Peoples Heritage Bank Donates $7,500 to Support Young Playwrights Contest

Peoples Heritage Bank has donated $7,500 to the Children's Theatre of Maine (CTM) as a pledge of support for the annual Young Playwrights Contest, a program designed to cultivate and challenge the creative writing talents of school children in Maine and throughout the United States.

Peoples Heritage honored the winning playwrights, directors and designers in the eighth annual contest during a ceremony on Tuesday, May 4, at McAuley High School's auditorium. The winning plays also were performed.

The winners were: Amber Baxter, SUGG Middle School, Lisbon Falls; Quinn McAllister, SUGG Middle School, Lisbon Falls; Sam Stone, Wentworth Intermediate School, Scarborough; Lauren Keenan, Wentworth Intermediate School, Scarborough; Hillary Curtis, Wentworth Intermediate School, Scarborough; Alex Crevatis, Ashley Knight, Taryn Pearson, Aliesha Pierce, Acton Elementary School, Acton.

"We are extremely pleased to be a sponsor of this program," said David J. Ott, president and CEO of Peoples Heritage `Bank. "The Children's Theatre of Maine is an organization that is of great value to Maine children and their families, and the Young Playwrights Contest in particular is a wonderful vehicle in which to promote creativity and learning among our children."

The Children's Theatre of Maine inaugurated the Young Playwrights Contest in 1991. Since then, the contest has inspired more than 500 young writers to give voice to their imaginations by submitting their plays. The winning submissions were performed as a CTM production with a cast of children.

This year, with the support of Peoples Heritage Bank, CTM was able to transform the contest into an "all kid" production by selecting children to direct the winning plays as well as to design costumes, sets and lighting.

At the May 4 ceremony, Peoples Heritage presented each of the winning writers, directors, designers and actors with a special certificate of accomplishment. The bank also publically presented CTM with the $7,500 donation as a pledge of its support.

Peoples Heritage Bank has 75 banking centers throughout Maine, five of which operate as Oxford Bank & Trust, a division of the bank.

# # #