Palm Springs Young Playwrights Selects Jack Kenny as Mentor for Sixth Annual Festival!
PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, January 19, 2024
Contact: O’Bayley Communications – Bob Bogard • bob@obayley.net PS•YPF – David Youse • info@psypf.org
PS•YPF Announces Jack Kenny as the festival’s 2024 mentor, call for Submissions and Names Scholarships after Western Wind Foundation and Cherry Lane Alternative.
The Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival (PSYPF), which promotes and encourages theatrical creative writing to all elementary, middle, and high school students within Riverside County, announced that Broadway actor, TV executive producer/writer, and playwright Jack Kenny will serve as the festival’s 2024 mentor. As mentor, Kenny will provide professional guidance to the winning student playwrights and coach them through the entire process of finalizing their plays for a staged reading that will be held in Palm Springs later this year. Submissions for the 2024 festival will be accepted through March 31. When the submission window closes, a selection committee will review all submissions and choose the most outstanding plays. Each winner will receive a mentorship to enhance their play, a free public staged reading by professional actors, and a $500 scholarship to help further their career in the arts. Winning plays will be announced in April. The 6th Annual Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival will be held in June of 2024 at The Palm Springs Cultural Center. More information may be found at psypf.org.
"We are honored that Jack Kenny has agreed to be this year’s mentor,” said David Youse, Executive Director of the Festival. “Jack is an accomplished actor, producer, writer, and playwright and we are thrilled he will be able to share his expertise with the students who will be submitting plays this year.”
Jack Kenny recently retired from television writing to focus on his first love: plays. His last television job was serving as a consulting producer on “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” for Lionsgate/NBC. He also recently wrote a pilot for FOX. Before that, he was a co-executive producer on ABC’s “Kevin (Probably) Saves the World,” Marvel’s “Jessica Jones,” and a consultant on “Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events.” He was the showrunner for the entire five-year run of “Warehouse 13” on the Syfy channel, and a consultant on the last season of TNT’s “Falling Skies.” Jack created the controversial NBC series “The Book of Daniel” and FOX’s controversial sitcom, “Titus.” He has written for “In Case of Emergency,” “Wanda At Large,” “Caroline in the City,” “Holding the Baby,” and “Maggie” and Dave’s World,” among others.
He has directed many episodes of television, including “Titus,” “Reba,” “Roommates,” “Warehouse 13” and “Norman Rockwell is Bleeding” (a comedy special for Showtime, and a pilot for the Warner Brothers). Jack was also an actor for many years, and has performed on numerous television shows, on Broadway (“Fiddler on the Roof,” “Café Crown”), on Off-Broadway (NYSF/Public Theatre’s original production “The Normal Heart”), in productions by Manhattan Theatre Club, Manhattan Punch Line, Playwright’s Horizons, and in regional theatres across the country. He’s a graduate of the Juilliard Theatre Center and a member of John Houseman’s The Acting Company.
In addition, the Festival recently named its two annual scholarships after long-time donors Western Wind Foundation and Cherry Lane Alternative. For the past six years, these organizations have continued to support and nurture The Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival to expand its growth and commitment to young playwrights throughout Riverside County.
“We are thrilled to name our scholarship awards after their generous efforts the Western Wind Award and the CLA Award (Cherry Lane Alternative),” Youse continued. “Having the support of these two organizations has been invaluable to our efforts of bringing theatrical writing to our youth."
Recently, PSYPF partnered with The Riverside County Office of Education to expand its outreach to young playwrights, including not just the Coachella Valley but all of Riverside County. PSYPF is supported by Louisa Higgins, Visual and Performing Arts Administrator for The Riverside County Office of Education.
PSYPF is funded by Western Wind Foundation with Jeremy Hobbs, Cherry Lane Alternative with Angelina Fiordellisi, Jason Smith and Tom Valach, Tom Hartnett and Paul Reid, and Dorothy and Mel Lefkowitz.
PSYFP is sponsored by The Riverside County Office of Education, Kimpton Rowan Hotel of Palm Springs with Peggy Trott, General Manager, and The Palm Springs Cultural Center with Michael Green as Executive Director.
About PSYPF
The Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival promotes and encourages creative writing - in the theatrical form - open to all students in the elementary, middle, and high school level within Riverside County, California. The Festival provides a scholarship to further education in the arts, mentorship, and a public reading to young playwrights of chosen plays. More information is available at here.
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