Riverside Unified Student Earns Top Honors in Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival

Martin Luther King High School junior Carleigh Rios will see her original play come to life after being selected as a winner in the ninth annual Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival (PSYPF), an honor that includes a scholarship and professional recognition.

Rios’ play, “Mermaid Story,” was one of four chosen from Riverside County for the PSYPF, presented in partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education. Her award includes a $500 scholarship and a staged reading of her work by professional actors and directors at the Palm Springs Cultural Center on June 7. 

“I have never really shared my work with people, let alone an audience. Honestly, I am a little nervous, but also really excited,” Rios said. 

“Mermaid Story” follows a 13-year-old middle schooler navigating challenges at home and school before discovering her hidden mermaid lineage, while playing on Disney Channel original movie tropes. The one-act play explores themes of mental health and representation in media, particularly how stories about young women and LGBTQ+ characters are portrayed, Rios said. 

Rios had been thinking through the idea of “Mermaid Story” for about a year, but was inspired to sit down and write the story in March after Martin Luther King High School Theater Teacher Katherine Williams shared PSYPF’s call for submissions. 

“It has been a pleasure to see Carleigh on the Martin Luther King High School stage this year and deeply involved in our theater program,” Martin Luther King High School Principal Dr. Leann Iacuone said. “I am thrilled to see her take another step in the world of theater as a playwright and bring her creativity to a wider audience.”

About two weeks after submitting “Mermaid Story” for consideration, Rios was on a Zoom call with the PSYPF under the guise that they had follow-up questions on her work before they surprised her with the news that “Mermaid Story” was a winner. 

“I was shocked – it was really kind of a surreal moment,” Rios said.

Rios’ love for creative writing emerged when she was a student at John F. Kennedy Elementary School. She traces her passion for poetry back to seventh grade at Amelia Earhart Middle School, when her teacher, Ronald Otis, shared a slam poem with the class.  

With senior year a few months away, Rios plans to keep writing her whole life. Her plans are to major in English at college, teach high school English, and publish a book one day.

The PSYPF is designed to support young writers, like Rios, develop their voices through theater, offering participants a hands-on, professional experience that takes their work from page to stage. Students collaborate with industry professionals, participate in table readings, and receive creative direction as they refine their scripts.

As part of the program, Rios and her fellow winners will work with mentor Greg Cope White, co-executive producer of the Netflix series “Boots,” who will guide them through the final stages of script development ahead of the public performance.

“This has 1,000% had an impact on me,” Rios said. “It has given me more confidence already in what I can produce. The fact I blindly submitted something I was very passionate about, and someone saw it and saw value in it, is really crazy – it’s crazy to think this is something I could consider and possibly have an audience for.”