THEATRE + COMEDY

For the 15th consecutive year, the Alley Theatre is providing young playwrights the chance to improve and expand their writing skills with its summer program, Houston Young Playwrights Exchange (HYPE). Six plays by local teens have been selected to undergo development in a professional forum guided by the Alley's staff, with the program culminating in a two-day public showcase of their work as Staged Readings - Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13 on the Neuhaus Stage.

One of the Alley Theatre's Education and Community Engagement Department's premier programs, HYPE has helped dozens of young playwrights develop their work since the program was started in 1996. The six HYPE participants also have the opportunity to learn from an experienced playwright Alvaro Saar Rios, HYPE playwright in residence.

Plays featured in the Alley's Houston Young Playwrights Exchange 2011 include:

Alive
by James Hamrick, 18 (Memorial)
A female ghost and a mere mortal conspire to stay together forever.

Boom, Straight to the Moon
by Ellen Kosatka, 17 (Braeswood)
A young woman time travels to the past in order to save her father.

Don't Go To Hell, Dad
by Celestina Billington, 17 (Idylwood)
A young boy hammers nails into the ground above his father's liquor stash with the hope that the Devil will injure himself when he surfaces to take his father.

In Media Res
by Camron Alexander, 15 (Katy)
A grieving wife carries her husband's gun around for safety but finds out the hard way that everyone is in much graver danger due to its presence.

Great People
by Lauren Bellmore, 18 (Klein)
A young couple discovers that they can no longer be together - and that breaking up doesn't have to be so terrible.

A Vivid Mirage
by Deion Williams, 16 (Houston)
Two teenage boys, lost in the desert, experiment with the power of creative visualization in order to help others find them.

Read more about the young playwrights and about Alvaro Saar Rios, HYPE playwright in residence.

Some plays contain mature language and mature situations.