Young Playwrights Festival

Students who complete the Young Playwright Festival program will receive multiple and varied opportunities to develop their creativity and gain artistic skills. Phase One includes 3 hours a week of classroom instruction focusing on the fundamentals of playwriting, the evolution of playwriting in American theater and essential principles of drama. Students will engage in writing exercises, theater games and creative exploration. At the completion of this first phase students will have completed a rough draft of a 10-minute play. Phase Two provides one-on-one guidance from a professional playwright to help students during the revision process. Phase Three gives students the opportunity to collaborate with a professional theater director to cast and produce staged readings of the plays for the public. After each play is performed the playwright participates in an on-stage Q&A session with audience.

Throughout the YPF program, students will:

•  Learn the basic principles of dramatic composition for live stage performance
•  Execute a range of assigned playwriting exercises considered essential to drama
•  Write reflectively from a designated theme
•  Compose original scenes and 10-minute plays
•  Develop knowledge of dramatic literature and theory and discuss sample plays by experienced writers
•  Create characters through dialogue, action and objectives
•  Understand the concepts of Exposition, Rhythm, and Dramatic Tension
•  Research, gather, and synthesize information from a variety of sources and present it in a structured, coherent manner, both in writing and orally
•  Learn how to effectively communicate creative ideas
•  Develop the ability to critique and analyze a variety of peer-generated writing, and the ability to receive and synthesize critiques of their own writing from peers and faculty
•  Develop collaborative skills with peers and other theater artists