Current Offerings
PROGRAM SUMMARY
This program celebrates drawing as a form of storytelling, guiding students through the process of creating a story from beginning to end using a blend of images and words. Students will learn the different elements that make up a story (such as character, plot, and conflict), and different ways they can represent these elements using images to create a story of their own. While this program is great fit for visual learners or visual communicators, there is NO prerequisite for participating students to be artists. In fact, students will be encouraged to get ideas down on the page in clear, quick sketches which can range from single images of stick figures to drawing within storyboard panels to show the sequence of their story.
MORE DETAILS
Students will meet with teaching artist Andre Jones to:
By the end of the program, each student will:
This means Visual Playwriting is a great opportunity for students who…
This program celebrates drawing as a form of storytelling, guiding students through the process of creating a story from beginning to end using a blend of images and words. Students will learn the different elements that make up a story (such as character, plot, and conflict), and different ways they can represent these elements using images to create a story of their own. While this program is great fit for visual learners or visual communicators, there is NO prerequisite for participating students to be artists. In fact, students will be encouraged to get ideas down on the page in clear, quick sketches which can range from single images of stick figures to drawing within storyboard panels to show the sequence of their story.
MORE DETAILS
Students will meet with teaching artist Andre Jones to:
- Experiment with creating a story using visual and/or written language;
- Practice sequential thinking using storytelling (how the order of what we perceive impacts how we understand and interpret what is witnessed);
- Discover how what we show as storytellers affects the meaning of our story and its impact on our audience (by deciding what to illustrate and what’s said through, alongside and after an illustration).
By the end of the program, each student will:
- Practice illustrative communication skills;
- Develop their storyteller’s voice;
- Practice thinking in sequence (beginning, middle, and end);
- Produce the beginnings of a visual story that’s a blend of drawing and words.
This means Visual Playwriting is a great opportunity for students who…
- Love storytelling (or think they might, in the right setting!)
- Love visual art-making (or think they might, in the right setting!)
- Love writing (or think they might, in the right setting!)
- Have any level of writing and/or art-making experience
- Benefit from regular scheduled time to hang out, draw, and talk about stories
2025 - 2026 SCHEDULE
Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library
68 W Chelten Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144
This program is for students ages 5-12.
OCTOBER
Saturday, October 11th
Saturday, October 24th
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
NOVEMBER
Saturday, November 8th
Saturday, November 22nd
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library
68 W Chelten Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144
This program is for students ages 5-12.
OCTOBER
Saturday, October 11th
Saturday, October 24th
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
NOVEMBER
Saturday, November 8th
Saturday, November 22nd
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Field Teen Center: Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Special Edition: Writing the Worst Play Ever!
This edition of Visual Playwriting offers an additional challenge - can you include three of the
funny, haunted, or mysterious "ingredients" on our prompt list?
This program is for students 13 - 18 years old.
OCTOBER
Wednesday, October 22nd
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
NOVEMBER
Wednesday, November 5th
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Guttman College House - University of Pennsylvania
211 S 40th St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
This session is part of Penn GSE's Friday Night Writes Program!
This program is for students 18 and under.
OCTOBER
Friday, October 24th, 2025
6:00 PM
Lovett Memorial Library
6945 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19119
This class is part of a series culminating in a final sharing, and students are encouraged to come to all sessions!
This program is for students ages 5-12.
NOVEMBER
Tuesday, November 18th - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday, November 25th - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
DECEMBER
Tuesday, December 9th - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Monday, December 20th - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Tuesday, December 23rd - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Final Sharing: Tuesday January 6th, 2026 - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
REGISTRATION & TUITION
Thanks to our generous funders, students can participate in this program at no cost to families. If you would like to make an optional donation to Young Playwrights, we invite you to visit our giving page. By choosing "Other Amount" you can make a donation of any size and any donations received will help us continue to offer future programs in the community.
