Young Playwrights Theater

AFTER-SCHOOL PLAYWRITING PROGRAM: YPT provides out-of-school-time (OST) programming for elementary, middle, and high school students year-round, providing ensemble-based creative writing and performance opportunities in students schools and communities. YPT also partners with several schools each year to build their first-ever youth-centered, comprehensive drama programs, which include enrichment activities focused on playwriting, socio-emotional learning, literacy, and performance. Through this lens, young people have ownership over the creative process, and develop dramatic work on topics that interest them and reflect their lived experience.

IN-SCHOOL PLAYWRITING PROGRAM: The In-School Playwriting (ISP) Program weaves the art of playwriting into Language Arts curricula as part of students school day instruction to enhance literacy, creative expression, and communication. Every ISP student writes their own play from idea to final draft and we bring local career actors into the classroom to perform students plays, allowing them to see their words brought to life by career artists. The majority of YPTs ISP students are served through our larger Young Playwrights Workshop initiative, a professional development initiative supporting DCPS theater educators to develop and implement their own playwriting curricula. These classes are contributing to a Playspiration Festival where students share plays they have developed over the school year with a partner school exploring the same theme. These students also share their plays during the annual DCPS Performing Arts Festival each May.

SILENCE IS VIOLENCE AND SPECIAL PROJECTS: YPT is the only professional theater dedicated entirely to arts education & producing student-written work. Each year, YPT produces an Annual Performance Series of student-written plays, which are attended by 1,000 audience members from across the region. This series includes Special Projects focusing on mentoring young playwrights as they develop full-length plays for production as well as Silence is Violence (SiV), YPTs core annual production. SiV is YPTs most immediate & direct route of addressing social justice issues affecting Washington, DC area youth through performance & community dialogue.