“The Write to be Heard,” a middle and high school student playwriting competition sponsored by the Buffalo State College Performing Arts Department's theater program, the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts and Shea's Performing Arts Center, will be presented at Shea's Smith Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 3.

The annual competition is open to eighth- to twelfth-grade students in schools within 60 miles of Buffalo.

The winner of this year's competition – “He Says, She Says,” by Claire Armstrong of Font Hill, Ontario, a senior at Welland Centennial Secondary School – will be performed by students from the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts. Armstrong will also receive a $1,000 scholarship from the Laura A. Adams Foundation.

The premier performance at Shea's Smith Theater will be performed in conjunction with original performances by Buffalo State College Performing Arts Department theater program students, including Rick Lattimer, Audrie Little, Luke Wagner and Faith Wardlaw. Stage-managed by Arianna Boykins, the production is being co-produced by Casting Hall, a Buffalo State College student-run theater production company.

Tickets for the performance will be available at the door. Tickets for students are $3 with proper student identification and $5 for adults.

The event is supported by the Laura L. Adams Foundation, the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, Shea's Performing Arts Center, Buffalo State College Performing Arts Department theater program, Casting Hall, Barnes and Noble Booksellers and the Amherst and New York State Theater Education Association Western Region.