The Alley Comes to Briarwood

From left (back row): Mr. Brendan Bourque-Sheil, Phil McGraw, Stephen Falick, Maxwell Dalston; (middle row): Mrs. Orlean Anderson, Emily Hallmark, Katya Gustafson, Rowan Westheimer, David DiLuzio, Nick Moriarty; (front): Will Roach. (Photo: Josh Hardcastle)

Students in one Language! class at Briarwood were in for a surprise when they returned to school after winter break. Their excited teacher told them that by the end of the semester, they would all be playwrights.

The Alley Theatre had been awarded a grant from the Kennedy Center for the VSA Playwright Discovery Program. The Briarwood School was invited to participate. Students in the Language! class would have the opportunity to compose original 10-minute plays.

At the end of the process, actors from the Alley Theatre would perform a reading at a special showcase night at Briarwood. One student’s play might even be read at the Alley Theatre on June 1. The students were ecstatic at the possibilities that awaited them the next few months. 

Plays aren’t written overnight, and it took many weeks before the class was ready to actually write a play. Our fabulous teaching artist from the Alley, Brendan Bourque-Sheil, visited the class every Thursday and conducted exercises and gave individual feedback that helped all of us grow as writers and to understand intricacies of playwriting.  Before the students knew it, it was time to put pen to paper and write a play. 

It took several weeks for the students to decide topics, brainstorm characters, and then compose the plays. But finally all the plays were composed and edited and given the seal of approval by Brendan Bourque-Sheil and their amazing teacher, Mrs. Anderson. 

The students’ hard work was rewarded on a very special night at Briarwood where the plays were showcased. Alley Theatre actors read each play on stage in front of a large audience. After that wonderful night, many of the plays were sent to the Kennedy Center, where they will be entered into a national competition with the possibility of being performed in September at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. 

One student, Katya Gustafson, will have her play read at the Alley Theatre on June 1. The students, now playwrights, thanked Mr. Bourque-Sheil with gifts and gratitude, and the evening ended with a feeling of accomplishment and a big round of applause.