On May 18, 2024, at Baltimore Center Stage, Chaise Holland’s play, The Ending of My Story, had its world premiere at the 39th Annual Young Playwrights Festival.
Chaise, an 8th grader at City Springs Elementary / Middle School, was one of six young, talented playwrights chosen from more than 200 Festival submissions across Baltimore City and Baltimore County schools. Her 10-page play followed the Festival’s 2024 theme, The Tales We Tell. Playwrights were asked to create their own fairytale with magic and mysticism and the ways in which these worlds (and their characters) reflect the real world.
This year, City Springs took part in the Young Playwrights Workshop program. As part of the partnership with Baltimore Center Stage, a professional actor and teacher worked with a group of City Springs 8th grade honors scholars on developing their plays. Following a two-month experience, the 8th graders submitted plays to the Festival.
After selection by the Festival as one of the six winning plays, Chaise’s play was transformed from a script into a play by a team of professional actors, directors, and staging specialists for the one-night showing on May 18. Chaise was able to take part in the rehearsals of the play and provide guidance for what the play would look like when it was brought alive.
After seeing her play performed in front of a live audience, Chaise described the feeling as “truly incredible” and “even better” than she could ever imagine.
