Actors Theatre of Louisville selected three Manual students—Travis Ryan (11, J&C), Annie Stone (11, YPAS) and Nakoma Ehrhart (12, YPAS)—to have their plays performed in the New Voices Young Playwrights Festival on April 21 and 22 at 7 pm.

Actors Theatre’s Apprentice/Intern company helps selected students revise their plays. The actors then perform the edited pieces in the New Voices Festival.

Preparing for the festival is a very involved process.

“In playwriting, most of the writing that we do is outside of class. “You have to put in a lot of work at home. I had to write three different drafts to make everything fit together the way I wanted it to,” said Stone. “My play is about two sisters basically having a heart to heart before the older one goes off to college in the morning. They talk about the importance of having each other and their friendships in their lives.”

The exercise of readying her play for New Voices has encouraged Ehrhart to take more risks with her work.

“This process has been one of the most treasured experiences of my life. It has encouraged me to pursue writing in the future, and given me the confidence to dabble in new and unfamiliar forms of writing,” she said. “The play I submitted is titled “Misfortune”.  It focuses on two step brothers, Clark and Tony.  Clark is gifted with superhuman strength and has made himself a local superhero (more like a handyman) in  the tiny, crime-free town he lives in. Tony, the family nerd and an avid inventor, attempts to convince his stepbrother that there is no future in being a superhero.  It is this confrontation that drives my play.”

“The people at Actor’s Theatre are unbelievably nice and treat you like a professional playwright,” said Ehrhart. “It’s really amazing.”

Shows are free, but require tickets for admission. Call (502) 584-1205 to reserve seats. Limit six tickets per household.