By Emma Bartlett

Out of 100 submissions from across New England, Cranston East’s Tosin George, 16, was recently named one of Trinity Repertory Company’s four winners of its annual Write Here! Write Now! playwriting competition. 

Each year, Trinity Rep invites high school students from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire Vermont and Maine to submit up to two ten-minute plays for its playwriting competition; winners will then have their plays performed by professional actors. 

George’s play “An Unwritten Love Story” tells the tale of a young, self-absorbed writer named Brooklyn Moreau who is full of herself and considers herself a serious writer. However, Brooklyn has a secret affinity for romantic comedies and in the play imagines herself in different relationship scenarios. 

The play took George two weeks to write, and she said the plot is loosely based on a conversation she had with her mom and her desire to write a romance piece since she enjoys romance movies – her favorite being “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”

George said she tends to write more serious stories, such as mysteries and dramas. Comedy and romance were new to her and, when she submitted her script to Trinity Rep, she didn’t intend to win but mostly submitted the piece looking for feedback on what she wrote. 

This is not the first time George has been a Write Here! Write Now! winner. Last year, she entered the competition and won with her piece “The Ally’s Burden” which concerned conversations surrounding racism. She was extremely excited both last year and this year with her win and recalled watching a livestream version last year of actors performing “The Ally’s Burden.”

“Seeing real professional actors say the words I wrote was surreal,” George said.

This year’s performance took place at the Dowling Theater on May 10. Those performing in George’s play included Jihan Haddad as Brooklyn, and Tobias Wilson and Michael Hisamoto as members of the Chorus of Boyfriends. All individuals are members of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program for Acting; Gia Yarn directed George’s play.

“An Unwritten Love Story” has five characters in it and when asked who her favorite character was, George said Brooklyn. 

“She’s very different from any character I’ve ever written,” George said.

George said she started acting when she was 7 years old after getting involved with a camp at the Ocean State Theatre Company. If she were to act in her latest play, she’d want to take on Brooklyn’s role. 

Trinity Rep’s Associate Education Director Matthew Tibbs said there was so much that Trinity liked about George’s play.

“First and foremost, the humor – she had us laughing throughout! She took a rom-com-like trope but lent it her authentic teenage voice and it works marvelously for the stage. Through its humor though you also see the show's heart, which touches on a very real loneliness and longing, as well as a certain pressure for high schoolers to be exceptional. Another thing that caught our attention was her structure and the use of the chorus, they are well defined and unique in Tosin's play! Tosin centers the play around Brooklyn or Sad Teen Writer and just makes her such a fun character to go on this journey with. It's not to be missed!” wrote Tibbs in an email interview.

As for the adjudication process, Tibbs said in the first round, each play was read blindly by four different adjudicators who individually scored each work. From there, the theater’s education and artistic team took the top ten or so plays and had a roundtable discussion where they selected the final four to be featured in the festival. Trinity then selected two additional plays for honorable mentions. Then, the education team compiled the feedback from the adjudicators and shared that personal feedback with everyone who submitted a play to them. 

This year’s winners include Tosin George with “An Unwritten Love Story,” William Derby with “The Great, Great Outdoors,” MJ Kirsche with “Mortal Dilemma” and Lucas Manso with “Grandma is Dying.” Honorable mentions include Brandon Potrzeba with “Stuck” and Ava Milukas with “You Say You Want a Revolution.”