Hi, my name is Sydney! When I was in ninth grade, Laura, the director of the Shoreline Theater Academy, encouraged me to write a play for the theater to produce. I had been acting in the company for years, but I had never even thought about writing a piece. To say that writing an original piece of work is challenging is an understatement. There were times when the words and characters came out of me easily – as if they were bursting to get out, and my hands couldn’t type fast enough. But then there were other days when I sat in front of my computer, and nothing came out. The process of writing the play, which I called “The Party” took the better part of a year. When I was finished, I was given the opportunity to direct my play at the Academy. It’s hard to explain how emotionally satisfying and humbling directing my own play was. The overall experience, of creating something from scratch and seeing it brought to life, has been one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.
Last year, I began writing a play again – this time as a joint effort with Shoreline Theater Academy called “Escape the Noise.” A group of 12 teens were handpicked to collaborate with a professional playwright on a piece that would address teen mental health issues and the effects of device addiction in our daily lives. We brainstormed throughout the summer of 2024 and created an outline which was submitted for consideration by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Home | Edinburgh Festival Fringe) in Scotland. If you’ve never heard of the Fringe Festival, it’s the biggest performing arts festival in the world. Many amazing pieces of art have come out of the Fringe, including “Fleabag” and “Baby Reindeer” on Amazon Prime and “ Six” on Broadway!
In some ways, this group experience has been more impactful than writing a play on my own. It has been extremely rewarding to get to brainstorm ideas with others, share our own experiences with mental health, and work as a team to put together a true representation of what teens are experiencing these days. However, there are also extra challenges of working together as team – disagreements about character development, compromising over what scenes would make the cut, etc. Putting myself in the shoes of characters who experienced a host of mental health issues has also been challenging. However, the hard work paid off when we were accepted into the Fringe Festival for August 2025!
After we were accepted, there was no time to waste. We went back to writing and polishing until we had a completed draft of the play. Then the twelve of us took off our writing hats and put on our acting shoes. Over the course of Fall 2024, we rehearsed the play until we were ready to do a pilot production. The play was an enormous success, and the feedback was extremely helpful. I was able to see how some aspects that on paper I hadn’t loved turned out to be the glue of the play. And some parts that I had initially thought on paper would be great may not have exactly hit the mark. So, with feedback from the workshop, now we go back and adjust, tweak, practice and get it ready for Scotland.
This is where you come in. We need help getting to the Fringe Festival! Shoreline Academy is a non-profit community organization and as such, it is our responsibility to raise the funds for our two-week trip to Scotland. So I humbly ask – please help support my dream and that of my 12 friends to attend the 2025 Fringe Festival in Scotland. Any amount would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance for all your help!
