[ Previously Recorded, Podcast below ] Some talented WNY teen writers and a contest highlighting their talents take center stage this week on Buffalostyle. The Write To Be Heard is a one-act playwriting competition open to students in grades 8-12 within a 60-mile radius of Buffalo. Ultimately one play is chosen as the grand prize winner by a dramaturgy committee of students from public and private schools throughout the region. That honor earns the author a $1,000 scholarship and a staged production of their work at the Smith Theater in Downtown Buffalo. Margo Davis is the creative force behind this competition, which she first launched in 1998. Since that time over 200 teen playwrights have participated in the competition, jointly sponsored by The Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, Shea’s Performing Arts Center, the Buffalo State College Performing Arts Department Theatre Program and the New York State Theater Education Association. This year, the competition was expanded to include two runner-up winners. The three young WNY women were honored for their playwriting skills are: Grand Prize winner Katherine Boswell, a senior at Kenmore East High School, for her play, How Did We Get Here? Runner Up, Santana Coon, a freshman at Williamsville South High School, for her play, The Murder of BooBoo The Clown Runner Up, Kaitie Rose McAneney of West Seneca West High School for her play, Of Life or Death.
