Welcome!
Philadelphia Young Playwrights is dedicated to our belief that every young person has something important to say, worth listening to.
Young Playwrights is an arts education organization that taps the potential of youth and inspires learning through playwriting, in our 20th year of creating intensive playwriting workshops for 1,500 students in up to 50 classrooms throughout the region.
Up to 1,000 student playwrights each year submit their one-act plays to our Annual Playwriting Festival.
We invite you to explore our website, and whether you are a student playwright, educator, teaching artist, parent, colleague or interested supporter, to find a way to express your own voice - and your support for students' voices!
Write On! Celebration
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - World Cafe Live
CLICK HERE for ticket and sponsor information!View, above, a four minute video about Young Playwrights.
Donate Now to support student voices!
News
Breaking News!
Mayor Michael A. Nutter will accept Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Civics Award on June 4!
The Write On! Celebration will highlight the transformative effect of the Young Playwrights experience and will feature inspiring selections from past and present winning young playwrights, including 2007 Pulitzer Prize nominee Quiara Alegría Hudes, whose hit show, "In the Heights" made its recent dazzling premiere on Broadway!
Young Playwrights Professional Productions of Student-Written Plays!
We recently featured the visions and messages of student playwrights Nia Davis and Marquis Herring, both first-place winners of Young Playwrights' annual Playwriting Festival. With their plays, Poetic Life and The Choices We Make, both writers bravely fictionalized personal experience, crafting plays showing us young people grappling with violence and, ultimately, making choices to overcome it.
The 2008 Professional Productions cast on stage!
Nearly 1,000 students over 5 performances experienced the work presented at the brand-new Suzanne Roberts Theatre on the Avenue of the Arts. The performances included post-show interactive discussions with the playwrights and cast. We also provided an opportunity for students and audience members to write messages to Mayor Nutter with suggestions for anti-violence initiatives in school and home communities.
See Photos of Recent Readings and Events!
2007 Winning Playwrights at a reading of their play at Barnes & Noble.
For more pictures of recent readings of student plays CLICK HERE
Young Playwrights, in partnership with our region's most acclaimed theatre companies and university theatres, continues our annual Play Development Series. Check out upcoming 2008 productions and readings here.
2007 Student Winners Announced!
We received approximately 670 plays this year from student writers ranging from second to twelfth grades. CLICK HERE to view 2007 First, Second, and Third Place student winners at the Elementary, Middle, and High School levels.
News Archive
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Corporate Presenting Sponsor for the Play Development Series
Media Sponsor for the Play Development Series
