The ten winning plays in the Blank Theatre Company's 8th annual young playwrights festival will be presented over four evenings at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood, beginning June 6. Performances are every Tuesday and Wednesday evening through June. The festival gives writers 19 and under the chance to work with professional directors, actors and mentors in producing their plays.

Playwrights from Pennsylvania, Utah, Michigan, Colorado, California and Hawaii are represented this year. The winning plays were chosen by a committee of 12 theatre professionals. Mentors this year included director Robert Iscove, writer Mark Saltzman, CBS exec David Zucker, producer Adam Belanoff, producer Paula Roth and playwrights Ellen Byron, Harry Dunn, Annie Weisman and Allan Heiberg.

Actors in this year's festival include Noah Wylie, Eliza Dushku, Richard Ruccolo and Adam Wylie.

Hudson Theatre is located at 6537 Santa Monica Blvd. For tickets and information call (323) 661-9827 or visit www.youngplaywrights.com or www.theblank.com

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent