Young Playwrights Inc. may no longer stage an annual play festival Off Broadway, but the organization is still encouraging high school students to try their hand at drama. Winners of their annual NYC High School Playwriting Contest will receive cash prizes, tickets to Broadway's Rent, and a professionally staged reading of the play.

Here are the guidelines:
* Plays must be submitted by students, not teachers
* No more than two writers on a collaboration
* No screenplays, no musicals, no adaptations
* All scripts must be typed, stapled and page numbered
* Cover page must include name, address, phone number, birthdate, school, grade. * Send only a copy, never the original. Scripts aren't returned.

The deadline is April 15, so send the play to: NYC High School Playwriting Contest, Young Playwrights, Inc., 321 West 44th Street, Suite 906, New York, NY 10036.

YPI is also asking educators to get involved by joining the organization's "Writing On Your Feet! Playwriting Workshop. For details call (212) 307 1140 or contact [email protected].

Since Stephen Sondheim founded it in 1981, Young Playwrights has fostered such talent as Jonathan Marc Sherman (Women and Wallace) and Janet Allard. -- By David Lefkowitz