We're also offering a pre-survey to help us get to know more about potential students before Visual Playwriting, which you can find below:
Thanks to our generous funders, students can participate in this program at no cost to families. If you would like to make an optional donation to Young Playwrights, we invite you to visit our giving page. By choosing "Other Amount" you can make a donation of any size and any donations received will help us continue to offer future programs in the community.
We're also offering a pre-survey to help us get to know more about potential students before Visual Playwriting, which you can find below:
FACILITATOR
Andre N. Jones is a native of Philadelphia. He has been writing poetry since he was in Jr. High School in 1982. He was turned on to poetry through his exposure to Hip-Hop. His poetic interests soon multiplied as he started to correlate Bible metaphors and Shakespeare as similar. From eighth grade on he sought to increase his vocabulary and use his pen to make word paintings on paper. Andre served as the 2013 Emerging Artist in Playwriting for the Delaware Division of the Arts in Wilmington, DE, where he now lives. He has produced/ directed/ and acted in plays all over the Delaware valley and beyond. To his credit he has numerous nominations and awards, including, The 2016 Temple University Dean’s Grant for Creative Development and Research. A lifelong visual artist, Andre has always attempted to make subjects have, an immediacy about them. So it is with his pen. Andre seeks to expand the minds of those who read his works with intelligent wordplay and vivid imagery, verbal color with highlight shadow and texture that feels alive and yet freezes the reader/audience in the moment. That is Mr. Jones’ trademark.
Having over seventeen years experience in various areas of theater, including Acting, Scene Design, Lighting, Directing and Stage Management, He decided to challenge himself with writing. Andre has written several plays yet to be discovered that explore the question of what it is to be human and yet rendered invisible. Some of his plays include: Management, Exhibited, Verbalized Ink, The Alien Ones and A Nation of Millions, (which is an adaptation of the lyrics from Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Album.) Aside from his work as a playwright and performer, Andre has cherished the last decade and change working in different capacities as a Teaching Artist. Teaching his artistry actually defines legacy for Andre. It is extremely important to him that young people feel empowered to become positive contributors to society. If their contributions should happen to be artistic, that would be icing on a well prepared and masterfully baked cake. Seven words define Andre’s life quest. Live, love, learn, laugh, forgive, forget and be free.
Contact: [email protected]
Andre N. Jones is a native of Philadelphia. He has been writing poetry since he was in Jr. High School in 1982. He was turned on to poetry through his exposure to Hip-Hop. His poetic interests soon multiplied as he started to correlate Bible metaphors and Shakespeare as similar. From eighth grade on he sought to increase his vocabulary and use his pen to make word paintings on paper. Andre served as the 2013 Emerging Artist in Playwriting for the Delaware Division of the Arts in Wilmington, DE, where he now lives. He has produced/ directed/ and acted in plays all over the Delaware valley and beyond. To his credit he has numerous nominations and awards, including, The 2016 Temple University Dean’s Grant for Creative Development and Research. A lifelong visual artist, Andre has always attempted to make subjects have, an immediacy about them. So it is with his pen. Andre seeks to expand the minds of those who read his works with intelligent wordplay and vivid imagery, verbal color with highlight shadow and texture that feels alive and yet freezes the reader/audience in the moment. That is Mr. Jones’ trademark.
Having over seventeen years experience in various areas of theater, including Acting, Scene Design, Lighting, Directing and Stage Management, He decided to challenge himself with writing. Andre has written several plays yet to be discovered that explore the question of what it is to be human and yet rendered invisible. Some of his plays include: Management, Exhibited, Verbalized Ink, The Alien Ones and A Nation of Millions, (which is an adaptation of the lyrics from Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Album.) Aside from his work as a playwright and performer, Andre has cherished the last decade and change working in different capacities as a Teaching Artist. Teaching his artistry actually defines legacy for Andre. It is extremely important to him that young people feel empowered to become positive contributors to society. If their contributions should happen to be artistic, that would be icing on a well prepared and masterfully baked cake. Seven words define Andre’s life quest. Live, love, learn, laugh, forgive, forget and be free.
Contact: [email protected]
