EIGHT DOLLARS AND THIRTY TWO CENTS
EIGHT DOLLARS AND THIRTY TWO CENTS (original version)
Guest Playwright
Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Young Playwrights Festival
Waterford, CT.
Play workshoped May 15-17, 2026
Winner: play performed by professional actors
Writopia Worldwide Plays Festival
June 9, 2026
New York, NY
EIGHT DOLLARS AND THIRTY TWO CENTS (hoodie version)
From the judges:
“The most beautiful thing that plays can do is highlight the interactions between characters who wouldn't normally interact, and this play is no different. Here we get to see Mr. Collins and Tracy share a moment of kindness in a world that is harsh. This is a beautiful portrait of finding hope in the darkness and the playwright should be immensely proud.
“As a winning play, your play will receive a full production directed, acted, stage managed and designed by professional theater actors at an Off Broadway theater right in the heart of the theater district in Manhattan.”
EIGHT DOLLARS AND THIRTY TWO CENTS (original version)
Gold Key Award
Playwriting category of 2026 DC Metro Scholastic Writing Awards
Gold Key Award
Short Story Category of 2026 DC Metro Scholastic Writing Awards
Submitted to Blank Street Theatre’s Literary Young Playwright’s Festival
SCHOOL OF THE NEW YORK TIMES
ASSIGNMENT
June 19, 2026
Sarah Froman
As the Fourth of July approaches, Americans are divided on how best to mark the day. Freedom has been a core value of America for 250 years and celebrated every Fourth of July. But this year's semiquincentennial celebration carries various different emotions and ideas on how to spend it — as a day of protest, a day of celebration, or a day of indifference.
When asked about the Fourth of July, many in Bryant Park stated that they did not intend to participate, or at least not in the traditional way. “I don’t know how I’m celebrating the Fourth of July,” says Laurie P (last names withheld), 67, a woman from Buffalo, “but I do know if Trump is having a rally, which he says he's going to do. I have a bullhorn, actually I have two.”
Laurie’s granddaughter, Isabella, 23, seems a little more indifferent on the topic. When asked how she celebrates, she stated that she “celebrated when I was a kid, but as I got older, I just didn't really.”
Meanwhile, Paige , 34, decidedly does not celebrate at all, saying that if “the US got a little bit more global respect back, it would be a little less embarrassing to celebrate anything related to America,” and that “Patriotism is almost seen as Nationalism now, and it just is not something I want to represent.”
Cheryl , 71, a poet and protester said during the fourth of July last year she “made a point of not being in the country” and that “it was a protest.”
The celebration of the Fourth of July is changing in ways many could have never predicted. With protests. But while many people are against it, others are considering their family instead of politics, and taking a more traditional route.
Jerry, 49, a firefighter from East Mourinches, Suffolk County, sees Fourth of July as a way to celebrate his family, saying that he has “a few family members that served in the military” and he just thinks
about how “they sacrificed going overseas and defending the country” in the Persian Gulf War. His friend, Marc , 54, another firefighter from Sea Cliff, Nassau County agreed, “I think it is a big way to appreciate independence and the people who protect it.” Both are planning to celebrate the usual way, with barbecue and a potential fireworks show.
Some are charting a middle path between politics and celebration. David, 78, believes that “what Trump has clearly been doing is morally wrong” claiming that the president is using the executive branch selfishly, and misusing his power to enrich his family as well as himself. Despite these complaints, Tulchim says that he is “proud to be an American” and that he “loves this country” and still plans to celebrate the Fourth of July.
These varying approaches on how to celebrate the Fourth is a representation of country itself, a reflection of wide range of views represented by American society itself.