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| SVSU Theatre Student Receives Award for Original Play |
| Justin Berkobien, a senior theatre major at Saginaw Valley State University, has received a prestigious playwriting award. His play, “American Son,” received second place honors at the Michael Kanin National Playwriting Program of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. The contest is named for the late distinguished playwright and screenwriter Michael Kanin, who arranged for a series of awards to be given to student writers whose plays are produced as part of the festival. The purpose of the program is to encourage college students to write for the stage by providing the opportunity for them to engage in the complete playwriting process. “Writing and performing ‘American Son’ has been the most rewarding experience I've had as a theatre person,” Berkobien said. “It has taken me to places I would otherwise have never been able to go, and endeared to me lifelong friends.” Berkobien of Carrollton is one of eight student playwrights nationwide who have been selected for a fellowship at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival this summer. He will participate in all-expenses-paid master classes in Washington, DC. In addition, Berkobien will receive $1,000 in prize money, which he plans to use to complete his studies at SVSU. Berkobien says he has had the desire to write plays from an early age, but he credits the late SVSU theatre professor Marc Gordon for inspiring him to take it seriously. Gordon passed away in 2003. “American Son” is the story of an emotionally unstable young man who attempts to recover the memory of his life as a child and the events that destroyed his family, according to Berkobien. He feels the play contains unexpected humor, considering that it includes themes of child abuse, alcoholism and promiscuity. Berkobien says he wrote the play to speak on behalf of otherwise unheard voices. “It delivers a message that continues to touch hearts all over the country,” he said. |
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