On stage at Ensemble Theatre: Full production of the 2022 PLAY/write winner

"The Match Game," the 2022 winner of the Jackie Demaline Regional Collegiate Playwriting Competition, debuted as a fully staged production at Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati this month. It will run through May 5.

The theater's website says of the play: "This world premiere dramedy hilariously reflects on how families aren’t always well matched."

Launched in 2019, the Jackie Demaline Regional Collegiate Playwriting Competition awards scholarships of $2,500 to winning students from regional colleges and universities. Its intent is to encourage the study of theatrical script writing. Winning scripts also receive staged readings at Ensemble Theatre.

Steven Strafford is the 2022 PLAY/write winner. Strafford wrote the play while he was earning a master's degree at Ohio University.

It will be directed by Jared Doren, who has coordinated the contest since its inception. It will be directed by Jared Doren, who has coordinated the contest since its inception. "The Match Game" is his first time directing for the ETC mainstage.

Jackie Demaline covered theater and the arts for The Cincinnati Enquirer and other decades for decades. She died in 2018 at age 68.

For more information about the play and to buy tickets, visit Ensemble Theater here.