Eighteen year-old Caroline McGraw earned a Young Playwrights Award in
the Young Playwrights Festival National Playwriting Contest. The annual
award and contest are presented by Young Playwrights Inc. Founded in 1981
by Stephen Sondheim, Young Playwrights Inc. introduces young people to
the theatre and encourages self-expression through the art of playwriting.
McGraw won for Trade, a play written and workshopped through The
Cleveland Play House¹s Young Playwrights Program while she was a
senior in high school. Trade was read Off-Off-Broadway at the Lucille
Lortel Theater in New York City in December. A graduate of Beaumont High
School, McGraw has acted in plays with the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival,
Dobama Theatre and is founder and managing director of Tantrumfree Theatre
Company. Her work has been produced or read at The Cleveland Play House,
Artistic New Directions in NY and Willoughby School of Fine Arts. The
Young Playwrights Program is one of several community education programs
offered by The Cleveland Play House with more than 40,000 children participating
each year.
OAC AND VSA ARTS
OF OHIO PARTNER TO EDUCATE ON ACCESSIBILITY
The
Ohio Arts Council is working with VSA Arts of Ohio to train consultants
to conduct onsite inspections at Ohio¹s arts organizations. The consultants
will determine if the organizations are compliant with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA). According to Phyllis Hairston, 504/ADA program
coordinator at the OAC, many organizations think they are compliant but
do not meet all of the legal requirements. "Many organizations think
that because they have a ramp, they are accessible," Hairston explained.
"There are other details that must be considered such as the height
of public phones and the depth of bathroom stalls. They also must consider
program accessibility."
The trained consultants will become familiar with the details of the law
and help constituents develop plans to become ADA compliant. The goal
of this training program is to have educated consultants available in
communities across Ohio, rather than one or two individuals that travel
the state. A guide will be published to identify facilities and programming
that meet ADA requirements. For more information, call Phyllis Hairston,
614/466-2613 or email
phyllis.hairston@oac.state.oh.us.
