The lights dim as the show begins.
On June 29th, 2008, WriteGirls and their mentors, the WriteWomen, celebrated the end of the season at the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills. WriteGirls read their pieces from the new anthology and gave writing tips to an audience of mentors, volunteers, parents, and even some actors from a screenwriting workshop, including Sprague Grayden from the TV show Jericho.
This was the first opportunity for the girls to see the anthology, Listen to Me: Shared Secrets from WriteGirl. Everyone flipped through their copies. They looked to see which of their submissions ended up being published and read pieces written by their friends and mentors.
The performance ran smoothly. The onstage choreography coordinated by Keren Taylor did not fail the girls, and pieces were read lucidly and passionately. Parents were blown away by the sophisticated writing that they might not have known their daughters wrote, while mentors enjoyed watching their mentees present the pieces that they helped them to write.
After the performance, the girls grabbed their goodie bags filled with books, notepads, and toiletries donated by WriteGirl sponsors and headed out to the lobby to mingle with the audience. Delicious snacks were served and parents bid on items in the silent auction.
As the gathering neared an end, people started taking pictures together and saying goodbye. This was the saddest part of the event, for the girls would not see each other until the next season, and many girls were off to college in other cities in the fall. This also meant that some mentor-mentee pairs would be split up.
Overall the performance was a great experience for WriteGirls to show off their writing skills to the world and an excellent end to the season. Listen to Me is a fabulous book filled with beautiful writing that covers all genres and appeals to all interests. It is an essential addition to any bookshelf, so I suggest you buy it! It is available on Writegirl.org and Amazon.com.
–Evelyn H., age 17
