For two Mississippi playwrights, new life will be breathed into the words they have written at the upcoming Mississippi Theatre Association’s festival being held in Gulfport, MS, January 12 – 15, 2012.  Bret Kenyon of Jackson and Genevieve Miller of Biloxi were chosen as the winners of the annual MTA Playwriting Competition in the adult and youth divisions, respectively.  Second and third place winners in the adult division were David Maxedon from Corinth and Leslie Parker from Memphis, respectively.  Second and third place winners in the youth division were Jasmine Hawkins from Water Valley and TreAnna Bradley from Leakesville, respectively.  

Submissions for the competition ended in late October of this year, and scripts were sent to various judges in the state who whittled the entries down to the top ranking plays and those plays were sent to Frank Blocker in New York for final judging.  Blocker, a celebrated actor and playwright, had a difficult job choosing the winner from such a talented group of writers.  When speaking on Kenyon’s script, “Open Mic,” Blocker said, “My lasting impression with the play is its universality–we are all equal in our human existence/our human hearts.”  Blocker says the play reinforces the idea that suffering can turn into something positive if a focus on love is maintained.

Blocker was particularly impressed with the talent seen in this year’s Youth division submissions. “It is impressive to see young artists ready to take issues head on.  We could all learn a few things about fearlessness from these young people,” he said.  According to Blocker, Miller, winner of the Youth division, “created a great ensemble experience for the actors and artists who produce it.  The ever present “neighbors” in the script are the equivalent of a Greek chorus in a modern play, and are very effective in cementing the play’s message.”

Kenyon’s play, “Open Mic,” is billed as, “ ‘Did the Class of 1998′s Most Likely To Succeed ACTUALLY succeed? Or did he fail like the rest of us?’ This is the question that turns Red’s Bar into a courtroom and bar patrons into lawyers… with an overdue bar tab as the stakes. But Mr. Most Likely To Succeed has his own reasons for being back in town…”

Miller’s submission, “The Outsider,” is described as “A play about conformity and individuality in the Puritan times.  However it is a timeless tale of acceptance and rejection.  The story revolves around Mary, a young teenager with amnesia who finds she is struggling to fit into a Puritan society.”

According to Beth Kander, MTA Playwriting Competition Chair, “The winning playwrights will receive a staged reading of their work at the festival, with the Youth division being staged on Saturday, January 11, 2012, and the Adult division staging being held on Sunday, January 12, 2012 to close out the festival.  As a part of the benefits of winning, Kenyon and Miller both received a monetary award for their work.” 

For more information on the Playwriting Competition, and the MTA Festival in general, including schedules, registration, and hotel information, please visit www.mta-online.org.

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