Whiz Kid of the Week: 'Cort' Fontaine

Name: Donald “Cort” Fontaine

Age: 15

School: Watkins Mill High School

Accomplishment: His first formal try at playwriting recently won honorable mention in Arena Stage's 10-Minute Play Competition, the only MCPS student recognized in the annual contest.

Key to Awesomeness: Borrow a bit of Abbot and Costello. Pull from one of those conversations with mom. Ponder it for a day, write it in an hour.

The product: “The Answer Isn’t C” – Cort Fontaine’s meditation on the sometimes muddled mechanics of language. (see attached)

Meant at first solely for Ms. Freeman’s IB theater class, some teacher/peer encouragement—and a healthy dose of revision—prodded Cort to submit his script to Arena Stage 's 12th annual contest. Then last month the recognition. Then last week Cort and a few friends getting to watch the script brought to life by Arena Stage’s actors.

Where the other winners were rife with God and other weighty themes, "The Answer Isn't C" is light on pathos and heavy on farce.

“There’s no reason for most of the stuff going on. It’s completely absurd,” Cort told Patch. “And I left most of it open to actor’s interpretation, so they could go ahead and fill in the blanks.”

What’s next for the budding playwright? The California transplant has his heart set on acting, writing and directing of every sort, though more for the silver screen than the stage.

"As far as I’m concerned, this is what I want to go for," he said. "Everything else is just—. I may as well just do this do-or-die. If it works it works; if it doesn’t it doesn’t."

Know a youngster worth heaping praise upon? Nominate them to be a Submit nominations—and your best case for their Whiz-worthiness—to Nathan.carrick@patch.com.