Get out your pens; the Lambton Young Theatre Players is holding a Young Playwrights’ competition.

Artistic Director Nancy Keys, who is also a playwright, says the competition is for secondary students in Lambton County. They’re being asked to submit a 30-minute play with no more than eight characters by Jan. 30.

The plays will be judged based on originality, plot and character development, dialogue and dramatic impact among other things.

Three plays will be chosen to be staged. The playwrights will work with professional directors, including Keys, and members of the Lambton Young Theatre Players for a weekend. Then, in March, there will be play readings at the Sarnia Public Library and performances in the winners’ schools in March.

“This is not a new idea,” says Keys. “A lot of theatres do this but not many do it specifically for young people.”

Keys says there has been interest expressed already at LCCVI. Adam Jamieson is a teacher there. “Our dramatic students can not only exercise their imagination with this playwriting competition, but also get the chance to work with professional directors and others in the theatrical industry,” he says.

And while the competition encourages young writers, Keys hopes it will also open the eyes of some of the members of LYTP to different avenues of theatre.

“The actors will get an idea of a little bit more of the process of playwrighting other than get up there and having someone say ‘learn your lines,’” she says. “It is a great program…for the kids that are acting to appreciate not just the work that goes into it but people who might not be the hams that they are but have that creative ability and find another way to express it.”

For more information about the competition, you can contact Keys at 519-882-3521.