MSU-Nominated Actor Takes State Playwriting Prize

In April, he won Best Leading Actor Award in a drama for the titular role in The Madness of George III, from Montclair State University. Now Philip Anastassiou, a Bergen County Academies junior, has won the Playwrights Theatre 30th Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest.

Anastassiou was recognized for a play entitled Good News! He also received a New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education. The Governor’s Award is the highest honor in arts education in New Jersey.

From the 328 plays submitted by young writers throughout the state, a panel of theatre professionals selected four High School plays, three Junior High School plays and three Elementary Schools plays.

“We read a wide variety of plays this year,” says Jim DeVivo, the Director of Education for Playwrights Theatre. “I am impressed with the diverse themes and questions explored in the plays chosen for the Festival and am excited to see them evolve onstage.”

Anastassiou is a junior at the Bergen County Academies (BCA) in the theatre program of the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. Influenced and inspired by the absurdist plays of Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee, his work is marked by a sense of magic realism and dark comedy. In April 2013, he won Best Leading Actor Award in a drama for the titular role in The Madness of George III, by Montclair University.

As a freshman, he was nominated for best leading actor in a comedy by Montclair University for his performance as Berowne in the award-winning BCA production of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

"The New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival is one of the most enduring programs of its kind in the country,” said Playwrights Theatre Artistic Director John Pietrowski. “These writers are joining the ranks of some very successful playwrights, including a few who are making a living in the field at present. We applaud these young writers’ artistry and efforts.”

The winning plays will be presented at the University Center's Little Theatre at Kean University on Monday, May 20, at 7 p.m., for the Elementary and Junior High Division winners and on Tuesday, May 21, at 7 p.m., for the High School Division winners’ plays.