Penn Charter Writers Win Honors for Playwrighting

Students from Ruth Aichenbaum's fifth grade language arts class each submit a play they have written to the annual Philadelphia Young Playwrights program. In 2005, Penn Charter's 37 plays made up a small part of the nearly 1000 submissions. The students are in sixth grade by the time they hear if their play has won an award, and this fall, fifteen students from Penn Charter placed in the competition. Two plays, "Love Your Irish-American Friend," written by Caitlyn Farrell of Havertown, and "Freedom," written by Drew Paisley of Manayunk, won first place.

"My students love playwriting," said Aichenbaum. She said the boys and girls in her class look forward to their fifth grade playwriting experience from the time they enter Penn Charter, since each spring they have the opportunity to attend performances of the fifth grade plays.

Students have a lot of fun with the project, but they also benefit academically. "Playwriting brings to life the concepts of audience and purposeful revision in a way that no other genre does," Aichenbaum said. In addition to writing skills, the project teaches lessons about teamwork, organization, perseverance, respect and creativity.

The two first-place plays will be performed by Temple University theater students at Barnes & Noble, 1805 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. Caitlyn Farrell's play will be performed Nov. 18, and Drew Paisley's play on March 31, 2007.