A collection of original short plays written, directed and staged by Shady Side Academy Senior School students will be presented at the seventh annual Original Works Theatre Festival, held Monday, April 30, at 6:30 p.m. Performances will take place in the Peter J. Kountz Theater of the Hillman Center for Performing Arts on the SSA Senior School campus, 423 Fox Chapel Road, Fox Chapel. Admission is free. Note: Some plays are not suitable for children younger than high school.

The works will be presented as staged readings, and a talk-back with playwrights, directors, actors, technicians and the audience will follow. The student works include:

• Can't Break the Bond – by senior Carolyn Stewart
• Havana – by senior Izzy Calihan
• In the Name of Brotherhood – by Jeanne Lauer
• Sisters Don't Lie – by Rachel Winterhalter
• Student Play – by Kevin Liu
• The Very Thought of You – by senior Dan Counihan

Senior School drama director Dana Hardy-Bingham is the artistic producing director, Calihan, Counihan, senior Chester Todd and junior Ariel Rockman are student directors, freshman Hannah Romoff is stage manager, and staff member Austin Davidheiser is technical director.

The work is a culmination of material developed in Hardy-Bingham's upper-level English Playwriting course in fall 2017. Through a variety of writing exercises, acting improvisations, drafting/rewriting and discussion-based workshops, the student writers developed short plays ranging from drama to comedy touching on many themes young people find relevant today."The result will be an amazing evening of original theatre presented as staged readings penned by our very own highly creative and skilled students who have dedicated the over 12 weeks in the fall to the writing process," said Hardy-Bingham.

The Original Works Theatre Festival was born seven years ago from Hardy-Bingham's interest in generating more student involvement in the theatre department."After having such a great experience with student writers on the adaptations of our fall drama productions, I was inspired to create more opportunities for students to write in the theatrical genre," she said.