The Plays by Young Writers Festival’s “Night of Celebration” on Saturday marks a milestone for its presenting Playwrights Project organization: 40 years of producing winning plays from its California Young Playwrights Contest written by youths 11 and older.
This celebration is also a milestone for Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, who is directing the three full productions being staged Saturday at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre. The co-founder of Moxie Theatre whose directing credits include plays at the Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse was given her first directing job in San Diego by then-Playwrights Project founder and Executive Director Deborah Salzer in 1999. She directed Molly Lambert’s play “Absolutely.”
“It always had a special place in my heart,” Turner Sonnenberg said. “I tried to direct every year from then on.” With the founding of Moxie and Turner Sonnenberg’s other directing work around the country, that didn’t happen, of course. This is her first time back directing at the festival in 18 years.
“I’m thrilled,” she said, “to get this opportunity to return and on this anniversary at that.”
The three full productions Turner Sonnenberg is directing are “Losing Hope” by 17-year-old Kaya Sparnicht of Irvine, “Ghost With the Most” written by 17-year-old Jenna Knott of San Diego, and “Cheaters” by 16-year-old David Hernandez of Santa Ana. All three are one-acts between 15 and 20 minutes in length.
“Each of them (the playwrights) has a dramaturg who is dedicated to the script and any changes that had to be made to the story,” explained Turner Sonnenberg. “They’re getting a real professional theater experience in an abbreviated amount of time.”
Also featured Saturday are staged readings of “Farewell to Esc” by 13-year-old Aldo Ledesma Ramirez and “Ride the Wave” by 10-year-old Jaydon Franco. Both are from San Diego. These readings are directed by freelance artist Laura Zee.
Playwriting camps like those run by the Playwrights Project are one way all these young people learn the structure and technique of the craft and how to put ideas on the page.
“But it also gives them the opportunity to read plays, because not everybody knows how to read a play,” Turner Sonnenberg said. “In high school maybe we get some Shakespeare as literature, but in elementary school and junior high it’s a great way for young people to be able to express themselves.
“Plays are meant to be read out loud,” she said. “It engages the imagination in a different way (from literature).”
Turner Sonnenberg said she’s been impressed by each of the three young playwrights with whom she’s working.
Of Kaya Sparnicht, who wrote “Losing Hope,” set in a dystopian society where AI is in charge: “It’s impressive how quickly and cleanly she can build this complete whole world.”
Turner Sonnenberg praises Jenna Knott’s “Ghost With the Most” for its imaginative mix of “sci-fi and flat-out comedy writing.”
David Hernandez’s “Cheaters,” she said, “might seem on the surface about high school kids we know, but what he’s writing about is what is underneath these kids.”
The Young Playwrights Contest was coordinated by local actor Rachael VanWormer, who recently co-starred in New Village Arts Theatre’s production of “The Half-Life of Marie Curie.” As it happens, Turner Sonnenberg directed VanWormer’s own play “Funny” at this festival when VanWormer was a 17-year-old high schooler.
Playwrights Project presents the ‘Plays by Young Writers Festival’
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday (reception at 6:30)
Where: Joan B. Kroc Theatre in the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center, 6611 University Ave., San Diego
Tickets: $50
Phone: 858-384-2970
Online: playwrightsproject.org
