Clockwise from top left: Niarra C. Bell, Pepper Fox, Sam Victor Lee, Valentine Wulf, Justin Cameron Washington, and HJ Kennedy.
As part of a series of coast-to-coast readings to be held in November, the 6 winning plays will be presented at Kennedy Center’s Theater Lab.
ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence has announced the six winners of its national short-play competition for teen writers: The Smiles Behind by Niarra C. Bell (Virginia), A Call for Help by Pepper Fox (Kentucky), rOunds by HJ Kennedy (North Carolina), A Disorderly House by Sam Lee Victor (New Jersey), No Prospering Weapons by Justin Cameron Washington (Michigan), and The Matter at Hand by Valentine Wulf (Washington). Led by creator and artistic producer Michael Cotey, the ENOUGH! initiative calls on teens to confront gun violence by creating new works of theatre that will spark critical conversations and inspire meaningful action in communities across the country.
ENOUGH! received 244 submissions from 36 states this past spring when it called on teens to write 10-minute plays on gun violence. This year’s plays were selected by nationally recognized dramatists Idris Goodwin, Lauren Gunderson, Zora Howard, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Octavio Solis, and Lloyd Suh. Each winning playwright receives a $500 stipend sponsored by gun violence prevention organization Change the Ref, has their play published and licensed through Playscripts, Inc., and receives from the Dramatists Guild both a membership and craft training.