CAPE MAY — Cape May Stage is committed to bringing new voices and points of view to the theater. Earlier this month, the theater showcased short plays by four talented high school students from across the state who had won top honors in its first Young Playwrights Awards contest.
Last week, the professional Equity theater company hosted 16 mid-career playwrights at its 12th National Playwrights Symposium to learn from the best in the business.
“Storytelling is the most powerful tool we have to communicate with one another,” said Roy Steinberg, producing artistic director at the theater. “We started both programs to support and inspire future generations of storytellers.”
Fourteen-year-old Sofia Salinas won top honors in the Young Playwrights Awards competition for her play “Words I Wish I Could Say.”
“I decided to be the voice I wish I had when I was younger,” she explained.
Her “voice” was loud and clear at the reading when three professional actors read her play in front of a live audience.
Last week, playwrights more advanced in their careers participated in Cape May Stage’s 12th National Playwrights Symposium.
Created by Steinberg and playwright and director Shawn Fisher, the five-day symposium was a literary boot camp for writers who spent their days and much of their nights writing, rewriting and refining new plays and works in progress under the guidance of master writers. On the workshop’s final night, professional actors read the playwrights’ final-for-the-moment scripts before a live audience at the theater.
A hallmark of this program — and a big draw for its participants — is Steinberg’s and Fisher’s ability to draw world-class master playwrights to Cape May Stage to mentor new and established talents.
This year’s dream team consisted of Sanaz Toossi, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2023 for her play “English,” and Theresa Rebeck, the most produced female playwright on Broadway today.
Both shared insights into writing plays, getting them read and having them produced. What also came across were rousing words of encouragement and “stick-to-it-ness.”
“Everybody has a story,” Toossi said. “It’s the way we tell it that matters. Good things break through.”
“My best advice is try to think about your own life as food for theater,” Rebeck added.
Ellen Abrams attended her first symposium this year and was pleased with the results. “Being at the symposium opened my eyes to play-writing techniques,” she said. “More importantly, it gave me the chance to be heard and understood as a writer.”
Ted Gessinger, who has attended all but one of Cape May Stage’s symposiums since the program began in 2013, summed up his visits with, “It’s the most creative week of my year.”
“I have had half a dozen plays produced in theaters from Florida to New Jersey, and every one of them had its genesis at the National Playwrights Symposium at Cape May Stage,” he said. “I am the writer I am today due in large part to Roy, Shawn and the National Playwrights Symposium, and very much look forward to next year.”
By LYNN MARTENSTEIN/For the Star and Wave
