Karen Berkowitz
A Little Silver student is among the six young playwrights chosen to participate in Tomorrow’s Promise, a project sponsored by the New Jersey Repertory Company.
Karen Berkowitz, a student at Red Bank Regional High School, Little Silver, has been selected to participate in "Tomorrow’s Promise,’’ a student-writing, playwriting project created by the Long Branch theater company in response to the events of Sept. 11. The project is funded by a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
Meera Patel, Little Silver, also an RBR student, was selected as an alternate.
The playwriting project began in late fall when N.J. Rep put out a call for writing samples from high school students and said six would be selected to write short plays exploring themes related to Sept. 11.
Meera Patel
Project Administrator Kathleen Goldpaugh scheduled interviews with more than 20 young writers during which they met with the project committee and discussed their writing, world events and their reasons for wanting to participate in the project.
In addition to Goldpaugh, committee members include mentor playwright Michael T. Folie, director/actor Jim Donovan, project facilitator Aaron Vieira, N.J. Rep assistant artistic director Stewart Fisher, N.J. Rep Executive Producer Gabor Barabas.
Following the interview process, the committee chose the six young playwrights.
Along with Karen and Meera, the young playwrights selected are Daniel Adler of Marlboro, Shennell Barnes of Newark, Tom Bruett of Manas-quan, Aileen Deng of Marl-boro, and Mat-thew Hirsch of Marlboro. Chris-tine Grimaldi of Marlboro also was chosen as an alternate.
The six teens will meet with Folie and other project staff from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each Saturday for 13 weeks in a writer’s workshop. Each student will develop a 10-minute theatrical piece or short play, and the collection of six plays will be performed together under the umbrella title, Tomorrow’s Promise.
The students will be given artistic freedom to approach the broad topic from any angle, and their topics can range from prejudice and hatred to the hopes and dreams that hinge upon tomorrow’s promise.
The plays will be directed by Donovan and will be performed by company members.
In its performance stage, N.J. Rep anticipates drawing a multigenerational group of students, teachers and parents. Performances will be followed by town meeting-like forums.
Performances of Tomorrow’s Promise will be presented free of charge at 7 p.m. May 26, 27, 28 and 29 in N.J. Repertory’s Dwek Studio. Seating in this 50-seat theater space is limited, and reservations are required.
After the initial run, the production will be available to tour area high schools, starting with the schools of the student authors.
New Jersey Repertory Company is located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch. To reach the box office, call (732) 229-3166, or visit www.njrep.org.