Olneyville's Manton Avenue Project 4th Graders Present "The Poetry Play Festival" This Weekend

Olneyville's Manton Avenue Project 4th Graders Present "The Poetry Play Festival" This Weekend

Peter Deffet with the Manton Avenue Project (MAP) joined GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle in studio to highlight this weekend's festival of plays written by young people.

Deffet, who has been with MAP for fifteen years, spoke to their mission being to nurture the unique potential of kids living in Olneyville through playmaking. Each of MAP’s out-of-school time programs is focused on playwriting education, mentorship, and bringing the creative voices of young people to the stage. 

“The Manton Avenue Project is thrilled to be present The Poetry Plays, a festival of 10 minute plays by 4th graders from Olneyville. They’ve created an incredible group of plays, each with original poems that somehow change the storyline. For this program we partnered with some exceptional artists and organizations — brilliant poets Christopher Johnson, Vatic Kuumba, and Shey Rivera, the wonderful Olneyville Library branch, and Providence CityArts for Youth!” says MAP’s Executive Artistic Director Meg Sullivan. “MAP is so proud of these partnerships, which create indelible experiences for our students. For example, MAP playwrights and CityArts artists are collaborating on the scenic elements for the show as part of an official CityArts class.”

The Poetry Plays is the culminating festival of The Manton Avenue Project’s 2019 Play-It-Again program, an 6-week afterschool playwriting course. The 10-minute plays will be performed by local grown-up actors and was developed with dramaturgy assistance by volunteer artists.

Performances will take place at 7 pm Friday and Saturday, and 2 pm on Sunday at the Wilbury Theatre Group, 40 Sonoma Ct. in Providence. The Manton Avenue Project (MAP) is a non-profit organization that unites children living in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood with local theater professionals to create original plays together.

This is the second production of The Manton Avenue Project’s 2018-2019 season.

MAP’s season is supported in part by grants from The Andrade Faxon Charities for Children, Ocean State Charities Trust, The Nordson Corporation Foundation, The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the United Way of Rhode Island’s Olneyville Fund. Tickets are pay-what-you-can at the door.

For more information, click here.