Playwriting Contest Winners | 10 Minutes or Less
As part of our Playwriting Contest, Mosaic sat down with the winners to get to know them each a little better. Learn more about these up and coming theater artists from the DC area and register for the Live-Streamed Playreading Event on February 26th, 2021.
NIC MITCHELL (THEY/THEIR) | WORDS BETWEEN CLAPS OF THUNDER | IG: @1800IDEKBRO
Nic: Hi! My name is Nic Mitchell.. I'm in the 11th grade.
Mosaic: It’s great to meet you, thank you so much for participating in this contest. Run us quickly through the play you wrote.
Nic: It's about a girl who has some mental health concerns especially when it comes to the death of her parents. And she believes she has superpowers and her siblings are trying to convince her otherwise.
Mosaic: So it's kind of this question of “is this a mental health issue or she really able to contact the beyond”?
Nic: Yaa! I like how in fiction there’s an imaginary world that has its own story, its own little thing going on. I like how we can imagine things in different ways, I think it's pretty cool.
Mosaic: How stepping away from reality gives us space to ask questions that we wouldn’t have thought of.
Mosaic: What do you do when you're not writing plays?
Nic: I like doing makeup, I like to read, and I like helping other people with their problems, like fixing problems. Sometimes I like to do puzzles or crosswords just like to keep myself stimulated with something.
Mosaic: What do you think have been your biggest influences on both yourself as a person and also the art that you make.
Nic: Definitely my drama teacher because she's really got me into the play and how drama works and stuff like that. And my best friend, because she pushes me to do things and she has a lot of personality and I use her in my character sometimes. And I guess my family, because sometimes I think of situations with them, and I put them into a situation in another world.
Mosaic: Did you have any unexpected challenges or discoveries while working on this piece.
Nic: Um… the challenge was procrastination. I have school and all those things to do and at the end of the day, I feel tired and I'm like “oh I'll just do it the next day, it's fine, I have time, I'll do the next day”, and the next day went all the way until two days before the deadline.
Mosaic: Well, now you can say you wrote a winning play in two days. Thank you so much for sitting down with my Nic. It was great to meet you.
CORINNE HESS (SHE/HER) | GUN TO THE BODY | IG: @CORINNEHESS
Corinne: My name is Corinne, I'm 10th grade, and I was born and raised in Washington DC.
Mosaic: Give a brief plot synopsis of the play you've submitted.
Corinne: So there’s a robber who meets a businessman, and it’s basically about their relationship and how they’re connected and the way it’s kind of up to chance.
Mosaic: Where did you draw inspiration for this piece?
Corinne: So I took a playwriting class my freshman year. And we'd written probably five or six plays beforehand, and this was kind of the final. But I think the story came from watching a TV show about a robber and I wanted to see if I could grow a story from the relationship between a robber and a businessman. .
Mosaic: Run me through some examples of your favorite movies, plays, TV shows. What is your taste in storytelling?
Corinne: I go all over the place, because my dad is super old school, like a bunch of classics like Star Wars. But then also Harry Potter, Hunger Games, those types of stories. And then what I get introduced to at school, like right now we’re reading A Raisin in the Sun. I love that one. And we went to watch 1,000 Splendid Suns at the Kennedy Center. I guess I’m a sucker for a good ending. I just want even a twisted plot to come out kind of nice. With some people who might have a darker background coming out on the better side of it, getting better and improving, stuff like that.
Mosaic: So what are your artistic and career aspirations?.
Corinne: I'm a very academically minded person super strong in Math, English, and this Playwriting class really pushed me to be more creative- which I like doing, I’m a part of the Youth Orchestra of DC, but I think I’d prefer to go into computer science, cyber security, that kind of field. I think theater would be a cool hobby.
Mosaic: You mentioned you play in an orchestra, what instrument do you play?
Corinne: I play the oboe.
Mosaic: Very cool. So, an oboe playing playwright who wants to be in cyber security. What are some of your other hobbies?
Corinne: I work in a bike shop. I just came from there, we restore bikes, cleaning and fixing them up. And I work with the youth group. We're a Quaker Youth Organization who self govern. I run our website, so that leadership position definitely takes up a lot of time.
Mosaic: Well I certainly hope you continue to write and make theater. Thank you for making time for this conversation, it was a joy talking with you.
ALEXSIA TARQUINII (SHE/HER) | DON’T MOVE | IG: @ALEXSIATARQUINII
Alexsia: My name is Alexsia Tarquinii, I’m a sophomore from Bowie, MD.
Mosaic: If you had to summarize your play in 60 seconds, what would you say?
Alexsia: So basically my play is about these two best friends, and it’s Halloween so they are driving to a party. And then they turn on the news and CNN is saying that there are clown sightings. And during them listening to the news Tori, the best friend, starts acting suspicious and the main character confronts her about whether she;s cheating with her boyfriend or not and Tori avoids the question. Tthe car breaks down and then they get stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Mosaic: While the killer clowns are out? Oh okay, that that's not a good situation to be in.
Mosaic: What inspires you to be creative?
Alexsia: So for this play I was inspired by my mom, who’s in the military, and we had to travel a lot and spent three years living in Japan. When I was there I learned that they take Halloween so seriously and my mom dressed up as a clown and they had never seen anything like that. So people were taking photos with us and we felt like celebrities. But in general I’m super into horror and killer clowns and stuff so ever since that moment I’ve been obsessed with Halloween and horror movies so that's why I wanted to make a horror play.
Mosaic: This might be a bit of a random question, but you said you love Halloween, what is your favorite thing that you've dressed up as for Halloween.
Alexsia: Probably my favorite is when I was Chucky and my mom did my makeup.
Mosaic: What are your artistic goals?
Alexsia: I want to be an actress when I grow up. But I also like to write my own plays too because one day I want to be like Denzel Washington.
Mosaic: So when you’re not writing or acting what are some of your other hobbies?
Alexsia: Singing, usually I'm doing auditions for shows, I do like a whole lot of auditions. I write songs and I'm also always with my family, because I have a lot of siblings. I like to cook too, so I cook in my spare time. I exercise in my spare time because I like working out. Oh, and I spend a lot of time auditioning.
Mosaic: Well, it was lovely to meet you. I'm looking forward to reading your play.