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Below are a series of activities you can use to spark inspiration or develop your work further. Click on each box to get detailed instructions, worksheets, and more! Plus, read plays from our winning Student Playwrights. |
New Content 6.4.20
Session 3 of our new online class , 3 Scenes in 5 Sessions, has been added! This class will guide students through the process of writing a 3-scene play from beginning to end. If you’ve never written a play before, don’t worry! Our Director of Education Mindy Early (she/her) will walk you through the process step by step.
Check out step-by-step monologue writing workshop!
Featuring Videos, Worksheets, Samples, Tips, and Support : all from PYP's Resident Teaching Artist Steve Gravelle
Featuring Videos, Worksheets, Samples, Tips, and Support : all from PYP's Resident Teaching Artist Steve Gravelle
If you are having trouble with creating a new play idea or building a setting for your play, the Door Slam Play activity might be your portal to a new play! This activity is also useful if images or visuals benefit you when you write.
A list of playwriting terms and definitions.
If you've already written a monologue, and are interested in developing a play, this is the exercise for you! These steps will help you identify essential information about the story you've created in your monologue and will ask you questions to begin to turn your monologue into a scene!
Are you interested in creating plays from the world around you? Is there an issue in the world you're moved to speak out about? This exercise will help you delve into creating a story around a real-world conflict by exploring the many voices involved in a current events issue. It will also direct you to examples of published plays dealing with current events topics.
Having trouble beginning your play? Do you have too many ideas? Not enough ideas? Here's a simple way to ease into writing a scene without too much pre-planning.
If you are having trouble beginning and want to do some brainstorming to find your characters and the basic outline of your play, here's a great place to start! This is also a useful activity if you find that music helps your thoughts flow.
Winning Plays
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Witch Hazel
by Julie Demsey |
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Appropriate for ages 14+ This play contains strong language as well as references to and staged depictions of sexual assault.
Teenage Sylvia Fisher went to a party. Years later, as she testifies about the night’s events, she’s forced to defend her state of mind and her rights as a woman. Inspired by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in the Kavanaugh hearings, this play incorporates some of that testimony within the dialogue and explores a woman’s fight to belong to herself in the face of forces that seek to dim her power.
Teenage Sylvia Fisher went to a party. Years later, as she testifies about the night’s events, she’s forced to defend her state of mind and her rights as a woman. Inspired by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in the Kavanaugh hearings, this play incorporates some of that testimony within the dialogue and explores a woman’s fight to belong to herself in the face of forces that seek to dim her power.
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Prom Queen
by 11th Grader Lily Rivera |
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Appropriate for ages 14+. At times this play includes mature language.
Senior Prom is approaching fast, and Jax has a lot on his plate: he’s lost a childhood best friend, he’s dateless, and he’s undecided on wearing a tux versus taffeta. Join Jax and his community as they consider the complexity of gender expression, the weight of keeping the truth to yourself, and offering yourself acceptance when you need it the most.
Senior Prom is approaching fast, and Jax has a lot on his plate: he’s lost a childhood best friend, he’s dateless, and he’s undecided on wearing a tux versus taffeta. Join Jax and his community as they consider the complexity of gender expression, the weight of keeping the truth to yourself, and offering yourself acceptance when you need it the most.
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Out of Tune
by 10th Grader Alise Mackey |
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Appropriate for ages 14+. At times this play includes mature language and references -- but not onstage depictions -- of police brutality and racialized violence.
Breaking news: James Henderson, an African-American man who was a danger to the public with his broken tail-light, was shot and killed by police. Spurred into action, his wife, Valerie, decides to run in the upcoming race for city council. Who will win—the experienced lawyer who is dedicated to the progress of her community, or the chief of police who wants to save the image of his force?
Breaking news: James Henderson, an African-American man who was a danger to the public with his broken tail-light, was shot and killed by police. Spurred into action, his wife, Valerie, decides to run in the upcoming race for city council. Who will win—the experienced lawyer who is dedicated to the progress of her community, or the chief of police who wants to save the image of his force?
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Last Minute Fool
by 11th Grader Justin Stetler |
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With a paper on Hamlet due in one week, Jake is torn between two worlds. At school, Ms. Anderson is pressuring him to improve his homework habits; at home, Procrastination is doing everything it can to lure Jake’s attention away. Whose influence will reign supreme? Only Jake can decide.
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It's Not Real Music
by 11th Grader Monie Duong Appropriate for ages 14+, at times this play includes mature language |
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Jackson wrote his first rap when he was eleven-years-old. So, when his home life is suddenly fractured, he uses rap as a way to channel how it's changed him. As the years pass, his music becomes a vehicle to shape his relationships with his mother, father, and even his best friend.
