community outreach efforts with three continuous years of successful competitions.  

Past Winners of the Young Playwrights Competition
2005 – Maria Devlin for Latter Day Saints, Jesse Bordwin for A Study Of Humanity and Alexandra Ingber Alone                    
2006 – Maria Devlin for Mapquest Is Down But I’m Wide Awake and Melanie Gold for  One Day At A Time
2007 - Juliana Leghorn for Things Could Be Worse and Sophie Hirsh for It’s A Secret

Director’s Backgrounds
Gayle Hudson (Founder and Director of Young People’s Program)--Gayle Hudson has served as Director of Theatre for Brooklyn College’s Preparatory Center for the Performing Arts and the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts where she founded the Young Performer’s Ensemble.  She is a director, actress, published playwright and originator of several musicals for young people, including OUTLOUD. 

Jennifer Siciliano (Associate Director of Young People’s Program)--Jennifer Siciliano has been an educator for over ten years teaching English, theatre, and fine art. She has organized several theatre programs in various school districts, and she has worked to develop youth productions ranging from adapting preschool Peter Pan to directing a college production of Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy. Jennifer is also a playwright and an active member of Westchester Arts Council.

Eligibility for Mainstage
Plays developed in the Young People’s Program Labs are eligible for long-run main stage production by Blueberry subject to: (1) recommendation by the Young People’s Program Director, (2) acceptance by the Blueberry Pond Main Stage Reading Committee, (3) execution of a License & Royalty Agreement acceptable to Blueberry, (4) scheduling considerations.

Sponsors
The Blueberry Pond Young People’s Program is made possible in part through funding by Commerce Bank