Saturday February 20 1:14 AM ET
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters) - A North Carolina playwrights festival has refused to stage an award-winning play submitted by a 17-year-old contestant because the play's two characters are lesbian.
Samantha Geller's ``Life Versus the Paperback Romance'' was selected as one of the four best plays among 200 written for the Charlotte Young Playwrights Festival, which will stage the other winning plays Friday evening.
``In a way, the play is my artistic child, it says something about me,'' Geller, a junior at the Northwest School of the Arts, told the Charlotte Observer. ``Once you've created something, you feel protective and proud of it.''
Geller, who with the support of her parents has declared herself a lesbian, was told when her play was named one of the best in the contest that it would not be staged.
She plans to use her $100 prize to help stage the play at a Charlotte community theater.