Burroughs High senior named winner of California Young Playwrights Contest
A John Burroughs High School senior will see her short play come to life on stage next year at the Old Globe in San Diego as a winner in this year’s California Young Playwrights Contest.
Savannah Spatafora, 17, wrote “Idiot, I’m Great” about a girl who kidnaps a boy to make him behave how she believes boys should act.
She had been working on her play since she was 15 and will continue to refine her script until her play premieres. With encouragement from her mentor at the Young Actor’s Studio in North Hollywood, she submitted her play to the contest.
In addition to working alongside a theatrical team to debut her work onstage Jan. 20 to 28, she won a monetary prize.
“Knowing I won the California Young Playwrights [Contest] was a very strange feeling, and I found it almost impossible to believe,” Savannah said in an email. “I still have a hard time grasping the idea that hundreds of people are going to come see my play in January.”
At school, Savannah helped draw more members into the Burroughs’ Film Club and created a speaker series, where she invited directors, writers and producers from companies such as the Walt Disney Co. to talk with students.
With help from the film club, she plans to screen “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” a documentary about former Vice President Al Gore’s continuing mission to fight climate change on Oct. 26.
Twitter: @vegapriscella
