A crush. An Affirmative Action program. A tiny guardian angel who decides to play matchmaker.

Struggles with inner demons personified as people, complete with death, melancholy, and self-loathing.

What the above have in common is that both deal with scripts (byKami Tibbles’17 and Taylor McGowan’18, respectively) are among the selected 10 ten-minute plays, all written by high schoolers from central Ohio, for MadLab’s Annual Young Writers Festival, to be performed this July.

Each writer has been paired up with a mentor to help her edit and improve her script over the course of the next few months.

“She doesn’t let my head get too big,” Tibbles says about her mentor. “And she doesn’t really laugh at the funny bits, so when she does, I know it’s good.

The writers are permitted to be as involved in the production process as they wish, including audition selections, directing, and more.

Auditions will be  held on Saturday, April 22, at the MadLab Theatre, are open to the public.

Many of the plays need young actors, so McGowan and Tibbles encourage Academy students to audition.

The plays will be performed on July 14-29 at the MadLab Theatre as a full-scale short play festival.

Tickets will be $15 for students and $18 for adults.

Check out www.madlab.net/young-writers for more information on how to support Academy’s two latest playwrights.