Wayne State University’s Departments of English and Theatre recently announced the three winners for this year’s student playwrighting competition, with shows to be performed in late March.

The Louise Heck-Rabi Scholarship Playwrighting contest is a generous endowment that enables the Department of Theatre, in collaboration with the Department of English, to find new plays, workshop and read them in the fall semester and produce them in the spring.

This year, after the submission of plays, a professional playwright narrowed the plays down to those he deemed acceptable for final consideration.

At the beginning of the school year, students from the Department of Theatre workshop staged readings under the guidance of faculty advisor Dr. David Magidson. After hearing them aloud and after careful discussion, a second panel of judges determined this year’s winners.

Danielle Etienne, Peter Sapienza and Christopher M. Bohan are the first-, second- and third-place recipients of this year’s awards. Each receives tuition assistance and a production of their play in next year’s festival. The first-place prizewinner receives $1,000; second-place, $500; and third-place, $350.

The Heck-Rabi Festival will be held held March 22-24 and 29-31 at the Studio Theatre with all performances beginning at 8 p.m. The Studio Theatre is located downstairs from the Hilberry Theatre at 4743 Cass Avenue, at the corner of Cass and Hancock. For more information about the Louise Heck-Rabi Scholarship Playwrighting finalists, please contact Katerina Paskaris at (313) 577-3010 or heck.rabi@gmail.com.