Young Playwrights Project

 

What is the Young Playwrights Project?

 

 

Write. Rehearse. Perform.

Give your students the opportunity to write their stories in their own voice, regardless of experience in theatre. While working with professional theatre artists, students further develop their writing skills. With ongoing revision and reflection, students strengthen these skills in providing and receiving critical feedback.

The Process

During the first month:

  • A professional theatre artist works with students to build skills in character creation, dialogue development, and scene and story structure
  • Students learn the standard practice for script writing
  • Students learn to give and receive critical feedback
  • Each student writes an original 10-minute one-act play


During the second month:

  • The classroom teacher and theatre artist choose 6 – 8 scripts for further development
  • These students continue to hone their script and deepen their storytelling skills
  • On the last day professional directors and actors bring students’ pieces to life for a presentation friends, family, and school community.

 

Registration for the 2020-21 school year is now closed. However, if you are interested in bringing this project to your classroom in the future, please contact us at: education@theatreworks.org.

 

Click Here to Download our Young Playwrights Project Overview.

 

The History

Since its inception in 1999, alumni of the Young Playwrights Project have:

  • Gone on to study playwriting, screenwriting, television writing, and film production at such institutions as Wesleyan University, SUNY Purchase, New York University, Chapman University, and Loyola Marymount.
  • Garnered accolades from various writing competitions, including the California Young Playwrights Contest, the New Voices One-Act Competition for Young Writers, and the Austin Film Festival’s short screenplay contest.
  • Had their works produced by RecRoom’s New Works Festival in Houston, TX, and presented as part of the VSA Discovery Award Program’s Page-to-Stage Festival at the Kennedy Center.
  • Founded their own theatre companies, and returned to teach TheatreWorks’ Young Playwrights Project to the next generation of young writers.