WILMINGTON — Saint Mark’s student Delaney Burnham is hitting the big stage in Delaware. The senior was recently named a finalist in the Delaware Theatre Company’s 2020-21 Young Playwrights Festival, and her play, “Stressed Out,” will be performed on the DTC stage in March.
Burnham was among 62 students from 11 schools to submit an entry. She will now get to participate in a series of workshops with DTC artists who will help her refine her work, according to Saint Mark’s. “Stressed Out” will be staged and performed for a small audience because of COVID restrictions, but it will be shared online for the public.
“Stressed Out” is the story of a teenage boy who misses a month of school because he is overwhelmed, and he vents to a friend about his heavy workload. The script was partially inspired by some of Burnham’s own experiences.
“At the time, I was working on my college essay, as well as preparing an audition for college applications, and transferred some of the stress I felt onto the character,” she said. “I also gained inspiration after hearing how different people handle the stress that school can cause. Some people can handle it well, while others cannot.”
Burnham has been involved with the performing arts at Saint Mark’s for four years. She has been on stage as well as behind the scenes as part of the stage crew. She plans to pursue a career in the arts as an audio engineer and hopes to work on sound design for movies and video games, the school said.
In addition to Burnham, her classmate Owen Kanienberg also submitted an entry into the festival and was recognized with an honorable mention. His play, “Returning Home,” is about a high school senior who reunites with his brother and is subsequently encouraged to follow his dreams of a career in the senior.
