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JOSH ADELL
adellj@campbellhall.org
Josh Adell received his BFA in drama at New York University in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the theatre, as an actor, stage manager, technician, director, teacher, and playwright.
While teaching voice and comedy improvisation for the Young Actors Studio, Josh Adell was commissioned by artistic directors Jeff Alan Lee and Kerry Muir to write SUCKERS. The play was developed and produced during the spring of 1998. Josh’s play PROMENADE, loosely based on Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT, was also developed and produced at the Young Actors Studio. Since its publication in Three New Plays for Young Actors (Limelight Editions), PROMENADE has been produced across the United States, Canada, and Wales. Currently Josh is Director of Drama and Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, CA. His new play THE PSYCHE TRIAL is inspired by his experience working with teenagers in a highly competitive private-school setting. Josh’s experience teaching and directing drama, which began in 1990, the day after he graduated high school, has been instrumental in inspiring all of his work as a playwright.
“Working with young actors has been the most profound theatre work I’ve ever encountered. Daily, I am motivated to write for young actors because they bring such vitality, raw emotion, and hunger to the stage. I aspire to write material for young actors that nurtures and honors their creative gifts.”
Three Plays for Young Actors from the Young Actor’s Studio
Limelight Editions
Ages 12-16
One Act, simple set, 3m, 7f. Sammy, a shy girl without a date for her junior high school prom, decides to disguise herself as a boy to make friends with the wrestling star who she secretly admires. She dreams he will eventually ask her to the prom, but first she must learn from the school’s resident thespian how to make her male impersonation believable. As a result, she discovers friendship, loyalty, and the importance of being true to oneself.
THE PSYCHE TRIAL
Available from the playwright
Ages 15-adult
Full Length, area staging, 4m, 3f. A dark, romantic tale set in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Abby Madigan and Giovanni Soreli, two students at Immaculate Heart Catholic High School, compete against each other in a mock trial for a much-needed university scholarship. To their confusion, delight, and terror, the two students fall in love. The Psyche Trial explores adolescent ambition, anxiety, and romance amidst a culture of relentless academic, peer, and family pressure.
SUCKERS
Available from the playwright
Ages 6-14
(Photo credit: Class Act: The Young Actor’s Studio)
One Act, 3m, 10f. Flexible casting re: gender. October 30th, 1938, The CBS Radio Network presents THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. In a suburb outside Jersey City, eleven kids who have just heard the terrifying broadcast hide in a basement and attempt to cope with what they believe is their final hour. The Great Depression and Hitler’s frightening hunger for world power provide a backdrop of emotional and psychological instability, but these American kids find warmth and security in each other’s company.
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