Marilyn Bianchi Kids Playwriting Festival
The First Children’s Playwriting Festival in the U.S. at 30 Years Young

Cleveland trivia quiz: What do these two red-hot young writers have in common?
1. Laura Jacqmin, this year’s winner of the $25,000 Wendy Wasserstein prize for an outstanding script by a young woman, And when we awoke there was light and light and 10 Virgins;
2. Brian K. Vaughn, cult comic creator of Y: The Last Man and Runaways and a writer/producer for Lost;
Answer: Both are former award winners of Dobama’s Marilyn Bianchi Kids Playwriting Festival, celebrating its 30th year this weekend.

It's nearly impossible to underestimate the influence of this venerable contest, a volunteer-based Cleveland tradition that was the first children’s playwriting festival in the U.S. Says the L.A.-based Vaughn about his experience, "It was easily one of the top 5 proudest, happiest moments of a very blessed childhood -- truly life changing. Quite simply, I wouldn’t be where I am today without this contest, so I can’t thank everyone at Dobama enough."

But famous, successful alums are only a tiny piece of the story. To gain perspective on this unique Cleveland institution, I talked to Ron Newell, former Dobama Artistic Director, who was there from its modest beginnings.

"When Marilyn [one of Dobama’s three founders] passed away, we searched for a way to celebrate her life. Marilyn had worked in the schools. She was also a writer; her play A Drug Cantata had toured the schools. Somehow the idea came together: something for and about children, something with writing. And the idea of a kids’ playwriting festival was born."

In a world where people constantly "improve" things until the original idea is unrecognizable, it's remarkable how few things about the contest and festival have changed over its thirty years. It still gives prizes for the best plays by students in grades 1-12, open to all kids in Cuyahoga County. The festival performances are still free, except for the $25 opening night benefit. The benefit still pays for the publication of a book with all the winning scripts. "Every one of those books is in the library," says Newell, "all thirty years of them." The winning writers still receive a $100 bond. A convocation of volunteers from throughout the Cleveland theater community still reads and judges the scripts, directs and acts in the plays.

Even more remarkably, in our dubious world of script "development", the student writers are treated with the ultimate respect: their words are sacred. No changes are made to spelling, grammar, punctuation. If they win, the scripts are done exactly as written. "I remember one year, Michael LiBassi had directed one of the scripts," laughs Newell. "And after it was over, a little voice piped out of the audience. "Mr. LiBassi, you didn’t finish my play. You left out two words: The End."

There have been minor changes to the festival format. For the first time this year, the performances will be downtown at Playhouse Square at the Westfield Insurance Theatre, a professional black box that most off-Broadway theatres would be proud to claim. Once Dobama created its young adult theatre project, The Night Kitchen, the senior high school plays have had their own separate performance schedule, which has allowed for edgier language.

But don’t underestimate the authenticity or candor of the elementary school and middle school writing: no subjects are out of bounds. "We’ve had plays about drugs, violence, child abuse, broken homes, Dad out of work," says Newell. "It’s always a reflection of the world as the kids see it." That's brought home through Dobama's tradition of bringing the prizewinning authors on stage. "You’ll see this moving, heart-wrenching thing, and then they bring the writer up, and it’s this little girl, and you go…whoa."

But this family-friendly event is always full of laughs and good feeling as well. "Kids have such great imaginations, and they always write from the heart," says Newell. "One year there was this sci-fi spoof called Dish Trek, where all the characters were kitchen items." In another tradition, the whole festival cast participates in the final piece, an uplifting play with a moral that only a kid could write. "One year we were all bushes and trees," he recalls. "This year the final play is called Nobody Likes Me, about a lonely little strawberry. So we'll all be strawberries."

The 30th Annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids Playwriting Festival, 6/12-6/15, http://www.dobama.org

From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein lindaATcoolcleveland.com
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